Skeletoy's First Taco

If anyone's on IH8MUD, I'm "SKULLYOTA" over there. Thought i'd change it up a bit.

Been a steady lurker here since I bought my 99 5spd 3.4l ext. cab Taco in February last year, been trying to bookmark all the common mods and hope to have this thing ready for some camping with the family this summer.

No stranger to Toyota's, 4x4's and fabbing.....some of my past rigs:

1987 Samurai, RUF, Rancho, 31's, sidekick diff gears


College beater...1987 toyota, 22re, duals, locked, 37's, 4.88's, ugly tube work


1970 FJ55, mostly stock, 34" swampers


1985 Toyota PU, 5.29's, duals, locked, OME suspension, 33's


One day I decided that I needed something a little more reliable to drive back and forth to work, and something with A/C for once in my life! Growing up, my dad drove a 95.5 Tacoma with the 3.4l and 5spd and started looking when I got my tax return in early 2016...

 

Found my 99 Tacoma in February 2016 in Butte, MT. 206k, 5spd, 3.4l, with manual hubs




Nice that it had some recent work done and a brand new set of 31x10.50R15 mud tires on stock rims.

My first mods were replacing some body and interior parts, tailgate, and fabbing front winch bumper.



Winch bumper took several months just welding one bit on at a time. today it looks like this:



You can also see the Amazon snorkel mod and knock-off 9" LED's. I also swapped the stock wheels for some 3.75 bs 4WP wheels. I discovered during elk season that I couldn't get chains on the front tires because of the clearance issue with the upper ball joint/tire sidewall. So, new wheels with less backspacing fixed that. Nothing better on a iced-over cliffhanger mountain road than a full set of 4 v-bar chains.

Got my HAM lisence a few years ago, installed a cheap 25 Baofeng mobile radio in the ashtray location of course. Waiting on the third brakelight antenna mount thread to takeoff so i can finish the install:

 

Sold the camper shell to a college kid who needed one for summer conservation/trail work. Been looking for a barn-door style contractor utility topper for awhile with no luck. Since I have a mint 1969 Ford F250, I can make this a dedicated wheeler/camping rig and not have to use it as a truck so much. The utility topper would be a lot more useful for me. If i can find one.

That's pretty much up to date. Just been hoarding parts to install in the spare time away from work/wife/kids/house projects/honey do's

OME 881's with bilstein 5100's:



Rear OME's on order still


Paranoid Fabrications DIN switch panel (missing ports will be a USB charger and maybe Blue Sea ACR switch in the future)


Before summer, I hope to get this done:
OME suspension
Clutch
Rear bumper/swingout
Dual batteries
CS144 alternator
subaru bucket seats
RTT and mount
Paint all the things that rusted over winter (bumper lol)
and whatever else is in the boxes of stuff im hoarding in my basement.

 

I pretty much religiously study Blackdawg's, BoxRocket's, other build threads.

 

I've been searching in reference to OME setups on people 1st gens, did I get incorrect springs for my application? the stock springs are woefully sagged with my steel bullbar and winch. I was thinking that the 881's and 5100's set at zero would be perfect but now Im not so sure....

should i get 882's or simply adjust the 5100's to the middle setting with the 881's? or set it up as is and see where i am?

 

Welcome! Good looking build you've got started there. I dig the old FJ, do you still have it?

The 881's and 882's are the same spring rate (500 lb/in), the 882 are just a little longer, so you don't have to set the bilsteins as high to get the same lift. Since you already have them mounted, may as well see how it rides as is, and if you want more lift set the bilsteins up to the middle notch. You will notice an increase in ride stiffness if you do that though.

 

The old FJ was parted out after too much trouble with the stock 1F. It was a rust pile anyway.


I installed the 881's with the Bilsteins set at 0". only gained about 1.5" on the pass. side and 2" on the driver side. Not as much as I wanted, but it's pretty level now and the 31's have enough room for now.

Driver's fender/clearance before:



After:



Overall:




Also installed the Paranoid Fab DIN panel. wired up the switch for my big round LED's and the BlueSea USB charger

 

Of course my new Dakar's are going to arrive tomorrow...and it'll sit ass-high when I install them. I think I have three options to re-do the front:

1. Disassemble and reinstall the 881's on the 5100's at the middle setting.
2. Put 882's on the 5100's
3. Put 883's on the 5100's
4. Bacon.

Option 1 and 2 seem like they'll do the same thing since 882's and 881's are the same spring rate with different lengths while 883's are the same length as 881's but much stiffer....

Thoughts? I'd like to keep the 5100's but I want more lift (I do have a diff drop i can install too)

Leaning toward 883's

 

I used to have 882’s, although they were on nitrochargers. They paired well with the Dakars, even with plate bumper and skids and whatnot. They’ll give you the same amount of lift as the 883’s but still have a softer ride.

 

Well I did some more research and pulled the trigger on some 883's from Low Range. My rear Dakar's should show up today! Along with a clutch and a complete steering rack kit. Debating on whether or not to do a Ubolt flip

 

Getting this thing's springs sorted out has been a pain. My 883's shipped today, but I apparently received two passenger side springs for the rear. Time to return one.....

 

Nice!

 

Accomplished a little work while the weather warmed for a week or so. Now that it's blowing snow and in the teens again....i've been stalled


Mounted my genuine NT Australian plate to my toolbox!




And have a nice pile of OME stuff waiting to install itself.




Also scrounged up some used Trail-Gear leaf spring plates to do a u-bolt flip, as well as some weld-on shock mounts from RuffStuff. I'm going to use Dorman u-bolts, PN 35664. 5/8ths diameter, should be plenty.

Ordered the OME Jeep JK trim packers to try and help the front 883's out too. Just in that mode where you buy parts while the weather is sh*t and wait for warmth to install it all.

 

Reinstalled the sagged stock struts, so i can rebuild the 5100's with the OME 883's. I put one together tonight, and thought the OME JK trim packers would be a good idea since BoxRocket and others have done it. I noticed though that BoxRocket didn't have new top plates with rubber isolaters like I do. I'm wondering if this is a little much having the new rubber isolators with trim packers...thoughts?

 

I assembled both with the trim spacers...we will see how much lift it gets. been too cold and snowy for reinstall them or the OME rear springs. Ordered new LBJ's, and been thinking about the JBA Off Road upper a-arms. I like that they can use off the shelf IFS chevy balljoints as a backup

 

RTT IS HERE!!!!111!!






If it wasn't a literal 10° outside, I'd be getting my OME suspension on too!

 

Mounted my new 883's/5100 combo on the front, definitely like this better. My rear springs aren't on yet, so it has a pretty good SoCal bro dezert stance now.

Also did the Trail Gear diff drop (i know)

Upper balljoint angle isn't too bad....hopefully after I sell some tires and other parts i can buy the JBA upper a-arms too.

 

Also spent some coin at the local steel shop for material to make my RTT rack. Gonna make two hoops, and mount the toolbox to it

 

Does the Upper balljoint angle above look like I should get the JBA arms soon? Anyone?

 

Decided not to get the JBA upper arms yet. Sold a set of 37's that i'd been saving for awhile to buy a CS144 alternator, second battery, other junk. I did get my OME rear springs installed today, finally. both the shackle bolts and the front spring eye bolts were completely frozen in place and had to be hacked out with Mr. Angle Grinder. Skinny death wheel for the win.

Pics later, but if anyone needs CHEAP shocks for the rear of a 2-3" lifted first gen taco, Monroe part number 31131 can be made to work. Bushings are tight, but the length is right for the stock mounts. I'll leave em on until I do the U-bolt flip and get decent shocks.