allenfab's 95 Tacoma build

The entrance trail at AOP was nothing special. And nothing like our entrance to Windrock on the 2nd day.

 

The day I caused a weird clunk and knocked my steering out?
Rough and tumble that day, looking back. I'd do it again.

 

Hell yeah!

 

I still need to wheel with you before all of society rips apart and ends as we know it!!

 

Starting to tie up some loose ends on the truck. There was some stuff that needed to be cut off from previous mods (tiregate latch, rear shock crossmember, wiring). The truck has gained a lot of weight over its life also, so I upped the spring rates on the coilovers as well (from a 111lb rate on the driver side to a 127lb, and from a 78lb rate on the passenger to a 90lb). I have managed to cut 15lbs of old shit off the truck already though

 

How do you like those Maxxis MTs?

 

I love them. They're great on the road (unbalanced even), and are fantastic off-road. I'd definitely buy these again. I liked my maxxis trepadors the same, I don't think you can go wrong with any maxxis tire. By far my favorite tires ive owned next to Toyo m/ts.

 

Fixed the bumper that I bent about a month after building it. I cut off both wings and made new, lighter ones. Ended up cutting 15lbs off the front bumper alone.

Also cut some speed holes in the bed in the name of better drainage and weight savings.

 

...

 

Ever driven over 600 miles just so winch someone out? Well I did this last weekend lol. Sis and bro in law got stuck in the middle of the woods in Georgia (no one around for miles) so I decided to head up there out of boredom to help them out. Got them out no problem and drove back without issue.

 

Sounds like a fun excuse for a roadtrip!

 

Just stumbled upon this and I just wanted you to know that this truck makes me feel... things. Great build and looks like a lot of fun!

 

Went to Hardrock today and had a great time. We wheeled hard and talked shit the entire time to each other. Met up with an SAS Frontier that got beat to death. Me and him conquered the new "cakewalk" obstacle too. Good times

Had the traction bar bracket on the rear axle fail... that one is on me. Welds failed, no other way around it. Welding to cast is tricky sometimes, and even though I burned it in at probably ~200 amps or so, inside and outside of the bracket, it just didn't hold up. Oh well though, it happens.

Also almost lost a tire again to a sidewall impact. Guess that one will be my new spare

 

I have a Ruff Stuff Traction Bar kit with a 2"x.250" bottom bar and all the himes and sleeved bushings I can let you have for future considerations.

It doesn't look like I'll be installing it anytime soon. In fact, my axle wrap isn't that bad at Citrus, so I probably don't even need it. At Hard Rock, my front end usually breaks before axle wrap in the rear becomes an issue.

 

I'm going to run without it for a while, after I fix my pinion angle issue. Gonna reweld the perches after I move the pinion down some, I fudged up when I went to tons and didn't take into account the extra pinion length when I matched the new axle's pinion angle to the old axle's, now the current one is pointing up and it's vibing bad without the traction bar to keep it down. We will see how it does then

 

Rgr that. I might be willing to tackle my bumpers and winch mount, but going by the issues you've had with your T-bar mount welds failing, if I ever did put it on, I'd want a pro to do it. I have been flirting off and on with the idea of making some templates and cutting the things up to fit. I could probably use the ones on your old axle housing to do it, but I've got other fun stuff going on right now, so the stuff is not going anywhere if you change your mind. Remember the kit has .375" thick brackets.

I would say the fact that you are breaking the T-bars indicates you probably need them. Don't wanna be like my YJ that twisted the pinion up so high it locked the yokes and twisted the drive shaft in half...and that was in beach sand...with 16x35 Boggers though. It's amazing I never broke that little Dana 30 front end or snapped one of the D35 axle shafts. I did break the D35 axle tube loose from the diff housing once and had to have it rewelded. Knowing what I know now that would have been a completely different animal. I would have at least slapped a T100 8.4 under the rear and probably a D44 under the front.

 

Not sure how I missed this thread, but, absolutely awesome work, sir.

 

thank you sir. Been following your build on here, love where you're going with it. Keep it up

 

So a few updates..... Quarantining still got me bored

A month or so ago, I noticed the front inner fenders where my exo was welded to had started to rip/tear away from the sheet metal. So, I made the decision to remove the cage for now until I can come up with a space saving way to tie the a-pillars into the frame or shock towers up front.... No rush in doing this though.

In the meantime, rigged up some ditch light brackets to occupy the fender notches.

I also got the rear differential cleaned up and free of what was left of the traction bar mount and cut the perches off and re-welded them with the pinion pointed lower (set it at 1.5* lower than straight in line with the shaft to give room for the pinion to rotate up during normal acceleration). @Taco No Baka, I know we once talked about how my truck wouldn't go over 60 or so comfortably with feeling like it was going to blow up... Well the vibes from the pinion angle were why lol. Got up to 75 on i4 when I finished it and it was smooth as butter. Lesson learned there.

And today, got the sudden urge to replace the back glass with a solid glass ( I never use the sliding glass and it's just not practical). Picked one up from the local yard for $100 and ordered a roll of window tint to try myself . I should be able to do it, and it doesn't need to be perfect really, just good enough.

 

Funny how simple stuff like that will trip you up. I accidentally found the source of my nasty vibrations that manifested themselves after we built my bumper. Turned out to be the brake rotors. Guess they were pretty badly warped. You would be shocked at how smooth it goes down the interstate with those bias ply 36s. I know I was.

I don't think you're going to be happy with those ditch lights though. It looks like you have spots instead of floods.