Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

Awesome build and detailed information. @scocar linked in another thread to your exhaust reroute posts which I am blatantly copying, thank you.
Another headlight mod to consider is the @crashnburn80 one. Huge improvement over stock.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.398066/#post-11031383

 

Tomorrow is the big day...

Well tomorrow is the big install day for the suspension. Full report when it is hopefully all smoothly done!

For now a note on how the current stock suspension is doing with the load. I didn't measure the ride height when I first got the truck as stock, but these seem to be pretty well known numbers with 20-20.5" at the front and 21-21.5" at the rear giving a stock rake of about 1".

My truck right now is at 19.75" on all four corners, the factory rake is completely gone. Obviously the rear is quite low since I've got around 400-500 lbs in the bed at all times and a lot of heavy tools behind the rear seat. That's why I'm going with the All Pro Expedition leafs.

We will see where it ends up tomorrow, but I expect the rear to come in at 2.5 to 3" above stock height so that will put it around 24" and I won't be able to park in the car port at our apartment anymore (which is OK since the truck is usually in another parking garage 95% of the time anyway). Not sure whether I will keep the coilovers at their "recommended" height or dial them to a full 3" lift in the front but think aiming for 2.5" is about right.

Oh, and those Expo leafs are freaking heavy! I'll post a weight run down on all the new and old components when the install is done.

 

Ken,
Best of luck with your install! Looking forward to your update.

 

Install days are great memorable moments. Good luck! Hope you have a helper with the leaf Springs.

 

Have fun! Looking forward to these measurements.

Yeah, the Dakars were very heavy on my 01 compared to the Wheeler's 5-pack I had previously installed by myself. I was happy to have help with the Dakars. Are you going at it solo? Be careful.

 

Yes I've got help - or more likely I'll usually be the extra pair of hands since I'm calling in a pro. I'm headed down to work with @Speed Freek who does a lot of these installs. His expertise should be more than worth the drive and the cash. My level of fussiness combined with no direct experience would probably mean just the ECGS bearing and the brake lines would take most of a day going solo! If he works on the fussier parts while I do simpler grunt work (e.g. the rear suspension) and we use two pairs of hands where necessary I think it should bang out in a longish day without too much trouble. Truck is young so hopefully nothing seized we will need to fight with either (fingers crossed).

 

This is gonna be good^

 

Nice, yeah, I forgot about the bearing. A pro should make short work of that, and you have a lot on your list. And I understand the fussiness. I probably spent more time planning the steps and tools to my first suspension swap than the actual work itself. Maybe. As a DD, I simply could not afford to get stuck partway through, and I went at it solo as a noob. Now I still have a DD, but with a 6-month old and highly constrained and negotiated time management...speed is good.

This next time I plan to go after the UCAs, also, and with other shims here and there for driveline etc., I plan to rope my co-worker buddy into it, who races an old Quattro, so he's a good wrencher and thinker. My best wrencher friends from air racing days unfortunately live a good 45 minutes away, which can present some logistical issues. We have not been spending nearly enough time together in the past 5 years, and this may be an excuse to get him to come down and have some serious dude wrenching time. He's a joy to work with because we can generally foresee each other's next move in silence or with minimal chat (unless it's just verbal abuse). We used to do stuff like this, for about 20 years:

 

Success!

No time to write up much right now, but the suspension swap went great. A few minor hiccups to be documented later, but for now my two thoughts are:

1. Definitely not rocket science, as I think we all know pretty much any step can be done by someone with just a little wrenching experience and common sense. Having two sets of hands certainly a big plus in certain steps but really 90% or more is solo work.

2. Having someone who has done a whole bunch of suspension work before puts them in an entirely different league. There was very little "help" I could offer Jason without getting in the way! He was thinking three steps ahead and doing a variety of things that were "duh" once you saw them but I've not seen called out in the many install threads I've read. If I had spent two hours wrenching on one side of the rear suspension I probably would have saved him all of twenty to thirty minutes tops. I stuck to things that could be done completely in parallel either prepping something (e.g. shims on leafs) or finishing up behind (e.g. bump stops). This all would have taken me three days minimum. He banged it all out with a tiny bit of time saving from me in under seven hours.

Really happy so far, drives fine as is but going in for alignment tomorrow morning. Time for sleep!

 

@DVexile thank you for starting this thread...your journey keeps me interested in TW!

 

Congrats! Long day to say the least. Now to fine tune. Looking forward to your write up on the install and outcome. Your build is awesome!

 

So far so good on this build. Nice job Ken

 

Hey Ken thank you for choosing me to do your install (most of it anyway) I appreciate the work and its people like you that allow me to work for myself.
Was great finally meeting you and glad we got everything knocked out without any major issues, rarely do I have any, but you know how that goes.

Now you get to enjoy the truck and the new ride height will help in lots of ways (minus fuel mileage, haha)

I hope you are happy with everything and if you ever have a question or concern dont hesitate to ask buddy!

 

Off to Death Valley with the family this weekend, so still no time to write up the suspension install yet! But it will come, and I wrote down notes so I wouldn't forget a few lessons learned.

Instead of writing up mods I've been busy doing them instead Rush to get a bunch of stuff checked off before the weekend trip.

Truck aligned on Thursday to 3/0/0 with no issues. Was 3.4 caster after the UCA install and about -1 toe. Drove fine back home but I'm sure my tread will appreciate having fixed the toe before doing a drive around DV trip. Noted cam settings and added witness marks in case the DV trip knocks something off. Still need to apply anti-seize to the LCA cams.

Got the diff breather mod done yesterday too, photos and write up to follow. Not sure if the Amargosa is flowing but I'm ready to cross it now!

Last night after daughter was asleep I installed a full set of RCI aluminum skids (front, transmission, transfer, gas and LCAs). That took a bit longer than expected, went to bed at 3 AM. Photos and write up on that to be done as well!

And of course hopefully a good DV write up will be needed after the weekend too. So little time, so many posts to do...

Oh, and it would be miserly not to post up at least one photo. It is a pretty sucky photo, but anyway here is the Diet Taco sitting all lifted, armored and waiting to hit the dirt on the south end of DV.

Everyone have a enjoyable and safe long weekend. We are wildflowers bound!

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Looks awesome! Safe Travels!

 

So awesome! Enjoy DV! p.s. The Amargosa rusted my taco in a few days, faster than almost 6 years ownership! So salty!

 

I'm sure you know this... Don't wait till the last outpost to gas up, or you'll be cleaning your injectors soon!

 

Flowers...

We made it to DV, was a near thing with trip nearly aborted just a few hours in due to mechanical difficulties. Sorry to tease, but I'll write that up as well as the rest of the trip in a few days!

Until then, if you like wildflowers get your tail out to DV and plan to go out a few more times. Bloom is already impressive this early and dang is there a lot of happy plants out there. I saw some creosote that was so lush I mistook it for juniper.

The theme right now is YELLOW:

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Photography: Knowing where to be and when to be there.

 

Sub'd for so I can live vicariously through your photos