2010 4DSB SAS build street driven rock crawler

I am helping a friend build a 2010 4 door into a serious rock crawler. We started it after building him a "gasp" Jeep CJ7. He loved it but he's a Toyota guy and ultimately needed a lower seat height and room for a wheel chair crane, chair and camping gear. So I bought the Jeep from him and we started building his new Tacoma in October. Having done a 3 link front, 4 link rear on coilovers and new axles front and rear last year on his Jeep we felt pretty good about building the Taco. I could tell you it has gone smooth..., but hang in there...I'll start with a sneak peak.

I am doing this thread in hopes that we can help (or talk you off the ledge) someone looking at a similar build on a 2nd Gen. The plan was always a linked front with coilovers and leafs rear for now, upgrading to a 4 link rear later. We now refer to this build as "Change-order" and 3 plans in we like where its headed, finally!

Where it stands as of last night


The Jeep

The new build, out with the old in with the new.

 

I like where this is going.

 

The original "plan"

Axles (left over from an Utra4 4600 car build that died)
-HP44 front, ARB, 4130 shafts, 5.38s
-Ford 9" rear, 4130 31 spline shafts, ARB, 5.43s

Front Suspension
-3 link "kit" hahahahaha
-14" Radflo 2.0 Remote Res. Coilovers
-2" Radflo hydraulic bumps
-limit straps
-Hydraulic assist steering
-front stretch to clear body mounts

Rear Suspension
-Alcan custom leafs
-trim sheatmetal
-new upper and lower shock locations
-Remote Res. shocks-
-Limit straps
-Poly bumps

Drivetrain
-stock 4.0
-auto
-stock tcase
-Marlin tacobox
-Custom Driveshafts

Tires
-37s
-17" non-beadlock wheels (they won't leak down, keeps it streetable without hassle)

Misc
-Warn winch
-Rock sliders
-tube bumpers (light)
-lights
-cage
-powertank
-hand controls
-wheelchair crane

 

Great looking build! I have had an interest in doing the SAS but where we live and with what my wife and I do with the truck it's just not practical for us. I'm staying tuned for all the fab work though which is my favorite part.

 

@Casper66 SAS is definitely not need for everyone. My buddy lives in the mountains with hardcore trails close by so SAS was really the only option for him to have room and LCG (other than a 4 door Jeep or the new Jeep truck, but everyone does that). That said this build is stupid expensive for parts and if you had a shop do it the labor would put you in the poor house.

 

Been a welder fabricator for quite a while. I understand it is stupid expensive perhaps if I sell the other toy in the garage I may build a dedicated crawling truck but it would have to be something streetable as we don't have any really difficult trails within 3-5 hours from here. This truck will stay the way it is we have a tiny "off road" camper we take out as often as we can and I have been modding the crap out of it. I you look in the build the cool shit starts on like pg 24 I believe with the tongue extension. It is a fun project and I still have more mods in the works but have finally got it to where we are self sufficient. Hence why the truck will most likely stay like it is as everything just works well so no need to screw it up.

 

Curious why you are running different gear ratios? Availability? I suppose with ratios that close, and you only engage 4wd when there is significant slip potential, it should not be noticeable.

 

Time to start cutting.




Bye Bye



Pile O IFS parts



Getting the frame cleaned up



A little mock up of what we are hoping for at ride height

 

@Coexplorer From what I have been told this used to be as close as you could get with this two axles even though they came together. 5.38 and 5.43 are close enough and used to be as close as you could get. Now I think you can get aftermarket 5.38 gears for the 9" maybe..

 

Good stuff right there. We just did a good bit to a buddy's truck. Shock relocate, boxed the frame, 63 swap, cab mount relocate and hell I don't even remember what all else. getting everything off and cleaned up and having a clen slate was the PITA the rest was fun. I am suprised you haven't taken the bed off

 

Nice!

 

@MattCowsmasher @KENNY

 

Subbed

 

@Casper66 . Exactly how we felt, cleaning off and prepping the frame was by far the worst part. I also despise cleaning off used axle assemblies now. There is always a surprise the previous owner neglected to tell you about. We found a badly dented axle tube under an axle truss on the 9". Had to buy a new housing for it. Really want my next build to be new front and rear fab 9s. As for the bed we haven't changed the rear upper shock mounts yet so haven't felt the need to remove it, plus I moved shops half way through the build and the easiest way to keep the parts for this build together was to have them in the truck.

 

This is an incredible build stoked for the progress. Your one helluva friend to be helping him out like this.

 

@MattCowsmasher Thank you. I met Brad the owner of the truck on the trail. We helped him out with some brake issues on his Jeep that got him home safe. We had a mutual friend and wheeled a few more times together before we were able to convince him to let us 3/4 link his CJ7 last year as a paying project and by the end of the build he was a good friend. We wheeled with him all summer which is when he decided he needed more room and wanted to be self sufficient (get the chair in and out himself).

 

That’s incredible!! made me smile reading this. I admire your friends determination and grit to let nothing keep him down.

 

Axles. We cut the brackets off the axles



If you at 5 o'clock inside the axle you can see the dent (black ridge that extends down into the reflection in the oil) in the tub that the previous owner had covered up with a truss. I opted to replace the axle housing with a new one.



New housing and disc brake kit.



New bearing on the rear shafts



Locating the front axle



Trying to see how far forward the front axle needs to be to clear the body mounts when the tires are turned during suspension cycle. Once we found the spot we liked we marked center on the fender and taped a plumb bob which will probably show up in future photos.

 

The truck in question that Chris is talking about is mine. You can get a ton of flex out of the 63s with less complication from figuring out the links with the fairly narrow toyota frame. If you do a 1"body lift or at least the bed you can stuff 16" shocks under the bed with no hackery and still have the lower shock mount level with the bottom of the tube. This is with the 14s now but I've been measuring and calculating for 16s. If you stick with leafs go 63s. Also my set up is not like anyone else I have seen do. If you stick with leafs and go down the 63 swap land I'm more than willing to help with what I did to accomplish the amount of flex I have.

 

@ovrlndkull. We thought about 63s but went with a custom built set of Alcans to simplify round 1 of the build. The way you have the shocks mounted is exactly what we were planning. How do they work in that spot? How is axle wrap? Eventually it will get 4 linked.