Not A Copy/Paste Tacoma Build

Hell yeah!

I'll figure out how it needs to go and get it designed in fusion, but basically the driveplates for the axle have these little aluminum dust caps that bolt on, but the hub spacing is too small for my wheels, so I figured I should just replace those dust caps with a hub spacer so the wheel has something to actually sit on other than just the studs.

 

Gotcha, ok. I use Fusion at home so you can always send a file over and we can use that to dial it in. I use Solidworks at the shop.. but I can machine from either model file type.

 

Love seeing this build get worked on. I'm digging the wall art as well.

 

Slowly chipping away. I wish progress was faster! I really want to get the chassis/suspension complete. I feel like I'll be over the half way point then, and things will really ramp up with plumbing, wiring and sheet metal, cuz all that stuff is really just connecting dots. No need to design a bunch of stuff at every step.

 

Got the rear bump mounts and strike plates all done and tacked in last night. Will probably try to make the limit straps tabs today and get them tacked in. Will try to finish the back X tubes today as well so I can work on my battery mounts next.

 

Just tuning in. This is freaking awesome. Might be a dumb question but could you talk a bit about where you learned how to do all this ?

 

You're pretty much looking at it. I've been welding and wrenching my whole life, but I just started working with cad and tube etc when I started this project a couple years ago.

 

Man it is a work of art. Way to go. I get fired up when I put my brakes on and don't f it up lol . Haha that's all it takes for me .

 

If you had to put a community college program name to it (aside from the mechanical part) would metal fab be the best fit ?

 

Yeah probably a fabricator, though there is no real design element to a fabricator program, it would all be reading drawings and creating those parts. The other side would be CAD designer.

That said, I wouldn't say I am even close to a college degree level in either of those things, especially CAD, which I've mostly learned from youtube.

 

Awesome. Well I can say if I went into a 2 year program and came out being able to do that work I would be over the moon.
I can build a house from treed lot to key in the lock but this trade seems like magic to me. Nice job I'll stay tuned.

 

My fiberwerx one piece front and bedsides arrived a day early and I couldn't help but get a bedside mocked up and trimmed

 

Looking great! What kind of custom dash do you have going on there in the background?

 

This thread is sick as fuck

 

Its the fiberwerx flagship dash. Excited to get a bunch of Haltech and Rugged Radio stuff stuck into it! I wish so bad that fiberwerx had a +6" bulge long bed bedside, but they only have that for the short bed, so I had to go with a +4" and I just had to cut the shit out of it and kick it out pretty far in the back. But that's fine cuz the one piece front is super wide, like 86" so it should match up decently. I am running long bedsides and cutting them around the cab since my wheel base has been shortened by around 8"

 

She’s looking proper!! Looking forward to seeing the finished product

 

LOVE the fiber works front clips. Probably starting to feel like a truck again with some body panels in the mix!

Have you articulated the rear axle to test clearance as well? I know you're not building a crawler, but landing a jump a bit sideways or bicycling a turn can flex out the rear pretty quick. Depending on the geometry, some setups can get a bit of outward movement on the compression side when articulating. Would be a bummer to trim the glass for full (straight) compression and then blow one out because you tested out the swaybar a bit too hard.
Speaking of swaybar, disconnect the drop side for this test, and look at your tire clearance on the sway bar arm and link on the compression side. You may have already done this, but it was the one thing I forgot to do, and sure enough, tire rubbed on the swaybar link at full flex.

 

I've flexed it out, but not with the swaybar, so I'll have to do that. Its hard to test though because the link anti-wobbles bind before it can fully articulate, and I'm not sure where in the travel it will actually sit at full articulation. I doubt one side would ever be fully compressed in articulation, especially with the swaybar. More likely it pivots around ride height, so I don't think it will get fully tucked like that at max articulation. I really don't know though. the tires do hit the bypass resi if one side some how managed to be fully compressed in articulation, but I just can't see it ever happening in reality. More likely it will be dropped down a few inches, in which case it clears fine, and the swaybar arm is tucked in tighter than the shocks are.

 

Yeah, anti-wobbles make it tough, especially with poly, since your kind of guessing how much farther they'll go in a dynamic situation when they squish.

If your swaybar is inside the resi, you should be good. It was hard to tell from the diagonal photos. Would love to see a shot of one side directly from the rear if think about when you're in the shop. I like how you flared out the rear of the chassis to hit your swaybar width and get everything in-line

 

I looked at it again earlier after reading your message. The sway bar is just inside the Resi, but because it's linked to trailing arm and mounted pretty low it stays below the top of the tire no matter what so it won't be a problem in my estimation. I know your sway bar is mounted pretty high up more in line with the top of the tire.

I'll try to grab a rear on photo tomorrow!