Landcruiser guy trying to outfit wife's tacoma

Exciting updates! Finally some downtime. I need to update this build thread, as we've made significant changes to the Tacoma since the last post.

Got the alucab family camper tent on the modcap. OK4WD has been amazing to work with. It is not an easy install for 2 people, but luckily we managed since we have a ceiling hoist. Lots of sika flex, butyl tape, and water leak checks have happened since the tent has been on. Overall, we're ecstatic with the amount of interior space this setup provides us. The mattress in the tent is massive. The real game changer is that someone can still be lying down while the remainder of the bed sections are flipped up. We've learned through the years that having a sheltered, private standing area is a game changer for longer trips off-grid.



With the truck on 285/75/16 tires, the spare fits the backdoor with plenty of room for future tire size upgrades. On a whim, we also purchased the alucab kitchen setup that bolts to the rear door of the modcap. It takes up interior space when the door is closed, but the utility of having everything accessible on the door will ease setup and pack away during trips.

 

With the camper done, our next focus was on the vehicle's suspension. Out with the old ironman stuff and in with the new components which included :

Locked offroad front 2.5 coilovers with #700lb springs (might go down to 650 or 600, still adding weight to the truck)
Locked offroad rear 12"x2.5 smoothies
Dobinson billet UCA (I would come to find out during the alignment process that the camber adjustment is worth its weight in gold)
Archive garage ultimate offroad package (with XD leaf pack)

We wanted to add robustness to the front end of the tacoma so we also purchased :

JBA Double shear UCA tabs
JBA Spindle gussets
Marlin crawler LCA braces

With such big welding projects slated for the tacoma, my wife Diana decided to jump head-first into the world of welding and started practicing :




With some practice on 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 we decided it was go time as we stripped the front end. When welding the spindle gussets, we preheated the spindle to 300F before welding the JBA gussets to them. I think Diana did an excellent job as this was her first welds on something other than coupons :





After welding the spindle, we wrapped them in fiberglass welding blankets so they cooled slowly.



Then followed it up with rigorous wire brushing and surface prep for 2 coats of steel-it




While the spindle gussets were allowed to dry, we took turns welding the UCA double shear tabs and lower control arm braces from marlin crawler and JD Fab.

Things to note on the UCA Double shear tabs :

Brake lines will have to be massaged out of the way on both sides
The front radiator support will have to be trimmed to reinstall the UCA bolt since there will no longer be wiggle room
The driver side harness that runs along the top of the frame will have to be moved. Its currently unbolted, wrapped in corrugated hose, and is ziptied to the rearward gusset.

Sorry, no pictures for either of those welding projects as we were really into the project!

 

As we assembled the front end, we installed seal saver coil wraps and SDHQ ABS sensor guards. We have to run 1.25 spacers on our 0 offset 16" method wheels to clear the rear shocks on the archive garage relocation kit. This will be addressed in the future when we go to 17s with a -12 wheel. With the ABS sensor so exposed due to such a high negative offset, Im hoping the ABS sensor guard does its job.




Heres a photo of the coil seal saver :

 

For the rear suspension setup, we had Eric at archive garage do the installation. We're still new to welding so we wanted to leave it up to the experts. It was an excellent experience, and the install came out beautifully. He communicated with us during the entire process and gave us some swag. 10 out of 10 would recommend.



It's incredible how the truck feels now after re-doing the alignment. I set the front caster to 3.8/3.6, camber to 0, and front toe to .05 degrees. We have not had a chance to check its full range of motion, but we will update as soon as we can get it off pavement.

With the camper and suspension out of the way, whats next will be the full buildout of the rear of the alucab interior. We have a full redarc suite going in with 2x230aH batteries and a 3000 watt inverter.

I'm over winter, I just want to work on the truck and not feel like a damn ice cube! (it will be funny to reread this in the summer)