Doc's 05 Tacoma Build Thread

[Schattenjager]

Thanks Mark.

Here is a rough MS Paint of my Line-X idea... flares, rockers, rear quarters and that's it.

You wont be sorry with the Line-X! I have it done for about four months now and LOVE it - they are easy to clean, never turn white with wax, and really give the rig a good look coupled with real world protection. I am going to have my A pillars done (lots of rock chips to date) and about four inches of roof above the windshield.

 

[Mc Taco]

So, I contacted Deaver and they said these 12 leaf spring packs are maxed out for size and the only way to gain carrying capacity and fix the saggy butt syndrome is a custom leaf pack... $750.

Hey Dave, let me know when you're going to go to Deavers. If I'm off I'll head down and take you guys to lunch to soften the $750 hit. Anything to improve your truck so I can follow Nori's sweet lines!

 

[Dave Bennett]

Do you know what the price is?

$13.29
http://www.toyotaap.com/a-detail.asp?ID=505&category=Shop Maintenance

 

[Hilux_Max]

I have decided that my Deaver 12 leaf pack rear springs aren't going to cut it... I have saggy butt now with a full load thanks to my recent rear bumper upgrade and the fact that I carry lots of gear when I go out. It's a shame because up until now I have REALLY enjoyed the ride these springs provide both on and off road

As tempting as it is... I know better than to use blocks or other gimmickry.

So, I contacted Deaver and they said these 12 leaf spring packs are maxed out for size and the only way to gain carrying capacity and fix the saggy butt syndrome is a custom leaf pack... $750.

I have looked and I dont think OME Dakars or anything else will handle what I have now so I'm looking for others opinions. Do I just have this one option of having a custom setup made or is there something else I could do?

Anyone interested in a good set of used Deavers?

Tacodoc, have you thought about using an airbag setup between the leaves and the chassis ?

we use them on quite a few trucks here in australia and the beauty is you can adjust the air pressure in the airbags depending on how much weight your carrying.

Im thinking of using these on my truck in the future as I have soft riding springs and love the flex when empty offroad, but need the extra support when loading up for camping trips.

just thought Id mention it as something to keep in mind.

 

[mcgovski]

let see some pictures of the air bag set up. I have airbags on my one ton and with 5lbs,min. weight, in the bags they beat the crap out of me. the bags are sweet with weight in the back though....

 

[Dave Bennett]

Bags are an option but I have never run them on anything so I don't know what to look for..

My concern is that one would get pinched and pop when off road... or the pump/lines fail... just seems complex for long range desert use.

My truck sees hard use off road so I don't have time or patience for anything hokey.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Redline has airbags and they work really well. In fact everytime he calls me a picture of his runner getting airborn at the 07 Expo Trophy appears on my phone. Once I finish the install of my Long Ranger aux. tank I'm sure the 80 will be getting airbags to help with the weight.

 

[xcmountain80]

I can vouch for the coil spring type I have them on both the Tahoe and 4RUnner. I wouldn't imagine the leaf springs type are lacking in quality. I Know Firestone makes most of the bags and they are fairly inexpensive.


Aaron

 

[mcgovski]

I am running the airlift brand bags on my one ton. i have an on board compressor and in cab digital controls for both the left and the right bags. It has been a great set up, I have never pinched a bag and I carry a 4000lbs camper off road. Like i said before, when there is no weight in the truck and you are aired down to the min. PSI its a rough ride...I can be driving my father in law down I-5 and the little seems in the concrete make his "man **********" bounce! :jumping: I think its funny but bouncy all the same

 

[heeltoe989]

http://www.thecarlisuspension.com/user_pages/4_airbags.shtml?page=News&subpage=Long Travel Airbags

Long travel air bags for a dodge, but I would imagine you could adapt or make a similar kit to fit the Tacoma. Personally I'm not a big fan of air bags for overland travel. (something more that could go wrong). Customs springs are the way to go or OME Dakar's.

The key to good overland springs are in the overload springs and the leafs themselves. If you make a progressive leaf pack with a light first overload and then a heavy overload as your back up and then put 5 leafs on top for flexing and daily driving you get a leaf pack that can work through your whole load range and still have a good ride on the road when empty.

Grated the deaver set up flex's like mad. Both my 12 and 10 packs where really good off-road and the ride was really nice on-road, but no load carrying. even with the 12 pack, my truck sank with 700lbs in the back and on top of that used to bottom out because they have no overload spring. I can have the same weight in the back of my truck with my Dakar's and no bottoming out unless pushed hard because the first and second overload springs take care of the weight for me.

I'm currently looking into pneumatic bump stops from Icon for that little bit of extra protection when the going gets rough.

It's hard to have the best of both worlds (flex and weight)for overland travel.

hopefully all that makes sense.

:truck:

PS - In the summer time I had 1200lbs in the back of my truck and was still 2" away from the bump stops. (building a garden) Yes thats allot of weight but goes to show what the OME are capable of.

 

[StumpXJ]

I run the firestone Ride Rite's on my Taco. It works great for when you are loaded down. When offroading undloaded, I can still get full flex so that my 5125 Bilsteins bottom out. They flex well with the minimum 5 PSI pressure, but they dont flex so hot when aired up for a load.

Something to consider, and they arent that expensive.

~James

 

[kcowyo]

My truck sees hard use off road so I don't have time or patience for anything hokey.

Gosh Dave, if I had feelings that comment woulda really hurt. Luckily I'm an insensitive SOB.

I'm not going to say you need airbags. I don't know all of your future plans for your truck. But for you and heeltoe, who have both built amazing new Tacomas, I'm going to espouse a little on the merits of airbags, just so the info is out there.

First, I wouldn't sweat them as "one more thing to go wrong". In building a vehicle for the long, hard trail we've all added numerous gizmos and gadgets that could fail at inopportune times. Do we not? Fear is for pansies. Breakdowns make for the best campfire tales anyway.

Will airbags stand up to hard use off road? I believe they will. Currently I have over 30K on my set of Air Lift airbags. I added them shortly after installing my 700lb+ FWC. My initial thought was they would be a good fix until the money for a custom pack of rear springs was available. Two years later, the money I had saved for custom springs has gone to purchase other mods. Two years and 30K miles later and they are still working like a champ.

Now regarding hard use off road, here's a list of where I've spent the last two years and 30,000 miles on dirt with airbags;

Death Valley NP - twice
White Rim Trail, Moab
The Maze, Moab
The Needles, including Elephant Hill, Moab
Beef Basin, southern utah - twice
Eye of the Whale Road in Arches NP
the La Sal Mtns of Utah
Monument Valley, Utah
Valley of the Gods, Utah
Glacier Ridge & Weston Pass above Leadville, Colorado
Cinnamon Pass, Colorado - three times
La Plata Canyon, Colorado
Greys River, Wyoming
Madison Range Mtns, Montana
Gravelly Range Mtns, Montana
washboard Hell into Polebridge, Montana - twice
River of No Return - Shoup, Idaho
Medano Pass, Great Sand Dunes NM in Colorado
Burr Trail & The Waterpocket Fold, southern Utah
Alpine Loop Road, Wyoming - 5 or 6 times
Beartooth Pass, Montana - twice
Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado
Sunlight Basin, Wyoming - twice
Oregon Dunes Nat Rec Area, Oregon
Northshore Road, Lake Mead in Nevada
.....etc., etc.


Yada, yada, yada.... You may also include popular blacktop routes like the PCH 101, Hwy 50 the loneliest road in America, downtown Denver, the Las Vegas strip, I-84 through Portland, the 215 bypass in Salt Lake City, Hwy 395 in SoCal..... yada, yada, yada.....

Airbag failures after all that? Zero. So while I'm not one to normally toot my own horn, "Toot! Toot!"

Sorry to clutter your thread TD. But there is no reason to fear what we don't know and hokey, schmokey... airbags work.

:beer:

 

[Streakerfreak]

the little seems in the concrete make his "man **********" bounce! :jumping: I think its funny but bouncy all the same

Thanks for the mental picture:shakin:

 

[heeltoe989]

Gosh Dave, if I had feelings that comment woulda really hurt. Luckily I'm an insensitive SOB.

I'm not going to say you need airbags. I don't know all of your future plans for your truck. But for you and heeltoe, who have both built amazing new Tacomas, I'm going to espouse a little on the merits of airbags, just so the info is out there.

First, I wouldn't sweat them as "one more thing to go wrong". In building a vehicle for the long, hard trail we've all added numerous gizmos and gadgets that could fail at inopportune times. Do we not? Fear is for pansies. Breakdowns make for the best campfire tales anyway.

Will airbags stand up to hard use off road? I believe they will. Currently I have over 30K on my set of Air Lift airbags. I added them shortly after installing my 700lb+ FWC. My initial thought was they would be a good fix until the money for a custom pack of rear springs was available. Two years later, the money I had saved for custom springs has gone to purchase other mods. Two years and 30K miles later and they are still working like a champ.

Now regarding hard use off road, here's a list of where I've spent the last two years and 30,000 miles on dirt with airbags;

Death Valley NP - twice
White Rim Trail, Moab
The Maze, Moab
The Needles, including Elephant Hill, Moab
Beef Basin, southern utah - twice
Eye of the Whale Road in Arches NP
the La Sal Mtns of Utah
Monument Valley, Utah
Valley of the Gods, Utah
Glacier Ridge & Weston Pass above Leadville, Colorado
Cinnamon Pass, Colorado - three times
La Plata Canyon, Colorado
Greys River, Wyoming
Madison Range Mtns, Montana
Gravelly Range Mtns, Montana
washboard Hell into Polebridge, Montana - twice
River of No Return - Shoup, Idaho
Medano Pass, Great Sand Dunes NM in Colorado
Burr Trail & The Waterpocket Fold, southern Utah
Alpine Loop Road, Wyoming - 5 or 6 times
Beartooth Pass, Montana - twice
Yankee Boy Basin, Colorado
Sunlight Basin, Wyoming - twice
Oregon Dunes Nat Rec Area, Oregon
Northshore Road, Lake Mead in Nevada
.....etc., etc.


Yada, yada, yada.... You may also include popular blacktop routes like the PCH 101, Hwy 50 the loneliest road in America, downtown Denver, the Las Vegas strip, I-84 through Portland, the 215 bypass in Salt Lake City, Hwy 395 in SoCal..... yada, yada, yada.....

Airbag failures after all that? Zero. So while I'm not one to normally toot my own horn, "Toot! Toot!"

Sorry to clutter your thread TD. But there is no reason to fear what we don't know and hokey, schmokey... airbags work.

:beer:

I totally agree and you've really put you air bags to the test! :26_7_2:

Which shows me they totally work in the rough stuff.

I know in Canada in the winter time they can crack due to the cold weather, but that's getting down to temperature's at -45C which we had all last week. I know from having to take into account the cold weather with building my truck. It brings a whole different aspect to building a truck.

But I don't think Dave has to worry about -45C in Cali.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Rear Springs: To Be Continued...

Thanks for all the great input guys, I will deal with the rear suspension eventually.

For now, I have to finish the work on the rear of the truck. The bumper is back from powder coating and has been mounted sans swingout for now.

Once I catch up on that, and the license plate light, and the rack light wiring, I have to get the truck pretty for some... pictures

I have one more top secret project up my sleeve that will be a joint venture between myself and a well known overland vehicle outfitter...
:box:

Stay tuned for something special in the very near future!