Archive Hanger Install Assistance/Motivation

Good point! I had to drill 6 holes in the bottom of my frame rails for my sliders and I’ve been using that at my mental prep for the uncomfortable out of position drilling. Your right though, I had chips EVERYWHERE after a day of that.

 

3rd gens rivets are made of a special alloy. Low speed steel.

 

I’ve been working on and building cars my whole life. When I did my long travel kit I had to remove all of the hangers. It was one of the worst experiences in my life. There is really no easy/fast way.

 

Update: I got the driver side hanger off and frame spray painted. The rivets will be framed as trophies and hung right next to be front door so I can hiss at them every time I leave.

I have all four rivet heads ground off on the passenger side, 3 of which have pilot holes. I can't get to the front bottom because my exhaust is in the way.

I got a 3/8" punch and 3lb sledge at Lowes. Extremely helpful. Also a creeper, for which my back is still thanking me. I'm hoping to have the passenger hanger off and frame painted tomorrow and while it dries I'll put the driver side back together.

Thanks to all the motivation and feedback, everybody.

 

I chopped my exhaust, just to get it out of the way for that rivet.

Removing the exhaust is easy enough, but I think most people just push it out of the way. It's hung on rubber hangers, so it can move a fair bit.

 

I say just chop the exhaust. Won't have that sweet looking exhaust tip but eh. One less thing to get caught on the trail and since you now have archive hangers that allow for more articulation in the future, they will easily get in the way of your leaf springs. You can chop it off pretty easy with a hacksaw. If you plan to wheel your truck it honestly doesn't take much to smack it and bend it up on any trail. I carry a hacksaw when I offroad just for the purpose of chopping exhausts or other low hanging fruit. Here's a photo of one trip that within 10 minutes of hitting the trail there was some dragging and it bent the exhaust to the point where it was making contact with the leafs every bump so we decided to just cut it off. He has since also installed a HC bumper and HD hangers as well. Never looked back.

 

I need to do this too. Waited so many years already. LOL, I'll ensure I have access to an air hammer and heat...lots of heat along with the BFH!

 

I can help Ro is also good at this!

 

This mod will lead me down a rabbit hole. Shackle hangers > Deaver springs > shock relocate > long travel tuned shocks

 

This is the way.

 

I like the tip (that's what she said?) but it is annoying. I need to research laws to see if there's anything I should know. In threads specific to lopping off exhausts I've seen some people say there are state laws governing exhaust flows and stuff. If I'm good to go I'll hack it off at about the halfway point as it comes down over the axle.

 

I had to this to just one eye. The biggest issue it was the morning of my senior prom and I was supposed to leave the eye patch on for at least 24hrs. That did not happen and I can say the pictures were not the best.

 

Day 3 of The Rivet Reckoning: passenger side rivets are done, frame is painted. I made it as far as putting the hanger on the shackle before realizing I didn't have a big enough wrench to hold onto the nut while tightening so it's off to Lowes again tomorrow.

I got the poly bushings as well thinking they'd work for stock shackles but I'm not seeing an obvious way to do a swap and the instructions are written as if you were also using Archive shackles (which I should've gotten alongside the hangers). Anyone use the bushings with the stock shackles?

 

Buy this. You need qty 1. It’s a pair of oem shackles with no bushings in them. Wayyy easier to get these and put poly bushings in vs trying to get the stock rubber ones out.


https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~shackle~kit~spring~04005-65104.html

 

Thanks! Just want to verify that these will work for a 3rd Gen. The site was unable to confirm fitment. Surprised they're so cheap.

 

Yep! And I know right, cheapest oem part ever.

 

I got the hangers cut off and the 4 bottom rivets out today. After cutting the Rivet heads off BFH took the stock hangers right off.

For the bottom rivets I drilled and used a ball joint press with a punch, it really wasn’t too bad. These side rivets on the other hand... gave up after drilling two and no success hammering them out. Back at it tomorrow.

 

Day 4 (feels like 6) of The Rivet Reckoning: both hangers are installed and torqued down. I gave up on trying to get the rear end of the springs and shackles out of the way so just took the whole packs off. Both sides are now basically identical in tasks left, which is reinstallation of the ubolts and torquing everything back down. Should be out of the garage tomorrow.

I have to say, trying to put the packs back on and realign both ends juuuuust so, along with trying to torque down the hanger bolts in awkward spaces and angles, was exponentially more infuriating than grinding and drilling. I tried putting the driver side back on with the hanger attached to the shackle but couldn't get it to work so figured I'd just install the hanger and then sort it out. Big mistake. I forced myself to keep the passenger hanger and shackle together and got it to work with some prybar and BFH coercion. A little more...kinetic persuasion...got the driver side in order.

I made more work for myself than was necessary, I'm sure, but regardless I'm lined up for success tomorrow. Definitely the most intense and frustrating yet rewarding work I've done so far. Thanks again to you brave pioneers and intrepid mechanical explorers for the help.

 

It's a lot of work but the reward is worth it, especially when you think about how much you would have paid a shop or even an individual to install it for you. Job didn't go perfectly and maybe some things got a bit more scratched, maybe some knuckles bruised and skinned, but still you saved all that money AND you have the pride of knowing you did it yourself.

Crack a few beers and treat yourself tomorrow after your first test drive.