Budget Solid Axle 2nd Gen

With all the work I did to keep it low on leafs, I feel like I could have 3 linked it quicker and it would have worked better off road.

Leaf springs wrap when under load and tend to break parts. Links don’t allow this.
Also at full droop the leafs made the pinion rotate down and the u joint angle was not ideal.



the hardest part was getting the leaf springs to clear the pitman arm/drag link, where a proper 3 link you don’t have to worry about a leaf spring getting in the way.



I had to do so much cutting and notching of the frame just to make it work.
Also had to cut a brand new pitman arm in half to flip it.


I’m not trying to talk you out of leafs. Just know that I did it cause it was budget build, not because it performed amazing.

It was a great rig and I learned a lot from it, but there is a reason that so many people link these instead of using leafs.

Also ORI’s or coil overs and air bumps are cool cause then you can jump it and just soak it up no problem

 

Forgot to post pics of it right before it shipped to Cali
Guy was adamant that I put a headlight back in so his wife didn’t think he was buying another project. lol



I had to put rollers on the front and let all the air out of them, and winch the front down to get it under height. Guy who set up shipping told the shipper it was a stock tacoma.

 

That's cool! Out of curiosity any idea how much shipping was?

 

Thanks for the laid out explanation man. Ill definitely have more research to do when the time comes. Sorry to see it go.

 

It was $1700

 

I did pick up another yota to play around with. 1st gen 4 runner.

 

New owner stuffed 40’s on it and ditched my ugly tube bed for fiberglass. Looking way better now.

 

A third gen front end too, that's sick!

 

Wow did he do a 3rd gen face lift ? ..didn't know that was posable? ..

 

Yeah all fiberglass too.

 

Thats Crazy didn't know they were that compatible.

 

"Compatible" is a stretch but with enough time it's possible. Here's another 2nd to 3rd gen conversion with fiberglass. It still takes a ton of work but damn does it look good.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-to-3rd-gen-conversion-long-travel-and-more.762158/

 

Thats nuts .I'm sure its not easy.

 

He just added $10k of value to that truck