Not much Tacoma left.. 4500 koh build

Notched the crossmember for the fuel cell. This gave me another inch of uptravel in the rear which should be 8.5. Not my best notch but considering it was done on my back and I can weld the gaps and cut/grind it clean, I’ll be happy.

Started on the shock mounts. Version 1 looked weak and small so made another that’s a little bigger. Tire almost kisses the shocks so I’ll bend the brackets in a 1/2 or so.

 

Forgot I also pulled the rear axle and notched the truss to fit the lower shock mounts. It ties the link mount, shocks and truss all together. Real happy with that.

 

Spent yesterday messing with the rear shocks. I didn’t like how much they were angled in so moved the lower mounts in 2.5” which made a big difference. Spent the rest of the day getting the upper mounts to fit.

before

after

 

Spent today putting the truck at ride height so I can cycle the rear. Threw a tire on the front and extremely happy with the overall look etc. 116.5 ish wheelbase. 22.5 to the bottom of the subframe. 27” to the bottom of the body seam under the doors. 7.5” of uptravel in the front and 8.5” in the rear. Overall I think it has a great look and stance.

 

Then cycled the rear and got the bumpstops mounted. Now for the long process of grinding and welding and adding more tubes/gussets

 

more welding

 

wasn’t feeling great the last 2 weeks but finally got a few days in the garage. Got most the rear frame welded and a lot of the cage that I could easily get to. Then started on the sheet metal. Trying to get the cab enclosed so I can pull the cab and finish welding the cage

 

Few more. A lot of the gaps will close up once I get tabs welded to the tubes and everything bolted up.

 

More sheet metal. Pretty happy overall with it.

 

So its not like me to do this but to help make my goal of King of the Hammers 2026 (really need to make it to Norcal Joker race in September or the finale in Laughlin in October to qualify), Ive put together a few shirts, hats and sweatshirts people can purchase. Hoping to do a final shirt later on with all the companies and people who helped out and send out some stickers if you buy something. I bought a few samples and they all turned out nice so the link to the page is listed below. I appreciate any and all support to complete this build and meet my crazy goal.


Discover Our Exclusive Range at Hambone Fab Works
Store of Hambone Fab Works.
hambone-fab-works.printify.me

 

God Damn,
I really need to purchase a set of CalTracs for my LS swapped 5 lug so it won’t wheel hop so bad.
But I can’t bring myself to buy the CalTracs. Why? I’m hoping I can talk you into making some kind of traction setup. I just love your mad fabrication & welding skills!

 

Thanks. If your serious send me a pm so we can talk about getting something done.

 

Oh, trust me I will but I really don’t want to bother you because I’m guessing you’re going to need every spare minute you have to get your project done and hopefully do some testing! There’s two things most everyone runs out of and that’s money & time!

 

Made some tabs out of 1/8 with 1/4-20 stainless press in nutserts. Called for a 3/8 hole which I did but some push out so I put a tac on them. Starting tabbing out the panels which is a lot of work but got most the driver side panels done. I made 24 tabs and only have 5 or 6 left. Pretty happy with the look

 

And got the firewall done behind the seats. I think I have all the panels cut and bead rolled. Only other ones I know for sure I want to do is in the top of the b pillar but I want to bead rolled and cut the middle out to add mesh to keep rocks out of the radiator.

 

Will I ever do this? Probably not. But hot damn that is some beautiful work!