2012 Tacoma SAS

2012 Tacoma doublecab shortbed

Plans are:

• 3 link Front & Rear w/Aluminum links and Rockjock rod ends.
• 2002 Dana 60 and Sterling 10.5
• ARB air lockers front and rear.
• 5.38 yukon gears.
• Ballistic shave kits for both axles.
• Brackets, coilover towers and high steer from Artec industries
• Hyd assist steering. PSC pump & ram
• NorthwestFab EcoCrawler, triple sticks, and FJ cruiser transfer case.
• 40 inch Goodyear MTR W/Kevlar.
• Coyote inner air beadlocks.
• York 210 onboard air.

I plan for 23-24 inch frame height.

 

Chop chop

 

Where's this work going down? Looks like fun, similar to what im planning in a few months

 

I am doing it in my garage at home.

 

Where's home

 

Axles I got for free from a friend. Super nasty, but you cant beat free. I cleaned them up, should have had them sandblasted though. I completely went through these axles and installed 5.38 Yukon gears with ARB airlockers. I have never done gears before so it was very much a learning experience. Youtube definitely saved the day. I shaved both housings with Ballistic Fabrications shave kits. Pre-heat to 400+ and post heat the housings due to them being Ductile iron. I had to shave both ring gears for them to fit the housing due to the shave kits. I made a setup to hold the carrier while I used an angle grinder to shave them while spinning.
I also welded on some Artec industries High steer arms. Dana 60 knuckles are ductile iron as well, so pre-heat applies as well. I then installed Artec trusses on each axle housing. These axles took a ton of work, but definitely a better option than paying for aftermarket axles as far as $$$ goes.

 

Axles cleaned up pretty nicely considering they were disgusting. Tires and wheels showed up last week so I started on those a couple days ago. I've completely stripped the front and rear frame rails of all of the old brackets and crossmembers. It's been a grind-a-thon this week. Have a 3m respirator and 36 grit wheels to make life easier.
The wheels are NOT beadlocks, I am running inner air locks from Coyote. I like doing things a little different. You will see this alot along the way of this build.

 

Any updates, this is going to be awesome. Keep posting, it's good inspiration.

 

Update:
Ended up getting the front frame plates welded on. I've been spending some time installing frame plates in the areas where the link brackets and transmission/transfer case crossmember are going to be mounted. I've also got the steering gearbox mounted. Links have showed up and I'm getting them mocked into position currently.

The bad news is that I've gotten my triple shifter kit from Northwest Fab. No fault to them, but it will not work. 1st off, the shifters do not come pre-bent in order for them to come out near my "pen holder slot" like they did they would. I also raised the engine mounts to gain more uptravel, this has changed the height of my transmission slightly. So it looks like my automatic shifter will need to move and I will need to fabricate a custom center console setup.

 

Teaser. Was trimming some sheet metal. Working out full bump, and figuring out my link bracket placement. Trying to clear these massive 2.5 inch 7075 lower links.

 

Thanks for the update. This thing is going to be a beast. Keep plugging away and updating us. Some of us have to live vicariously through these threads.

 

Looking great man! Always enjoy seeing a full swap done in a garage. You still going to stick with the NWfab setup? Looking forwards to the rear link when it happens, i kept my 63 swap in place when i did my front end, saving up for the rear next, dont see lany 3 link rear Tacomas

 

I am going to run the NWF ecocrawler and shifter setup, just changes my ideas that it could work with my stock center console.
I would 4 link the rear but I do not want to move the fuel tank at this time. I was talking with a local 4x4 shop and we had discussed a spring under with slider boxes setup which sounded interesting but I've already made my mind up on 3 link and coilovers front/rear.

 

what front bumper is that?

 

I made it. It looks really similar to a Coastal Offroad bumper.

 

Front end is mostly in place and figured out. Shock towers, steering, panhard bar ect. Need to mount hydro assist and finalize some stuff up front, then it's on to the rear end!

 

I didn't post it, but I ended up completely redoing my 3 link frame brackets in order to have my link bars clear my frame.

 

Any update on this?

I'm currently in the infancy stage, new to anything SAS, definitely can't fabricate, but I also just bought a 2012 Tacoma (same as yours) with some of the ideas you had listed in your first post:

• 3 link Front & Rear 63s
• Front TBD and Rear a Sterling 10.5
• ARB air lockers front and rear.
• 5.38 yukon gears.
• Hydro assist steering. PSC pump & ram
• 40"

However, seeing this thread made me reconsider the NorthwestFab Eco Crawler with how it wasn't working out for you.

I was considering that, the Atlas, or the TacoBox from MC. Pros and cons of each, I guess.

 

Looking good, Identical to what Im doing except 14 bolt and Atlas 2 speed and currently 22 inch frame height. You have any more pics?