Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

damn man sorry to see that. Time for ridiculousness

 

I may just do that. Need to evaluate my options.

How about links and 9" rear, Solo XLT kit in the front. That requires cutting the coilbuckets anyways...

It's getting really old. Would like to go all out and make it withstand this better, but $$$$

 

Coulda bought a 2nd gen by the time you're done

 

Don't forget the time part

 

Think a crossover brace would have prevented the bucket issue?

 

Was a fun few days! Great to have you along.

It was a rough trip on all the trucks..

Seeing where the tear is I don't think so..

 

Should've done that a couple years ago when I was debating it.

Not sure if it would've prevented it, but it certainly couldn't have hurt. It's getting pushed much higher up on the priority list now.

 

Should have bought mine!

 

Yeah right.

 

Hey, it was $10k ran like a top when I sold it.

 

Patch it, plate it, gusset it, add a brace and move on.

 

Tim's on top of it with a Beef Bucket Brace kit. ® Hopefully.

I'll grind it and weld it for the time being.



More worried about the axle at this point. Might just pick up a TG housing. Looks like I can get one for not much over $500 shipped if I shop around.

 

So that reuses all the stock guts?

 

Yes, would resue my 3rd and chromoly axles.

Would also need to add perches, shock mounts, brake line stuff to that price.

Could also look into junkyard axle to swap, but getting a 4.88 diff with locker would push the price up substantially to any other option, and haven't had any issues with my diff.

Cheapest and easiest would be a used toyota housing, but not sure how long that would last.

 

I'm not sure a second gen would fare any better. Weaker spindles, steering rack, and the same thin rear housing that's just wider so it'll bend easier under the bigger and heavier truck.

I'd take a deep breath and understand what you want to do with the truck long term (2+ years). No right or wrong answer...whether it's longer overlanding trips where you'll be loaded up to 5k lbs and beating over washboard roads for multiple weeks a year or whether you want to make a lighter technical crawler and simplify a bit, or if you aren't sure what you'll be doing in 2 years, will make for really different paths. By fully understanding what you want to do, or fully not understanding what you want to do (not making a choice is a choice too), will really help you make a wise decision that will benefit you in the long run.

At this point you're using your truck so far beyond how it was engineered that you've run into some fundamental issues with a Tacoma. Of course anything can be solved with cubic dollars but I'm not made of money and I'd guess you're not either.

Front coil buckets and body front clip cracking (Full disclaimer, I'm IFS dumb and have no idea which application these work best for):

-Pull coilovers and UCA's and weld/gusset. (What I'd probably do with a strut bar to prevent future cracks)
- Cheap
- Pain in the ass to cut plates out and shape them and then weld them in.

-Buy new coil buckets and weld them in https://www.ballisticfabrication.com/products/adjustable-coil-buckets
- Affordable
- Beefy and lets you retain your existing coilovers
- Potentially big pain the ass to deal with fitting in the UCA and cutting out the old coil bucket

-Break out the water cooled credit card and get a blingy long travel

-Break out your other water cooled credit card and solid axle swap


Rear axle cracking on the inside of the perches:

-Ignore the weeping fluid, it won't hurt anything if the perches have good welds on the outside.
-Free.99
-Buys you time to decide what you want to do.

-Cut the perches off and weld on new ones/Swap in another Tacoma housing
-Affordable
-Let's you fully repair the perch area
-Still stuck with the thin axle housing
-Good option to buy you some time and will probably last a while. They live under crawling trucks fine for many years.

-Swap in an FZJ80 axle (What I would probably do for any application)
-Your e-locker third with 4.88's will cover most of the cost of a junkyard 80 axle. They are pretty darn cheap and can be found with e-lockers.
-Super beef housing that will not crack or bend beating down washboard roads. They seriously weigh 250 lbs more than a Tacoma axle
-9.5" R&P is beef that will stand up well with weight rock crawling.
-A Ford 8.8 swap kit from Barnes 4x4 has all the right sized perches and u-bolts to swap it in.
-Correct wheel bolt pattern

-Break out the water cooled credit card and have a custom housing built.
-I would not get a custom housing with an 8" center. I'd opt for a 9.5" Toyota third or a Ford 9". Doesn't make sense to put that much money into an 8" R&P on such a heavy truck.

 

FZJ80 is full float too right? It's easily the best axle IMO to run in these trucks. Only downside is that it would look funny being slightly wider than the front. But only like 1.5" on each side right?

 

The diff is also offset to the passenger side.

 

63” on the 80 axle and 60.5” on the Tacoma axle. So close to that

Full float and disk brakes that are huge.

Yep, milder offset than 40/60/62 axles so they fit nicely under Tacoma’s and their driver side gas tank too

 

That doesn’t matter though. I’ve seen it run in these trucks with no issues. Might need to adjust drive shaft length and that’s it.

 

Orrrr...

You sell the Tacoma and buy an FZJ80

I owned one and DD’ed it last winter and while I didn’t love it (12mpg, and I’m not that into wagons), I did gain a tremendous appreciation for how absurdly over engineered they are. They are cheap to buy and blow the Tacoma out of the water in build quality and strength.