Long Travel BS Thread

EVERYTHING on that thing is rusted.

 

*patina'd* haha

 

3.

 

You had trail gear and I guess I never heard of them having those - I have TC and looked at them and they seem to have more support.

I'd cut out any rusted metal and replace with 3/16 and maybe put cross bracing where possible.

Here's yours:



The TC ones add a little more material in there for support and are angled / bent which resists bending a bit as well. @Anthony250 made his own but he mentioned the amount of work might end up not making it worth saving $150 from what I remember. Based on the TC ones it would be a lot of work with a grinder and paper / templates

https://www.chaosfab.com/accessories/1996-2004-Tacoma-Front-Spring-Hangers-40060

 

Appreciate it. I mostly needed confirmation in my own brain to likely just cut these off, clean everything, plate the frame and then weld in the TC ones where these were. I don't bash this truck like previous ones so not worried about it much down the road.

 

I'd check ruffstuff too, I know they make a hanger for 3" leafs, it's what I used for my raptor pack conversion .

 

Buy mine then

 

I looked and ruffstuff and it was surprising but they didn’t have any 2.5” hangers. The TC ones are pricey but they work fine on the curved section of frame although you might have a different section being a double cab and they give you a lot of space to weld to the frame and are beefy.

 

Heres the TC hangers on my truck. The first time hacking up a truck was to put these on, and havent given me any issues at all.


However, speaking of chopping frames, who has the best suggestion to rebuild the frame? I was thinking just welding in 3x2 square tube, but its not the same dimensions as the original frame. (It was cut because I ended up with 9" hangers in the 12" location causing the leafs to hit). Id like to save the tube bumper/hitch thats still attached to the end of the frame, so boxing/repairing it would be ideal..

 

Cut the frame off there and remake it out of tube. i know you want to save it, but theres not structural support left
the formula your looking for is Q=b(h^2)/8

you can calculate what was there and then calculate how much material to add above to get back to that value if you wont cut it off

 

Thats kinda what I figured. Thinking flush cut the forward side of the frame, then kinda "sleeve" it in to rebuild the back out of 3x2 square? Also planning on adding a X brace once the new tube for shock mounts goes in (under bed) similar to what was there before

 

is the bed going back on? that will determine any advice i can give.
if not, build the rear section off of the bed cage.
if it is, more pics would help for clearance measurements and other ideas

 

Yes, I cut the bedcage out to go back to a normal bed, the bed cage was originally tied into the rear section (post notch). The intention is to make the rear structurally sound enough to tow again.

Ignore my temporary shackles, just trying to see how its supposed to sit

Stock frame length

 

if it was mine, cut it about 8"/9" in cap it with 1/8" plate and run a 1.75" tube level with the frame top for the frame there back. with a triangle tube gusset at 45 deg to the bottom of the remaining frame
just bump it an inch or so short and it shouldn't hit

sleeve, notch, and rosette weld the tube hitch structure back on

 

Wow. Hmm. If you wanted to keep the frame I’d just weld in some 3/16 on the inside of the frame over the hole plus get some outer frame reinforcement plates TG sells or make your own then box it from the gas tank back. I’m mostly boxed in back to about the gas tank x member and if I had more time I’d go all the way down to where it’s boxed in from the factory. Only if you want to keep the frame.

If you want to keep the bed you don’t have to keep the frame like @SanClemTaco is saying but obviously you’d have to make mounts for the bed bolts then. I’m considering drilling out through the bed in the four bolt hole locations to just drop 1/2” or 9/16” bolts down through to the mounts like 2nd gens do. If you’re going to be making a whole new rear frame you could consider that too.

 

Your first idea is what I was originally thinking, basically add support to the inside and plate the outside. Regardless Im trying not to go any deeper than 12" from the rear of the frame, thats where theres a seam for the shackle pivot plate. That way the rest of the frame and bed mounts are still in place, just the rear two would have to be rear "made".

Also, who runs 12" shacks thru-frame and who runs them over? TC recommends through, to me it looks weird with the leafs so flat compared to with the 9's in the same spot..I know it affects ride height, but any other reason to go over frame?

 

You can slide a 4x2 into the factory frame if you cut far enough forward

 

Is that thing still for sale?

 

Go above the frame - @Anthony250 runs them that way and has good ride height with e30 hd leafs that match his lift spindles. I’ve got the same setup and e30 regular leafs with some reverse rake with no lift spindles. That’s weird TC recommends through the frame. They have instructions on how to run them above the frame on here. I’d see what other people say but I’d imagine that would be the consensus.

 

Is that your 4R?