1st Colorado Mod Day Official Thread

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/96382-ato-skid-arrived-prep-install.html

 

Nice.
And sweet Skid BRT.

 

Added some custom armor, today...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/97540-fabbed-some-skidplates-today.html

Nice vids...

~Troy

 

That's some nice armor.

 

Hey guys! So for the skid plate/slider day, lets all determine what size metal we need. I've made friends with the metal yard's owner (she makes a mean tortilla lol). What I need to know is: what size plating do we want to use for the skid plates, what size square tubing for the sliders, and what size round tubing for the flares on the sliders. This this way we can buy full sheets and save big bucks. And PLEASE, only people who are serious get in on this action. The goal of the day is to produce a few front end skid plates and at least the sliders and mounts, the flares might have to be another day.

 

ALSO! I crunched my driveshaft this weekend =( good news is: Ron @ Drive Line Services of Boulder is making me a new custom one piece driveshaft for 150$ compared to Tom Woods' one piece for 360-480. I'll keep ya'll updated on the quality, but he says he dyno balances and stands behind all work. aka no wobbles for me!

 

I don't know much about metal thickness, all I know is that I want in on this.

 

x2

 

I've already made my skids, and have plans for my sliders, so here is my $.02

- Skidplates - 3/16" steel plate (1/8" is too thin/weak, 1/4" is too heavy)
Also some 1" angle iron to "spine" areas that warrant reinforcement..

- Sliders - 1.75" round x .125" wall tubing... I plan to use only round tubing because I feel they will "slide" better than square tubing especially on the brackets that come out from the frame. I feel square tubing would "hang-up" easier than a round tube...

 

Interesting theory. I'll go out to the truck and mull that over. From my experience welding a round to a round for strength can be a pain in the ass.. My thinking was we could build heavier duty mounts onto square due to more contact surface area.

 

Square tubing would definitely be easier to work with, but if the round tubing is notched properly, it will be easy to weld and have the necessary strength...

Just picture a rock sticking up and how round tube would slide over it easier than a square tube. The tubes that run from wheel well to wheel well are probably not an issue due to the direction of travel, but would probably still benefit from being round...

 

Probably arguable either way, square tubing would be wider and provide more protection where a rock could get around a narrow tube to the body, or a narrow crack a round tube could get caught up where the square would go into it... but all to his own rig! round/square, nissan/toyota, chevy/ford...etc.. lol. You going to fab on your own or thinkin about coming to the fab mod day?! Sounds like you have some experience we could use!

 

I'll probably fab on my own at work due to the availability of every tool imagineable...

But, depending on when/where, I may be inclined to come help others...

Also, I kept my cardboard patterns for the skid plates that I fabbed if anyone is interested...

 

CBI makes it. they do great work, they're even a vendor on here. check them out!

 

For the sliders you could go this route.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/4x-innovations/90902-rock-sliders-all-toyotas.html
For the cost and saving a ton of fab work it ain't a bad choice. I wonder if he would do a small group buy and ship all of them to one place. Just a thought.

 

I might even be in for that. He has good prices and if we can set a time to get these all welded even better.

 

Wow those are awesome prices, doesn't take too long and a lot of people run them. I'd be in for these.