allenfab's 95 Tacoma build

what size material did you use for the bed floor frame?

 

1"x1" 11 gauge square tube

 

Awesome, thanks. Looks like I'll be following suit here in the next couple of weeks with the bed re-frame\floor. Going to be making the floor removable though just for east of access when it comes to working on the rear or adding more plate/frame work.

 

How many feet do you think you roughly used?

 

With some quick calculations, roughly 50'.

 

Awesome, thanks for the quick responses!

 

Couple of minor updates:
-Ditched the twin-stick idea so I sold those, Going with an Atlas 4-speed case. It will be months before that happens, cause they ain't cheap
-As stated earlier in the thread, I lowered the front. Finally measured and went from 24.375" frame height to 23".... much better
-Still haven't completed the bed.... been slacking
-Still haven't washed it from Citrus at the beginning of February.... been slacking

That's all for now I guess

 

Slacker

 

perfection takes time my friend

 

Haha, I can relate to the slacking. Been doing that myself.

 

Why the change to an Atlas and no dual cases?

 

Well, to put it as politely as possibly, FUCK dual cases

I've had duals before and had nothing but bad luck with them. The first breakage took out the output of the crawl box and the input of the stock t-case, along with some bearings in the crawl box. The second breakage took out the entire gear-set in the crawl box (both of these failures were within 6 months of each other.) That, on top of the constant leaking that took place when I had it, makes me never want a dual setup again. Been down that road and don't want to return.

It was an Inchworm setup that I had, and I know there are some advantages to Marlin's setup with the dual row bearings and what not that help with some of the issues that I had, but Marlin has zero customer service and never have any of the dual transfer cases or adapters/parts in stock. Figured since I am going to spend the money, might as well spend a little more and not have to worry about issues with failure ever again.

 

Just got over the flu so decided to get outside and have a light day working on the truck. I ended up painting the rest of the bed floor, washing the truck inside and out, added some stickers of various products and companies that I have used on and for this truck to the cab ceiling since I won't be putting a headliner back in. And since I don't use the rear view mirror (last rig didn't have one so I'm used to not having one still, and the spare tire is now in the way), I removed it and used the mount for my gps instead. Minor things, but I needed to get out of the house.

 

The gps mount is genius

 

How loud is it without the headliner?

My sentiments on the dual cases, when mine blow up im going atlas.

 

In the rain, pretty much how it would be with one. I never got to drive this thing with a headliner, but when I tore it out, it was literally just a thin piece of vinyl with little to no insulation above it. The only thing I was really concerned about was with the heat during the summer, but that is a non-issue as well. The a/c in this thing is so cold that it will freeze you out and you don't even think about there not being a headliner.

 

Started the off-season maintenance today and within 5 minutes I found that now my driver side inner axle shaft is starting to fail. I noticed the u-joint cap was poking out more than it should, so I tapped it back in with a hammer and there was about a 3/32" gap between the axle shaft and the retaining clip.... Which indicates the yoke/ears on the inner axle shaft have spread/opened up. I still have two chromoly outer axle shafts sitting on the shelf so all I need to do is order the upgraded u-joint and pull the stock inner shaft out to measure it and order a custom cut shaft from Dutchman.

Other than that, I plan on doing the following:
Front and rear diff fluid change
Front diff cover
Finishing the bed
Maybe a cage

 

awesome build! nice work

 

Decided it's probably time to get my bed finished since wheeling season is fairly dead. Pulled the bedsides off today and got the gas filler neck mounted. I just used an exhaust clamp welded to the bed frame to hold it in place. That damn thing has been flipping around, not mounted properly for close to 2 years now.

Finished the stitch welds inside the driver fender as well as painted it. It had a coat of primer on it along with mud stains, so of course I painted right over all that

Did a few other things too, I'll let the pictures do the talking there.

 

Managed to get the bed floor put in by the filler neck. I'll be making a removable cover to hide the filler neck and to protect it. Also did some dimple die work like I had on the old setup that ties the bed into the rear crossmember.

Finally added two more tubes to connect the hoop into the bedsides. This will add some rigidity to the hoop in case I were to ever roll it. I still have the start of an interior cage that I need to finish and install.