98 TRD 3.4L Turbo , Methanol , LT

My bumper is actually fairly light, its not un godly heavy. It made out of 1/8inch steel. There are some holes you can't really see in that pic to let some air in.

 

Josh already has the box beams and the cutting/welding equipment to make his own. There needs to be some air for the intercooler.

 

That is too short for my fenders too. Thx though

 

^this

 

do a relentless bumper

 

I really got to watch my bumper choices due to the intercooler. Building custom.

 

Who cuts out perfectly good sheet metal?



Glass bedsides. Still under construction. Not the easiest to fit but they are "adhered" for now.

 

Interesting, you cut out your bedsides. I ended up drilling out all the spot welds on mine.

 

Finished securing the bedsides. Filed all the cut surfaces, primered them, and painted. Going to wait until my LT is finished before i paint her. Used sheet metal screws on the frame rail and bracketed the lower portion. Finished them off by putting bedliner on the top and bottom.

 

FYI rear LT. Tack the lower shock mount to the axle. Droop the leaf pack out a slight bit past when the first leaf begins to separate. I use c clamps and a board to the frame. Fully extend shock put a sharpie through the eyelet and draw an arc on the board.

Break leaf pack apart. compress shock fully. drop truck to fully bump. draw new arc. Where those 2 lines intersect is your shock mounting point. Build your cage around that. It's right around 17" of travel with a 16" shock.

 

Thanks for the pics. I was going to use cardboard, wood looks sturdier. I see how you fit it along the frame. Makes sense. Man that rear end is going to be some work! Hopefully it will be worth it.

Questions:

1. Best place to mount your lower shock tabs? Front, top, behind.

2. Can I just mount my shackles and leaf hangers in the same spot you did? I have the Deaver f67 I think. It would definately simplify things.

3. Is it really a big difference in mounting the shocks outside the frame vs. Inside?

4. Better to weld the cage to frame or bolt it down somehow? Obviously if it's welded the bed isn't going anywhere.

TIA

 

Started on my rear bumper. My welding skills totally suck donkey balls! Lots of grinding the huge blobs. Haha. Hopefully I will get better as I learn to adjust the current and control the puddle. Should come out good when all is said and done especially considering nobody taught me anything about welding besides about 3 youtube videos.



Picture of my other baby.....all carbon fiber.

 

I'll have to answer that when I'm not on my phone

 

Get some good practice at welding first. You don't want your suspension to rip off. Scrap metal is your friend when learning. Highly recommend finding someone in your area that can help give you some pointers.

1. Front of the axle is theoretically best for prerunning. Sometimes geometry will not allow for that. It helps with when you cycle your suspension at a high rate. If you are more slower 4x4 than this may not be of any concern to you.
2. Good chance your leaf hanger are going to be in the same spot. You have total chaos hangers? Give them and email or call. They should give you the mounting points. I know perch to perch is 52.5" with a 12" shackle and rear perch mounted over the frame. The front one measures off your cab mount some distance back. It's right in front of the stock hanger. I don't have total chaos hangers so my front measurement won't work for you.
3. This is another prerunning question. High speed it helps 50+mph, but you loose articulation. I increased axle width too so my difference was pretty drastic. If you can't go outboard it isn't the end of the world. You won't be missing much staying inside the frame.
4. Cage welded to the frame is best. It adds rigidity to your frame. A cool trick is make a bed cage adapter to the frame so you can pull off the cage to get under the bed and actually make a cage. My buddy used a cage from a truck that cut his off at the frame.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bobbys-build.93424/

 

It looks good man! You won't have issues with the welding if you get the biggest rods possible that your rig is designed for. Did you ever end up getting bigger rods?

 

Yeah, I'm in the process of trying various sticks out. Trying to find some 7018's locally in 3/32 and 1/8. Pretty sure that's all the sizes I'll need. Starting to lay some good bead. If you want to do it you got to learn somehow right.

I still can't track down the leak, it sounds hideous. I took off the charge inlet and blew through it, seemed air tight. Going to borrow a cigarette from my neighbor and blow through it with smoke. I figured if it seemed air tight that the smoke wouldn't show up anyhow.

 

I temporarily finished up with my bumper for now until I add on to it. It's very basic and I'm ok with what I've done so far. My first official fabrication job.







I would eventually like to add on side protection and cut up my stock hitch to mount it up higher.

 

Installed a camera system today. Features front and rear cameras, gps, 1080p, sound recording, and modes for recording when you are away from your vehicle (motion sensor and shock sensor recording).

 

DUDE!!!!! Where did you get that camera system??? I've been looking for something like that for freekin ever.
And Josh, your bead looks wonderful on that bumper... did you use the stainless rods?