Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

Some clips from last weekend

 

Installed a new Marlin crawler push-n-turn shifter base for my crawlbox. I need to rip out the interior and re-do that tunnel area to better seal it.





Also found a split bushing on one of my LCA's
So I pulled them off once again and replaced them with new bushings and grease. The metal sleeves basically just fell out once I pulled the arms.
Called solo motorsports and they're sending me new bushings and new inner sleeves. It's possible that the sleeves are a bit too short which is causing the bushings to get pinched. I'll throw those in there once these ones wear out.

Also ordered the KP offroad alignment kit so that I don't have to pull the steering rack to remove the rear cams for doing this in the future.






These arms have seen some abuse and they're holding up well otherwise.

 

How do you like that shifter base? One of the parts I dread about changing my case fluid is fucking around with that damn shifter!!

 

Isn't that the truth. I remember fighting that c-clip for almost an hour the first time I put together. From then on I always unbolted it for fluid swaps and re-rtv'd it instead of messing with the clip.

 

For my lt kit the outer sleeves (2.25x.250 sleeves) welded to the lowers were too short in the foremost forward and aft positions so there was a big enough gap that the lower mounts wouldn't be flat against the bushings when the bolts were tightened. In my case the gaps were all different and it was hard to measure how much of a gap or spacer would be needed. Tossed around the idea of putting an outer spacer between the outer sleeve and the bushing hats and an inner spacer and saw a 15% off code for SCS and went for it. Had a bunch of different thicknesses made for the outers and a couple for the inners:



Are you getting the cam tab gussets as well as the bolt / cam replacements? Installed the gussets recently and put a little more 3/16 plate for reinforcement where it's still 10 gauge until the crossmember.



If you're not worried about the pc at this point, this is a cool idea to add while the arms are off:



This is @dose on DR's truck - he put those for his bottle jack. I'm planning on putting a similar element but for my HF floor jack I bought for the rig.

 

So far it's nice. Mostly got it for if I have to do a fluid change on the trail when I don't have a pump. Definitely miles easier than the C-clip. I'd prob be fucked if I had to deal with that thing on the trail lol.

Interesting idea. Since they sent me new bushings and inner sleeves I figure I'll just run it for now how it is until they get all loosey goosey again. Speaking of which, I need to redo my alignment cause my front tires are cupping pretty bad and are significantly more worn than the rears at this point

I don't have cam tab gussets. I just welded 1/4" bar stock behind the stock tabs and that's been working well for me. Those 10 ga pockets are getting beat up though so maybe down the line I'll beef them up

I'd like to eventually weld on some limit strap tabs to the arms, but I don't think it's entirely necessary to weld on additional front bracing like that. They're plenty stout as is and I have yet to see any dents on that front edge after playing bumper cars with some big rocks.

I like that idea of the spot for the bottle jack. I do miss that about my factory arms. There's nowhere to place a jack on these arms. Although I got one of these to build which should solve that problem.

 

I have a useless super power, I can remove that clip with my fingers in less than 5 seconds.

 

With your finger? Are your finger nails made of adamantium?

 

His kit is a TC kit - they don’t use a welded seam at the bottom plate but bend the front up and do the rosette welds to connect them to the top plates.

 

Deleted the LSPV today. Installed the wilwood valve up by the MC.
I tried to reuse the factory steel hardline to make the new ones I needed, but the kit I got to make the flares wasn't heavy duty enough to grip onto the steel lines. Went and got some copper line at the auto parts store and used that instead which worked way better.

The stock line ends of the brake lines are double flare (or inverted flare), and the wilwood value needs a bubble flare brake line end.


Parts I got for the job minus the copper tubing. Didn't end up needing the couplers.






the return line was a pita to pull out of the truck. So damn long.





I have the valve all the way open, but aren't able to lock up the rear tires. So I'll just leave it open since it seems to stop just fine. About the same as before, but I also had the LSPV all the way up which should be the equivalent as no braking bias.

 

What wiring harness would you recommend? I have the same bulbs but no upgraded wiring harness.

 

This is the one I got a while back. It's pretty expensive though for what it is. You could probably make The same thing yourself for cheaper. It's just some relays and higher gauge wire in places.

https://headlightservices.com/GroundSwitched.html

 

How important is to have an upgraded wiring harness? I’ve been running these bulbs for probably a month with just the stock harness and haven’t had any problems yet.

 

I would say You're fine. The idea of the upgraded harness is just to get the bulbs a little bit more power so that they're running more efficiently at proper voltage. And to maximize their output potential. I didn't do any measuring, but the thin factory gauge wiring to the front headlights isn't doing you any favors if you're running 100w bulbs like I am.

 

See what this guy did
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2004-tacoma-double-cab-sas.788588/page-6#post-29261912

 

Finally decided to get off my ass and install my Diamond housing that I've had sitting around for a year now (I think?).
I was also motivated because on the last wheeling trip, my driver side wheel was chewing up the rear of my fender since my rear axle isn't centered in the wheel wells.

Due to the larger diameter of the axle tubes (3.5in vs OEM 3in OD), it was going to add another 1/4" of lift in the rear which I also wanted to avoid.
So after doing some thinking, I had the idea to take the leaf perches that I bought with the axle and profile them in the CNC to be more low profile as well as add another leaf pin hole 3/4"in off center.






The leaf perches original profile was about the same as OEM height, so I was able to remove about 1/2" from that height which should bring the rear down 1/4" from where it was before.

I had a set of new durobumps to go in the rear as well but had to modify the mounting bases to be used with the FROR top plates.







Final pic before pulling the old axle




Here's a good pic to show how bent it was. I also noticed a crack on the end of the perch too. It somehow wasn't leaking.




I stripped down the old axle of all brackets for the E brake, brake line standoffs, and shock mounts.





The ring gear looked fine after a quick inspection. Nothing alarming to be worried about.



I cut up the old shock mounts and made them skinnier to better fit the lower eyelet of my shocks since before I had to use washers to fill the space between the mount and the eyelet.



First test fit


Mocking up the E-brake hardware


Brake line tee standoff made with some of the brackets off the old axle.


Don't have any pics of it, but I bent up some brake hard brake lines and welded some small standoffs that I can mount some P-clips to for holding the brake line in place. it was definitely a learning process with bending the tubing.

Everything final welded into place.



Checkout that clearance between the perch and axle tube. I had to grind down the bottom of the leaf spring pins so they would clear the axle tube.


Mask for paint




Primer & paint.
I used Rustoleum professional in gloss black. It laid down really nice, but it's been taking forever to cure. I can still dig in a fingernail after over a week after painting it. I must have gone too heavy with the coats or something. I hate painting. Something always seems to go wrong for me. At least it's under the truck and will get bounced off rocks so it's not that big of a deal it's not perfect.




When I first went to bleed the brakes, I had a leak on either end of the Tee. So I re-flared the ends of the lines going into it and swapped the fittings from the ones that came with it to the OEM ones. I found that the fitment around the 3/16" brake line was a lot looser on the aftermarket fittings compared to OEM.

Final installation

 

Looks really nice! Cool to see what's involved other than just perches too since I have to install one of these pretty soon with a friend. Random question, what caused your stock housing to be off center?

 

Thanks!

@turbodb encountered this a while back iirc and posted about it, but there's a discrepancy with the leaf spring centering pin location on certain year 1st gen trucks. I ordered my Alcan pack with their standard spec, but turns out it put my axle too far back. Moving it forward 3/4" puts it dead center.

I'm sure the crunched housing wasn't helping things either. I'm sure my thrust angle was off too

 

Oh okay, you meant centered fore and aft, I thought you meant left and right. Yeah, my spacing wasn't even right with stock leafs, now it is but it took a lot of trial and error before I cut the hangers in.

 

Here's a dumb video I made
https://youtu.be/LdofCNIDjdo?si=3WAUgIK53NAgt34f