Boxing the frame?

i didn't do the cross bar because I'm not going to relo the spare. yeah i thought about it and would do it in a heartbeat if i was willing to relo. looks cool too. Eric at Archive said it helps with rail twist a bit and on road further improves the jitters 10-20% iirc.

this mod is top shelf. kind of expensive but it's worth every penny, no questions.

 

There's a TW discount off the $400 retail for the Archive garage hangers. Toughest part is drilling out the old rivets, that is an absolute bear but once you're through that parts it's easy, just bolting stuff together and a little bit of flap wheel and paint to keep rust from being an issue.

Nope, spare location is retained unless you go for the cross-bar option. It's not a necessary upgrade but supposedly it stiffens everything up even further. I'm currently on the fence about doing that. Probably won't just because of the spare tire fuss.

 

When I refinished my fj40 frame I found a paint spray gun that came with a long tube and and a 360 spray tip. I was able.to paint the inside of the frame utilizing the factory holes in the frame by shoving the tube in and giving er. Worked out good.

 

Oh, yeah...

 

I already did my research on that. You're gonna need different/modified shackle hangers regardless if you wanna bolt up that X-brace. Look closely at the picture, then roll under your truck and look at your hangers. They are missing an extension to bolt on the brace.

Also those X-braces are hard to source nowadays. Mostly your only option is the dealer and they MSRP at something close to what the archive hangars cost. Someday if I find one for cheap I might go ahead and see if I can modify it to mate with the archive hangars.

Oh, but on top of that, be advised that X-runners were only clearing a 27" diameter tire...

 

Yea I might try to get my hands on a pc for it

 

How did your surface prep inside the frame? (Honest question)

 

The strength of the C channel is not in question, but rather the undamped wiggles and resonant frequency that degrade ride quality, sometimes quite significantly. C channels in truck frames tend to not be very comfy.

As for the brace, that X runner piece is simply an example of how Toyota solved the issue. A custom piece would likely need to be fabricated.

 

I used a 1/2 concentrated muriatic acid in a pesticide spray bottle. Then I rinsed out the resulting residue, and neutralized it using baking soda and water. Then I jammed a heat gun in the end to dry it out and used POR15 to coat it. Then coated twice more in tremclad semigloss black. The outside of the frame I sandblasted.

Since the boxed in sections are short, I honestly wasn't too worried about it. I also never plan to wheel this or drive it in the winter, but even if I did, I'm confident I got everything.

 

Worst case just spray some cavity wax in the boxed sections. No way it would rust after that.

 

I’m confused...is that a diy piece or?

 

No, that is a factory Toyota X Runner brace. They are normally painted black.

 

The rear factory hitch and/or a plate bumper will stiffen up the rear end no doubt. I’m getting the bamf leaf hangers and shackles and keeping the rear hitch on with the spare underneath. The rear hitch plate connecting both sides of the frame is literally inches from the hangers. Really no need for a brace if you have the hitch.

 

I have the tow hitch with stock hangers, the X brace produced a very noticeable improvement in ride quality... vibration and shake over bumps was reduced. Triangles are where it's at.

 

i totally agree that HD shackle hangers are absolutely the top mod for vibration & shake... Tacoma jitters. I'd add a crossbar to it but don't want to relo the spare.

 

As much as I love the idea of a stiffer frame, the engineering on the 3rd gen is so precise and well thought out that I dont want to mess with it. They engineered it with 600MPa+ steel and used 1/8" thick sheet metal for the frame, I cant compete with their computer stress stimulations by just looking at the frame and welding another peice of sheet metal to it.

 

The precision of engineering on a 3rd gen cant make a back seat

 

I honestly never noticed a difference

 

I liked that

 

Also a good video