2nd gen taco All Pro vs. Dakar...

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Getting very deep in here....

Apples to squirrels man!..............apples to squirrels.

 

[bkg]

Apples to squirrels man!..............apples to squirrels.

Apples and kangaroos, maybe.

 

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The compression vs tension shackle arrangement makes it impractical.

BTW, I don't buy the articulation argument because since forever Cruiser guys have been doing SOA to get more articulation. I think it's a mix of things, in their cases they can get lift and run softer springs while on Tacomas the SUA lets you run longer springs that aren't so flat.

You can torch off those stock shackles.

https://giantmotorsports.com/index.php/product/shackles-toyota-s-10-nissan-explorer/

or better yet ditch the lame leaf springs altogether and link it like on this Ranger. Very stock looking but some suspension goodies going on under there.

 

[DaveInDenver]

You can torch off those stock shackles.

Have you ever ridden or driven a 2nd gen Taco with a shackle flip? Very tippy. There's a reason everyone's going back to heavy duty inverted shackles, the truck seems to work better with them when you actually carry payload. Same with the 63" Chevy kits you linked. Very flexy springs for sure but I'm not after a dedicated crawler, never have been really.

 

[Clutch]

Have you ever ridden or driven a 2nd gen Taco with a shackle flip? Very tippy. There's a reason everyone's going back to heavy duty inverted shackles, the truck seems to work better with them when you actually carry payload. Same with the 63" Chevy kits you linked. Very flexy springs for sure but I'm not after a dedicated crawler, never have been really.

No 2nd gen, but my buddy In Tucson had a class 7 90's Toyota with Chevy springs... good for straight line acceleration absorbing bumps and whoops, but sucks at cornering.

What I wanted to achieve was far less radical, stock height with better capacity. Another one of those half baked ideas I come up. Try to solve one problem, and create 3 more in the process.


The idea came from looking at Land Cruiser 79's...I like how low they are. So maybe not so half baked.

Like I said. Cheap solution was to simply add some ballast so the truck wasn’t so stink bugged when unloaded.

 

[Clutch]

Well, I ditched roof racks for hitch racks because it was a PITA getting bikes on the roof. The final straw was when my wife ran her bike into the garage door and ripped the factory roof rack of her Jetta. We run 1Up racks now, which I absolutely love.

Unrelated question, but you posted the photo so it's your own fault...

How much of a pain in the butt was it securing bicycles on the roof of a tall vehicle? Considering ditching my hitch rack in favour of carrying bikes on the roof...

Used to be afraid of hitch mounted racks, for fear of someone rear ending me...but it turns out with them on the roof we are our worse enemy. I have darn near rammed them into a garage...did rip a seat off going through a drive-thru once, because I forgot they were up there.

Biggest gripe about hitch mounted racks is...if the weather is foul or you're running down dirt roads...the eddy the forms behind the vehicle covers them with grime, which shortens the life of the components, imo.

One of the reasons I have been looking at Sprinters and Transits, able to store them inside would be nice...out of sight out of mind isn't a bad thing either.

 

[dman93]

I have the 1up rack right now. It's kind of heavy, and I don't like that it gets in the way of the tailgate all the time.

Do you mean that in general a hitch rack is in the way? Agreed, but unlike some (most?) hitch racks the 1Up tilts down easily, and at least with our bikes, clears the lowered tailgate when loaded with bikes (we have the heavy duty 2 bike version). Unloaded, it clears the 3rd gen tailgate when in the horizontal position. I added a strap to my tilt release bar, so it’s easier to access and doesn’t pull the bar at angle which soemtimes prevents release, so lowering it takes seconds. That said, I recently removed my shell so I've being doing over-the-tailgate style.

 

[JTM]

Landcruisers seem to do awfully dang well with SUA...

If we ever meet remind me to tell you about all the times I've had to drag an SUA FJ, Nissan, or YJ because they were hung up on their springs. My favorite story is about the FJ62 stuck in the jeep ruts half way up a climb because his diffs were on the wrong side. A pretty close second was the YJ sitting on his spring hangers with the front wheels off the ground, sua plus shackle lift.

The compression vs tension shackle arrangement makes it impractical. The rear suspensions aren't really that similar. The 2nd/3rd gen is actually better for carrying loads than articulation because the shackle travel gives you a rising rate, so a SUA helps make it more like a shackle flip to a 1st gen style without as much body roll and axle wrap. Also you lose a lot of clearance, which I gather isn't something desert racers worry about.

Doing a SUA on a 1st gen would result in a really soft rear suspension, like an FJ40, unless you lower the whole ride height to take some arch out of the leafs like the 2WD truck have. An FJ40 I can tell you can get *really* tippy if you load them with lift springs. It's not a small reason why I sold mine for the pickup. I could never really find a good balance, either it rode like a buckboard wagon with stiff springs or it squatted and wobbled. Some of that was wheelbase of course, though.

An SUA would only be soft if you used springs with a low spring rate, this has nothing to do with SUA vs. SOA. FJ40s get real tippy because they have a short wheelbase, narrow axles, and a tall body; CJs and wranglers have the same issues after a certain amount of lift. The bucking wagon is a result of unbalanced shock and spring rates

BTW, I don't buy the articulation argument because since forever Cruiser guys have been doing SOA to get more articulation. I think it's a mix of things, in their cases they can get lift and run softer springs while on Tacomas the SUA lets you run longer springs that aren't so flat.

I'm with you on the articulation argument, a leaf can only twist so much before it binds or becomes damaged.
The reason desert trucks run SUA instead of SOA is cycle range, at set ride height an SUA spring will have more arch allowing it to have more uptravel than an SOA spring set for the same ride height. The additional uptravel creates a larger overall cycle range giving them better control and longer life in washboard or jumping conditions. The other benefit is in high horse power applications an SUA spring will have greater resistance to axle wrap.


Dave, you nailed the reason I love my Second Gen Taco so much as a work/adventure truck.