cbechtold's Long Travel IFS Crawler Tacoma Build and BS Thread

Completely not necessary for the way you guys wheel your trucks. Your not going to tear your frame... nice design on the belly pan, but I think it's overkill. I say build something lightweight, wrap it with hdpe and call it done. When/if you bend it pull it off and beat it straight. All the weight you guys add to your trucks is going to cause you to start breaking other parts.

 

Overkill I'll agree with, but we can toy with the idea when we have time to build it. As much as I would love to wrap the skids with HDPE or UHMW, isn't a 4'x8'x1/2" sheet of that stuff a couple hundred bucks? Would be nice, but money is something I lack.

 

I look at it like this (having broken 1 truck already), It's only overkill up until you break something...then it wasn't enough. Overbuild shit to your heart's content. Alot of weight? Get more HP! Bigger tires? Regear! But the biggest thing I learned is to not cheap out on my truck. You usually always end up spending more money in the end instead of just buying the quality goods in the first place.

 

^^
I'm with him. Sleeving the frame takes just a little extra time and with how soft and thin our frames are, I think it's completely necessary especially with the possibility of all the weight of the truck sitting on that piece. I dont think thats overkill. But if you dont plan on doing any serious crawling or dragging the belly a lot, then it can be considered over kill. And if it does bend, then drop once or twice a year and beat it back in place.
I do agree all the pieces in the middle of the skid are not "necessary" and will make the skid hang lower. Just spend the few extra bucks and get 1/4 plate, score where you want to make the bends and then weld the score. And grind smooth. (Jealous you know how to use sketchup, been messing it with it for a while and I suck at it.)

But this is just my opinion and its up to you and what you do to your truck.

 

I'm more or less aiming for the truck to build to my needs. I want it to be build and then some. Hardest this truck will ever get wheeled is probably through the Rubicon Trail or Dusy Ershim, but that's a while from now. Stuff like Slick Rock, Moab, Eagles Lake, etc. I shouldn't have to worry about breaking anything, nor to I intend to.

I'll call the local metal depots here in the Bay Area and see how much 1/4" is compared to 3/16". If it's not ridiculous then probably, otherwise I'll be fine with 3/16". Sleeving is probably worth it, but depending on what I do for the crossmember still will determine if I do sleeve or not.

 

I mean all it takes is for you to drop off of a rock to hard and your rear end slams down and you can bend these paper frames lol

 

whoops, just edited my last post

 

When i pulled my bed to box the rear section of my frame, it had all sorts of wripples from where it had flexed and bent and I never did any "extreme" trails by any means. It just showed how weak the frames really are.

 

Yea, I get what you mean. Frame reinforcements will be a thing. Boxing the frame will probably be thing when I relocated my rear shocks.

Our frames are only 3/16" all the way around. I do have way to combat that.

Does make me wonder if what you're saying is part of the reason @JLee basically rebuild his frame, front and rear, out of some thicker square tube.

 

I plated the front frame with 3/16s and then also boxed the rear frame with 3/16s. Was planning on only doing 1/8 but since all the ones you can buy where 3/16s, figured I might as well do them the same. We saved all the files we cut on the plasma and could cut pieces again for the right price. Not sure it would be worth it with shipping but if you wanted to.

 

Probably will just make my own. Frame is different between DC and AC so that has to factor in. Thanks for the offer though.

 

Eww finals. I had the same work ethic. Lol, it landed me 3 A's, one B and my first C ever. Damn accounting. Freakin' hated that class. Never again.

 

I'm hoping for the best. Accounting sounds like "fun"... ha

 

I studied so hard for the final and then failed it. Pretty shtty. At least that means that I will never have to do accounting or any math again.

 

At least you don't have to don't have to do that again. At least you got that going for you.

 

That's what I did with circuits. Studied a decent amount for it and failed it but still passed with a B. I hate electrical shit haha

 

I just hate how I studies the most for accounting and did so bad. I scored a 57%.... I've never done that bad on a final in my life

 

Got a bit of a surprise yesterday. Relentless Fabrication 3/16" IFS Skid Plate came in as an early birthday present from my parents! Really wasn't expect it be be here until mid-June, maybe later. Gotta love the parents!


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 1 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Managed to get it painted yesterday as well, and get it on the truck.


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 2 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Preliminary iPhone Shot

And then the whole collection of images


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 3 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 4 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 5 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 6 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


Relentless Fabrication IFS Skid 7 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_1587 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Need to give the truck a bath! It's absolutely filthy!

For 3/16" though, this thing is beefy. Should hold up for quite some time. Another product I'm very happy with. Really am digging the flat black on it. Almost makes me wish I had my bumpers powder coated flat black.

I got a few trips to the Rubicon coming up so belly skid probably won't happen until after Rubithon in a few weeks. I'm thinking after I get the belly skid on I'm going to take a day trip down to Hollister SVRA and give the truck a bit of a shake down run. Should be fun.

I'll upload photos of the Rubicon trips if anyone is interested.

 

This thing is filthy? Mine hasn't been washed since Christmas and I've been on 2-3 trips now.

Damn thing is clean (both looking and not dirty)!

 

Ahhh, interesting how they mounted to the front bumper. Looks good!