2003 DCSB Tacoma 1 Ton SAS

I recently purchased a 2003 Tacoma DCSB 4x4 with the J shift case from an older gentleman down the street from my grandparents. I drove by this truck for about 8 years going to my grandparents and told the guy if he ever sold it to call me.. Sure enough, about a year ago he called and said he was ready to part with it. I drove it completely stock for about 8 months and then started twisting wrenches on it. It had 160,000 miles and had never had any PM done other than shocks. First order of business was to replace the following:
Water Pump
Valve Cover Gaskets
Hoses
Belts
Timing Belt
TB Tensioner
Idler Pulleys
Thermostat
Fuel filter
Plugs and wires

Seemed to run much better after the fresh parts.

The plan:
2005 Ford dana 60 front axle - Narrowed 6" with adapters with will be 69" WMS - 5.38 gears and ARB air locker
12" bilstein shocks F/R - 7100 short body shocks up front and 5125's rear
2003 14 bold rear axle 5.38 gears and Detroit Locker - shave kit from ballistic fabrication for ground clearance.
Marlin Dual Transfer case
Chevy 63" rear springs - with 1" block until front springs settle.
TG front 3" springs with Sky's rear shackles and custom front cross member frenched into frome to lower ride height. - see "project frenchy" build.
Bumpers f/r, etc
37" tires are the plan, but may go to 39's depending on clearance.
H2 Hummer wheels

 

I bought sliders from White knuckle and had them powder coated locally. I tested them out at Barnwell OHV park the weekend after I installed them to get a baseline run with the stock tacoma. I was surprised at what this thing would do bone stock.

 

Update to current time. I started cutting out the IFS and building the cross member about 2 weeks ago. I got the rear shackle hangers cut and welded into the frame, the front hanger on, IFS cut out and frame ground down and frame plates installed. Every thread I read talked about how terrible grinding the frame smooth was, and it did not disappoint, it sucked.... about 5 hours of grinding after the plasma cutter took out most of the large stuff. The spread from the front hanger to the center of the shackle bolt it 41-1/2" (recommended by the trail gear instructions for their 3" springs). Shackles are almot right at 90 degrees with the weight of the truck and no front bumper. With spring settling and teh winch/bumper combo, I expect it to be slightly laid back.

 

more photos

 

Front axle cut down and removed all the old ford brackets. There was more grinding in this than there was the frame by far. Probably a full saturday of grinding and cutting with a grinder, port-a-band, and hammer/chisel. THe axle was cut down total of 6" - stock WMS for this axle is 72" which is more width than i'm looking for. There was a lot of porosity in the factory weld from Ford. I was shooting for 5 deg of positive caster and wound up somewhere between 4.5 and 5 deg.

 

used the plasma to cut off the brackets on the 14 bolt and took a grinder to clean up the rest. Putting the little guy to work!

 

Latest round - I plated the frame with the trail gear front frame plates. I cut the steering box mount off so the steering box could be mounted "flat". The flat pitman arm is ordered and I'm hoping that I dont have to notch the frame to clear the castle nut on the rod end. Mocked up the passenger side shock hoop mocked up.

 

Worked late last night adn got the bump stops, shock hoops, ad the final grinding done on the frame before prepping to paint. I put a bottom in the ruff stuff lower shock mounts so I can bolt them to the axle where the factory coil buckets were mounted. I cut off the bump stops 1-1/4" to allow for 4-1/2" of travel up before it contacts the bump stop - I'm planning to have 5" of up travel in my shocks.

 

Started on the rear 63 spring swap. Got all the old suspension parts out and the old springs off. If anyone is looking for the complete front and rear suspension setup from a 1st gen Tacoma, PM me. With the help of a co-worker, we got the new front spring perches welded on and the 63's mocked up. I moved the new front spring hangers forward 7.5" from the factory hanger bolt hole center. Had to cut the rear tail pipe off due to the spring hitting it. I put the 5" shackle and a bolt through the factory rear shackle mount for grins, and the shackle is a bit too far laid back. After the vehicle was sitting on the axles, looks like there is about a 3.25" diffrence in height from front to back - will have to run longer shackles and possible a 1" block? Any input from the group on this?

 

Sweet!!!

 

I got the new oil pan installed this weekend and got the frame painted. Put the radiator back in and hooked up the trans cooler lines and the coolant hoses and filled with with coolant. I got the PS adapter hoses installed for the IFS steering box.

 

Also started on the IFS steering box tap and rebuild. I flowed a thread on Marlins website to tap the box. Ordered a rebuild kit from Rock Auto.
https://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=10579.0

After I got the box drilled and tapped, i started putting the lower shaft seals and found some issues. The lower seal had been torn (mostly gone) and there was some pretty bad pitting. I was able to get the snap ring out and and the metal ring that holds in the O-ring and Teflon seal. The bearings were still tight. I cleaned up the majority of the pitting with some sand paper and a scotch bright pad.

 

Awesome work man!! This things going to be a monster!

 

Got the steering box back together with a Gates re-seal kit. Have a coat of primer on the steering box and hope yo get it installed this weekend so all the hoses can be hooked back up and the engine started back up and run for a bit.

 

I will be wanting to sell the complete front end and rear end with springs if anyone is looking for the 4WD parts for a conversion or any other type swap.

 

I was able to get the firewall plate installed and the steering shaft hooked up. The other threads and instructions I have read did not specify which way the steering shaft went - i.e. big end up or down ? After a lot of calls and searching, the big end goes on the steering box. Getting the new joints onto the existing steering shaft on the Tacoma was substantially more difficult than I had anticipated. I unintentionally discovered that the lower part of the main shaft on the steering column has a slip in it (large hexagonal shaft). Put all the set screws in with red lock-tite.

 

I got the rear shackle hangers welded on and fully welded the front hangers after I confirmed everything was square and in the right place. The shackle angle is 25 deg with the weight of the vehicle on the axle/springs. I got the frame paint ground off and the frame plates trimmed and a few holes added for the double cad (the CBI frame plates have to be cut down for the double cad install).

 

Subbed.

 

@cynicalrider