[HOW-TO] - 1st Gen Tacoma Rear Shock Relocate

Ok thanks for the info. Bare with me for a little. To measure the travel distance it would be from shock mount to shock mount, correct? If this is so how would one measure if the shock mounts haven’t been relocated? Would you assume where the new mounts will be and use that to measure or would you need to do a shock mount relocation before you can get an accurate measurement?

I also read that it is recommended to change out Ubolts every time you remove them. So when I install the leaf pack with new ubolts and then do my flip kit I would be using new ubolts again. Can I just installed the new leaf pack with my used OME ubolts until I do my flip kit and shock relocation?

 

You can use your old u-bolts for testing but not for on-road use. The reason new is recommended is because in the torquing process, the threads on them get stretched.

When you articulate the axle with the new springs (some recommend only using the main spring), you are trying to determine how much movement the springs allow. We'll call this distance X. If X is a full 10" as my Alcans are, you can then use that measurement to determine where to place the upper relocated shock mount that then allows you to see where the lower shock mount has to be to not exceed the X.

 

Bumping this thread since I'm hoping for some advice on a relocation quandary. Also first post, hey everyone! I will preface this by saying I'm new to Tacomas and have little experience working on vehicles in general - I grew up playing with bikes and not trucks. I'm mechanically inclined but have little confidence when it comes to ripping my truck apart beyond routine maintenance and small fixes.

A little over a year ago I picked up a sweet first gen locally which was my first Tacoma. It is essentially a dream truck for me in awesome condition and really nicely built out including a full ADS kit with relocated rear shocks. I didn't know much about relocation at the time but I had been lurking here and doing research on tacomas since like high school to make up for a severe lack of experience with these trucks, but that only gets you so far. When I picked up the truck it had an empty bed and a very new Alcan leaf pack, so the bed was sitting pretty high. Over the past year as the springs have settled and I've built out the bed more with a topper, sleeping platform, and recovery gear etc I've noticed the amount of up travel on the shocks becoming concerningly small. Knowing what I know now I prob would've noticed this initially but never did and I took it on tons of adventures over the past year and never had any issues wheeling it.

So I started digging into this more and realized that I do in fact have way too little up travel and need to do something about it. At rest with the average weight I take on trips I measure only 2.5" of available up travel. I do not want to add a leaf despite that maybe being the simplest option since I already have a pack that's rated for way over stock and the rear end of the truck sits high as is, so I'm looking for advice on the best course of action to get this in a better spot.

FWIW it has the ADS 10" smooth body shocks designed for Tacomas with the welded end, so it's not a shock issue (I have the receipt to confirm).

The culprit is real clear: the upper shock mounts are too far from the bottom of the bed. I've read Adventure Taco's failed relocation post and also seen that the #1 piece of advice with relocations is get the upper mounts as close to the bed as humanly possible. You can see here how we're dealing with almost 3.5" of space that, if taken up, would bring my up travel to 5-6" where it should be:



The reason for this is that when the previous owner did the relocation they ran the crossbar from the middle of the frame vs the top of it as I have seen most other people do. You can see here in the side view (the crossbar is the circle sticking out of the frame rail):



So unfortunately I don't think it's a matter of simply cutting off the upper mount brackets and angling them upwards since it'll quickly interfere with the top of the shock, instead it looks like the entire crossbar needs to be cut out and reattached to the top of the frame (or more likely a new one needs to be put on with new mount brackets). I know what needs to be done but I know 100% that I do not have the skills, confidence, experience, or shop setup to do this big of a job myself, nor do I have any welding expertise or that coveted wheeling buddy who does. I don't want to know what a fab shop would charge me for this if they were even willing to take on the project (but maybe I'm wrong with this assumption?)

I'm mainly wondering if this is a job that inevitably needs to be done or if there are any other possible solutions here. Part of me half jokingly considered just getting shorter shocks since that'd prob be cheaper than paying to have this work done but I know that defeats the whole purpose of the relocation and would fuck with the down travel. The only other alternative I can see is repositioning the lower mounts like way the fuck down on the axle but that seems like an accident waiting to happen when I catch a rock (the are currently set up pretty flat, maybe angled slightly down)

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated, or if anyone knows a homie in Western CO who would be down to take on this work with me for less than like a million dollars!

And now if you've made it through me being a huge noob here's a photo of the truck in a cool place. Thanks for reading!

 

Any pics from the rear of the way it sits now at ride height?

This view:

 

Sure here you go (excuse the moab dust residue still on there). As you can see there’s not much travel left to work with



My makeshift bump stop band aids are also removed for measurement purposes

 

Yeah, it looks like the only way to fix this with those shocks will be to raise the upper mounts as far as possible. The lowers are pretty close to where they need to be for the 10" stroke. I suppose you could run an extended rear shackle but that would not correct the problem entirely and may shorten the life of the leaf packs.

I realize I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

As for finding a buddy that can help, that is what TW is all about. My guess is you will find a lot of local members who can help. Have you posted yet in any of the CO bs threads?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/colorado.172/

 

Where are you in western CO?

 

I’m in Carbondale

I did reach out to Warfab since I know Mike did some work on this truck in the past

Do you guys see a possibility of building a custom upper shock mount that utilizes the same crossbar but allows the shock to sit a few inches further up? Or will the whole thing likely have to be redone?

 

Hard to be sure without seeing it first hand. Pics can be deceiving. But if the old one isn't in the way, maybe just do a whole new one. Otherwise, cut off the old one.

 

Ah, don't know anyone in the Roaring Fork valley. But I'm sure Mike could help you out.

I think it's possible to put new tabs on that crossbar and raise the upper mount a couple inches. Unless you want to move the lower mounts too, that's probably all you need. They would have to be pretty long to raise it and then clear the shock bodies, so either make them or find some extra long shock tabs. That would also angle them back further which is not really what you want.

Or cut it all off and start over.

 

I’m willing to drive a bit to get the work done I wouldn’t expect there to be someone super close to me

And yeah I was thinking build some kind of mount that’s wide enough to clear the shock body and then taper it in and weld standard tabs on top of that. It’d allow the shock to still sit at a similar angle it’d just have to be canted out far enough that the shock body didn’t hit the crossbar at full droop. But there’s zero science behind any of that.

I think a standard width long tab would push the shocks too far back as you said and have to be super long to give the desired extra height while also not interfering with the shock body

Or cut it all off and start over.

 

The more vertical the shocks are, the more true they are to their valving. If possible, I would see if it is possible to work from the front of that tube.

 

Good to know, thanks. I was considering that as well when looking over the setup

Hoping Mike will be able to assist but will also ask around in the CO forum

Thanks for the help everyone!