Fitting 35’s with minimal trimming NOW ADDING LONG TRAVEL AND 934 CV’s

Thank you... hoping to get it wrapped up this week so I can take it out and beat on it. Oh and fingers crossed my Kings show up in the next few days too!

 

No new pics for today but did get some work in. Removed the completed assembly from the passenger side made a jig and then built the drivers side on the bench. The drivers side was then test fit to the frame and it fit perfect. The way everything has been designed makes the install super painless and actually really easy.

There are also locating tabs welded to the bottom tubes that use the stock skid plate mounts in the frame. This removes any guess work when installing everything.

Hoping my Kings show up this week so I can cycle the suspension and mount the bumps.

 

...

 

Lower skid plate is done... all 1/4” aluminum and the diff section is notched with a bolt in 3/16 steel “sump”

Definitely has more ground clearance than anything else available

 

Sump close up

 

I like it so far. Got some good ideas.

Who's to say the Tacoma's can't be flat bellied

 

Flat bellies for the win

 

That’s my goal for next summer.

 

Ready set go, let's race!!!!! I've already been collecting some stuffs and conjuring up the possibilities and preparing my build for it. Biggest hurdle is the dagum t-case that biotch has to go for something I can clock and get up higher.

I like the OPs front skid set up but I'm going to be moving the front diff mounts and tucking my skid up tight against the front cross members and just have a little bulge where the diff is. Get a few more inches of clearance on the front. Gotta get as much up higher as possible to not drag on every little rock in the trail.

 

I seriously considered that but the extra 1” of ground clearance gained wasn’t worth the trouble for me with this rig since I already have the 81 for the real trails. Also what I did is really easy for anyone to install with the added benefits of the lower control arm tab mod I did

 

Yeah I figured that's what you were going for since you've talked about offering this as a kit for others where I'm looking for more one off type of deal. Call me crazy but I enjoy the challenge of pushing the tacoma to the limits of the capabilities and possibilities without going super crazy with a SAS or anything like that. I think it's interesting to really see what some "minor" fab work and mostly bolt on stuff can take these IFS rigs.

 

Exactly! If I was going the one off route I would have cut both cross members off and the entire front half of the frame so I could run a swing set steering setup, 934 CV’s and some longer arms but after all this is only my little beach truck so trying to keep it tame

 

Following

 

So let me wrap my 6 beer deep head around this. Your goal is to put 35s on with little or no cutting and put a light duty skid plate system on??

I mean I only cut 1.5" out of the front fenders, and bashed the fire wall a bunch, re sealed it and she was good to go. Been running her that way for almost 5 years now. Never touched the rear. It's interesting for sure, but I figured most guys wanting to run 35s had basically accepted that they were probably gonna bash up their truck at some point

 

So you're doing the same thing as Mike's Tacundra build?

 

No he still has factory crossmembers for the trans and CB. Hasn't modified the front diff mounts to move them. But the scope of what I want to do is similar pushing an IFS to see what they can do. I see some short comings with parts of his set up and am doing things differently. Plus he is a super slow crawler.

 

You missed the most important parts! In addition to what you described above the weak factory lower control arm mounts are replaced with beefy 1/4” tabs. The tabs then allow the elimination of the factory alignment cams for custom ones that use much larger grade 8 bolts. The custom cam tabs have an ear on the top of the eccentric that is match drilled once the truck is aligned thus bolting the cam in place so you can’t knock the truck out of alignment. The new lower arm tabs also have wider spacing than stock which allows the arm to be pushed forward 0-1”

The front of the frame has been modified/cut to improve approach angle and the ground clearance is improved all the way throughout the front.

This setup will work with any stock setup or long travel. It was kind of funny to me that guys spend all this money on heavy duty, fancy long travel and then bolt it to the weak factory control arm tabs. If you really are beating on your truck this setup eliminates the weak links.

Oh and 35’s now fit with a very mild CMC

 

@81Trekker
Don’t follow me, you won’t make it.

JK buddy. Let’s get this setup dirty and let your awesome work do the talking.

 

Oops lmao


Oh ya interesting, so you cut that drop down thingy off too eh. That's probably next for me too with a Baja style bumper, I'm tired of replacing skid plates lol