Austin's Supercharged Mid Travel Build

Awesome! Thanks. I hate my antenna hitting my garage door every time I pull in.

 

how does the new antenna work? I have heard most of the short ones generally suck and are only good for looks

 

I'm not really sure how it works. I only bluetooth music from my phone when I'm driving, so I never really use the radio. I only got it for looks because it looked silly not having an antenna.

 

Completed my first welding project on the tacoma today. Boxed the frame using trailgear's kit, and then ran a tube across to mount my carli airbags to. You can get an idea of where the airbags will go in the second picture. I also finished piecing together my tundra brake kit. Went with OEM rotors, pads, and shims, along with napa 13WL calipers and wheelers braided lines.

 

Whatcha doin with the airbags? Or why are airbags needed?

 

yeah why bother with air bags???

 

Oh, i was just curious.... Maybe towing?

 

I'm installing the airbags because I use this truck as a daily and am going to go with some All Pro Standard leaf springs soon. Although the Standards are great for a soft and forgiving ride, they don't do well with weight. When I go camping or "overlanding", I typically have an extra 500+ lbs of gear with me. Using the airbags, I can account for the added weight and get the truck level. I went with the carli bags over a daystar cradle / firestone setup because I want to keep my bump stops. The carli bags also provide a nicer ride than normal airbags because they have a much larger air volume. The larger air volume doesn't ramp up in pressure when compressed as much as a smaller lesser volume air bag does. The carli bags have also been proven to take a beating, and are on a lot of full size prerunners. Lastly, the carli bags can be taken off with a single bolt on top and bottom which will make them easy to remove if I find that I don't like the ride with the minimum 5psi when the bed is unloaded.

 

IDK about you but I'd want my suspension to work when I was offroad. I'd get springs that cope with the weight. Wouldn't be terrible for the daily either

 

I think the airbags will be better because I can essentially run whatever spring rate I want on top of my Deaver spring rate, but I'm pretty much just talking out of my ass until I can actually put them to the test. I had my Dakar springs setup with the AAL for awhile but hated the ride when unloaded. Based off what I've read about the carli bags, they can really take a beating and handle great offroad.

Also, here's another guy in the 2nd gen thread that has the same setup: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/long-travel-air-bags.225411/

 

Hope it works well!

 

You know..my expos aint to bad with an empty bed....but then again, i havent ridden with something soft

 

Great looking truck
Ever have any problems with axle wrap? I always assumed having the shocks oriented backwards would be better, Im lookin to do shocks angled back and in slightly when I do the shock relocate but Im kinda concerned about the stability.

 

When I first relocated the shocks I didn't have axle wrap, but my leaf springs are pretty tired and have some axle wrap now. I wouldn't blame it on the relocation though.

 

I was scrolling through TacomaWorld and I thought I’d check out your build and when something rings a bell..I saw a truck just like yours today and then I saw you live in southern Oregon so I confirmed it was your rig! Saw you parked over by rays (excuse the possible creep factor. Nice rig man, very nice looking 1st gen you got there!

 

Haha that's awesome, what a coincidence! Your truck looks pretty sick as well. Are you also from Southern Oregon? If so, a bunch of the Team Overland guys in the valley and I go wheeling at least once a month. You should join in sometime.

 

I may take you up on that offer. Currently my truck isn’t super “trail ready” just running 5100’s with stock coils and a 1” block in the rear but with some light trails I’d be down! I’ll PM ya sometime, currently work has been hectic right now.

 

We usually don't do anything difficult when we go out in big groups, although in the winter we go get into some pretty deep snow.

 

After chasing down a clunking noise in the front end, along with loose steering and highway shakes, I finally narrowed down the issue to a worn steering rack guide. A 20 min job, and $50 later, my steering feels like it's brand new and the front end is silent again. To anyone that has high miles on their steering rack and loose steering, I highly recommend giving this a shot.

 

Worn steering rack?? Tack weld mod?