Hodakaguy's Overland Tacoma Builds - on to new adventures.

Thanks, I really enjoy fabricating and building. This build will be a little different as it's mostly a bolt on project, I'm really wanting to finish it up and use it vs do a long build like the Unimog or VW Syncro.

Hodakaguy

 

Got a little more work done tonight...slow but sure

Next up remove the factory upper control arm. The UCA bolt is a pain in the butt to remove. The metal lip of the fender interferes with the bolt and keeps it from being able to be removed, a little careful bending with some channel locks and there is just enough clearance for removal. It's still a super tight fit but it does come out.




The red arrow shows the area that gets bent back a bit for clearance. You can bend it back flat when finished or leave it alone so it's ready for next time, it's really not noticable.




The UCA Bolt passes next to the battery tray and under/through this wiring bundle (Red Arrow). You need to make sure it's not snagging on the wiring as you use a drift to push the bolt out.




Factory UCA next to the Icon replacement.




Greasing up the bushing for the Icon UCA. Everything gets a good coat of grease (Bel-Ray Waterproof) except where the bolt slides through, I cleaned that area out before install.




All greased up and ready for install. They will get hit again with a grease gun right before final torque on the bolt.




Looking better already . Still need to install the brackets for the remote reservoir.






Wheels showed up today. We are going with the "Cast Iron Black" AX201 Wheels in 16"x8", Zero Offset. Should look awesome with the Quicksand!




More to come.......

Hodakaguy

 

You got lucky with your UCA bolts! My cab seems to be shifted more towards one side than the other - one side came out barely prying the fender while the other one we had to make cuts to pull out the bolt. I would have just purchased new bolts and cut the old ones but the toyota dealerships were closed when I was installing mine :/

 

Nice Hodakaguy! Still rocking my super tanker braces on my 650r! Looking forwards to this build! Guys this is the dude you want to buy used vehicles from!

 

Yeah it was very tight but I'm glad it came out....we will see how the one on my fathers truck does

Hodakaguy

 

Awesome...I just finished another set of braces recently, there are a lot of XR650R's still going strong out there!

Hodakaguy

 

Was able to get a little done on the truck after work tonight, not a lot of progress...but progress non the less.

Time to get the remote reservoir mounted up. The brackets that support the Res also acts as a sway bar drop bracket, everything is very well made and thought out.

This mud cover needs to be removed to install the bracket for the reservoir.




The bracket will go between the sway bar mount and the frame.




Res brackets.






LOCTITE 243 Used on the threads, I like 243 vs 242 since the 243 is oil resistant and isn't as picky on having ultra clean threads like the 242.

LocTite 243: CLICK HERE




Bracket in Place.






Reservoir mounted in place






I re-installed the mud shields over the reservoir to help keep the engine bay clean.




Next up remove the passenger side UCA. The bolt on this side interferes with the sheet metal as well.




A little slight bending and the bolt slides right out. There is a lot more clearance on this side for the bolt to pass through, this side went a lot quicker.






UCA geased up and installed.




And the passenger side reservoir bracket installed and torqued.




That's all for tonight, more to come soon.....

Hodakaguy

 

Looks amazing, just spent 20 minutes cruising through your unimog thread, now I am really stoked to see what you do with this thing!!

 

Thanks the Mog was a fun build, won't be as much custom fab in this build as I want to get it done and start using it soon!

Hodakaguy

 

Tonight's after work Update..........

Passenger side front shock assembly removed.




OME Shock and Res installed, Mud cover re-installed.







Moving to the back. Drivers side rear leaf spring removed.




OEM and OME Dakar springs side by side. Have to do some touch up painting on the new springs since shipping wasn't kind to the paint. New OME bushings installed in the springs.




Aligning the holes to re-install the bolts into the springs. Giant crescent wrench makes the task easy




Dakar springs installed.




Next up....Firestone Air Bags and Daystar Cradles.

Firestone Air Bags available on Amazon Here: CLICK HERE

Daystar Cradle's on Amazon Here: CLICK HERE




More to come soon....

Hodakaguy

 

When i mounted the bag air lines, I ran the hoses about 12" rewards and exited the fill valves through the holes in the frame. Wicked short hoses, right behind the tires.

 

Nice!

Hodakaguy

 

Today's Progress.

Started back on the drivers side rear. Here I'm installing the new bracket for the lower shock mount. A new hole is required here as part of the mount.






Shock installed, I love the integrated rock shields for the shaft on the shock....all shocks should come with this feature! I put a dab with a yellow paint pen on each bolt that has been torqued to final specs. Some bolts will need to wait until the truck is setting on the tires again before receiving final torque.






Rear shock installed...minus the res mount.




The upper assembly for the Firestone air bags. The instructions show the big silver through bolt turned around the other way but it extends to far that way and will interfere with the reservoir mount, if your running both airbags and OME shocks the bolt needs to be oriented in this direction.




Reservoir mount installed








Getting ready to have the tires mounted on the new wheels, we removed my fathers front wheel to verify clearance on the calipers before diving in and having the tires installed. Calipers cleared so mounting is a go!




Tires mounted up. The wheels are AX201 16"x8" Zero Off Set, Tires are BFG KO2 285/75-R16. Here the tire is just leaned up against the hub to get a sneak peak on how it's going to look, the tires won't stick out this much once mounted properly. I really like the look against the Quicksand.






RCI Sliders showed up today, these babies are very solid and quality looks very good as well. Can't wait to get them painted and on the truck.






Got the passenger side rear spring installed and the upper portion of the air bags loose fit. That's enough for today.



Hodakaguy

 

Diggin the builds!

What is the full overhaul maintenance timeframe on the OMe dampers?

 

The shocks have a 3 Year or 60,000 KM warranty. Other than that not sure on the recommended rebuild times, probably depends a lot on how they are used.

Hodakaguy

 

Not a lot of time to work on the truck today, I did manage to finish up the passenger side rear suspension early this morning.

Passenger side all buttoned up except for the lower air bag mounts/cradles.




The lower air bag mount is suppose to rest on the axle on the outer edge but with the thicker Dakar spring pack it hangs in the air 3/4" off the axle (bracket is sitting on backwards for picture). I will modify the lower brackets to get proper contact back before mounting.




Going to place the sliders up onto the truck for a sneak peak....








Well at this point my super squirrel powers took over and I jumped off the slider project and used the rest of my limited time to whip up a power brake bleeder. I'll use this bleeder when I install the new brake lines and re-install the calipers. These bleeders work really slick, way better than a vacuum bleeder and lets you easily bleed the system by yourself. The tank adds a bit of air pressure to the reservoir and when you open the bleeder it pushes the fluid out without having to pump the brakes, just need to check the fluid level in the reservoir often so you don't run low and push air into the system again. You can buy purpose built units but they are around $50 for the cheapest ones, I already had an extra small weed sprayer so I just needed a spare brake reservoir cap. My spare cap came in today so it's time to get it ready for the upcoming brake work.

New brake reservoir cap and brass fitting that will connect the cap to the weed sprayer.




Hole drilled in the new cap.






The brass fitting was threaded into the plastic cap with two part epoxy to ensure a tight seal. Cap is now ready to use.




Ready to bleed some brakes! (I'll add a small pressure gauge on the tank body to monitor air pressure)




More to come....

Hodakaguy

 

Man this is awesome!

 

Up early this morning to get the Raptor liner sprayed on the sliders....but quickly got derailed when I realized I didn't have the 2K bare metal primer that I thought I had. Oh well...on to something else today.

Time to modify the lower mount for the air bags. The OEM mount is designed to rest on the axle on one side, it has a notch cut into the bracket to clear the curvature of the axle. When fitting properly the mount rests on the axle with two sharp points....probably not a lot of pressure here but I still don't like it. With the addition of the Dakar springs (This spring pack is thicker) it left the mounts support leg dangling in the air by 3/4" so modifications will have to be made to get it back to original design.

Firestone lower air bag mount sitting on the Dakar spring pack, this support leg is suppose to be resting on the axle (the mount is turned around in this picture for reference).




Starting to fabricate the new mounting leg, this piece of pipe will become the saddle at the bottom of the support. Here using a wrap around to mark a cut line. I like the idea of a saddle with any pressure being spread out instead of being focused on a sharp point.








Checking fit, I tweaked the curve a bit for an exact fit. Still needing a little tweak in this picture.




Laying out the new longer support leg.




Parts laid out, edges beveled and ready for welding.




Attaching the support base. Side Note....I absolutely love MagSwitches! These are super strong magnets that you can turn on and off with a switch on top. They are soooooo handy for holding parts when fabricating.




I started fabricating parts for the passenger side while my father commenced tig welding the mounts back together.










Testing fit




Mount primed/painted, Daystar cradle installed and everything bolted into place.




Alignment looks way off when the springs are at full droop, but it comes back into alignment as the springs are compressed.






More to come....

Hodakaguy

 

Loving the build progress

 

Coming along nice!!! Agree on those magswitches.. We used them at work all the time.