Not A Copy/Paste Tacoma Build

Front and rear suspension is all done. Sits exactly how I wanted it to. Just a few things to wrap up before it's ready to wheel. Front brake lines (was missing a couple parts) and wiring/plumbing the compressor and lockers.

Just a sneak preview

 

That's wicked

 

Okay so it's been a while since I posted in here... Been super busy with shooting a new shock value series and moving our entire business to a new shop.

Here's a bit of a photo dump.

Ls3 is built. Pretty well ready to run.


Decided to cut a giant hole in the cab to move the drivetrain back a bunch.



Got dirt designs 48" trailing arms, but I don't want bushings, so cut those out for tmr anti wobbles. Have a bit more work to do on the links then they are done. Need to re-wrap the ends.



Been working on a cad design for the rear link mounts for a while. Want everything to be flush with the frame with high clearance mounting of the links for the rocks. I'm still learning cad but this is my biggest project to date.


Cut it all out on the plasma table and got to bending and welding. Pretty fired up to see it become a reality. Still need to do the overlay plates and the upper link mounts. Just waiting on some hardware.



Pretty stoked on the progress.

Now that we are in the new shop I'm able to do a lot more in the evenings and weekends than I could before.

 

Looks fucking sick. Can't wait to see where it goes!

 

Which wheels and tires are you going with?

 

Thanks man! Me too!

I have 39" km3's that will be going on raw method 101 beadlocks

 

DAYUM!
Gonna be a sweet rig when it's all done.

 

I'm still trying to decide on what colour to wrap the whole thing when it's done. I want to stick with blue just cuz it's always been blue, but not sure what kind of blue yet

 

I've always liked the look of the Voodoo blue.

 

Coors LIGHT's mountain blue??

 

I'm thinking something kinda like this maybe?

 

That is one ugly car. Color might look good on truck though

 

Haha yeah fair, wasn't paying much attention to the actual vehicle. I do think the colour is cool though. Not super flashy bright

 

Making a little progress. Got the inner overlay plates Tig welded on. Just learning Tig, so having fun with that. Hoping to get the upper link mounts done tomorrow, and if I have time, I'll do the outer plates as well

 

Rear link mounts are all done, everything cycles and flexes nicely. Measuring for shock stroke, it should cycle 25" at the axle, so bumped and strapped at 24" will be perfect.

Just need to bend that rear cross tube so the rear end can have 4" more up travel and that's the rear suspension sorted aside from shocks.

Cab back on and finish the cage next!

 

Let’s gooooo

 

I’d like to see what it would look like in root beer brown. Poop metallic

 

Been a while since I posted in here...

Outer cage is done, waiting for rear shocks to come before I do the back wall.



Mocking up drivetrain position so I can start on the belly



The belly will be completely flat, and entirely removeable as one giant piece like a huge skid plate. Then I can pull it off to access, or remove the entire drivetrain out the bottom of the truck.



I also swapped the trailing arm bushings to an antiwobble uniballs, then wrapped the ends, and filled in/welded all of the seams and logos that were left exposed so there wouldn't be any rust




Slowly coming along. Will finish the belly shortly with all of its mounting points.

Rear shocks are probably another 6 weeks. Ordered 2.5x16 race coilovers, and 3.5x18 race bypasses, with 2.5x4 bumps. All cerakoted so hopefully they are a lot more rust resistant! Once those show up I can finalize the shock mounting positions and build the rear wall of the cage, the shock mounts, and then the entire back half.

My engineer friend designs mountainbike suspension for a living, but loves trucks and wheeling, so he is helping me design the front suspension geometry which is very cool. Excited to have 18"+ of 4wd travel in the front!

 

I see some rust in there. Time to put it in the bin, then provide me with the address of such bin. In advance, thank you!