Nathan's Long Travel Build

Yeah! If you're up for the detour, come by. It might even be back on the road in a couple months

Thanks!

 

Sounds good, where abouts are you in BC?

How did you like the General Tire Grapplers? I have been looking into tires for pea gravel, bit of muck, sharp rocks for the gravel roads around here. Are they suited for that or more sand?

 

I'm in Smithers, so kinda out of your way. But I always make trips around the province, and to the island.
General Grabbers, hmmmm. Depends on the weather there. Its the island, so lots of rain, any snow where your at? They're sucky on ice and packed snow, any large lug, non-siped tire will be not great on ice. I'm recommend a good A/T or maybe M/T for what you want. Lots of tire threads on here, just look around for what you like.

 

Ya lots of rain and snow, well it doesnt fall to often near sea level but on the back roads it will be pretty common for the places that id like to go.

Damn smithers is farther than I though lol! Ahh maybe we can work something out some other time if your at a different place around BC. Must be some wicked places to drive up there though!

 

Ok, rear shock talk. Since I always know exactly what I'm doing, my tires hit my rear shocks when I'm flexed out. So I flexed it out with no shocks and it looks like I have around 4" between tire and frame.
Should I try to squeeze my 2.5 shock in there, or notch my frame?
Having 3/4" on either side of the shock doesnt seem like enough to me.



EDIT: and thats not with the bumpstop compressed either, so the gap might be a tad smaller on big rocks or rough landings

 

Notch your frame! 05tacorunner did his, no clearance issues at all

 

What axle? What wheel offset? Was the other side close to full droop?

 

Probably whats going to happen.

Tundra axle, 4" BS on the wheels IIRC. Yeah the other side was pretty close to droop.

 

Hmm It should work... Im asking becuase my friend Tony ...If you remember him from the Krispy kreme meet Red tacoma first gen... he had shocks outside the axle on a tundra axle 15x8" wheels on 35" tires and it clears the shocks.

 

Well they "should" clear, theres 4". Its just really tight. I might notch the frame just to gain some breathing space, in case theres any axle movement

 

Okay. How did you connect the brake line to the fitting on top of the tundra axle it seems it wont fit...

 

I actually re-plumbed the whole rear axle.
Theres talk somewhere about what different people did about it.
You could get the flare nut for the tundra and cut off the tacoma one and flare on the right one.
Do you have access to a brake line flare tool?
Maybe ask Jason what he did.

 

From what im guessing (im by no means an expert) your shock is goin to be near the location of the red-line. I think you may need to move the shock mount closer to the frame and notch the frame for clearance. As it is right now the shock is really close to the tire at bump but has plenty of clearance on the frame side. (I assume it is the opposite when the suspension is drooped: clearance tire side, close frame side)

 

Couple pics with shocks.

Bumped



Drooped



Theres actually some room between the shock and the frame at droop, although its not "fully" drooped, its as drooped out as it will be with the other side tucked up.

 

only real solution im seeing is to move the shock inward will it doesnt rub and notch the frame accordingly (if at all). The clearance can be tight because this is max articulation (assuming the bumps are compressed when everything clears and the other side is drooped out fully) i would say even 1/2 inch clearance at max articulation should be adequate (just my opinion)

 

Finally started bending tube.



Trying to get it pretty tight to keep as much head room as possible. As I'm pretty tall, I don't want to smash my head on tubes



It's really annoying me that the tubes on either side are not the same distance off the cab. In the bottom corners of the windshield, the passenger side one is in farther. I'll just live with it

 

Very nice!

 

looks great so far! how do u like that jd bender? I'm thinking of picking up one of those

 

Thanks!

Yeah its good, wish I got the hydro ram. but the bends are great, I can get consistent bends so I can't complain. A draw-through bender is a must for tubing

 

Thinking about taking the box off my truck and building a drybox the same size as the stock box. That way I can hang the bedsides off it and have dry storage in the bed since I won't have any room in the cab anymore.
Leave room at the back for spares and make it flush with the top of the bedsides. Could look pretty sweet.
Individual compartments for fuel cell and batteries to keep them dry and separate.