Florida Tacoma build

[Nullifier]

next up was adding some wrap arounds to protect the body from all those rocks.

We started by bending up some tube and test fitting and bending and testing. A long and tedious day making them all symetrical. then we added some vertical stiffiners to the arms to keep them together. Finally after they were fully welded into place we made some supports that tied the wrap arounds to the frame, and capped the ends of the tube.

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After it was done it got painted rattle can black and installed. Here are the final pics of it painted and then installed.

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I have been considering adding some plates to my frame and adding on a spare tire holder, ammo can, and jack rack but have not decided yet.

 

[Scott Brady]

Having seen your truck in person, I can speak to its coolness!

 

[Nullifier]

Ok so I finaly got my new top secret mod all sorted out. One of the big issues with Florida wheeling is the water. There is alot of it and it gets deep real quick. Just look at the new issue of Peterson 4wd and you will see what I mean. So being tired of getting out to wade or even worse GO FOR IT!, I decided that a new plan was needed.

I added a Hummingbird smartcast depth finder to the truck. I mounted the castable transducer to kids Sponge Bob Squarepants fishing pole that fits perfectly on the back wall of the cab between the two seats. The main unit runs on a few AA batteries and fits perfectly in between the seats on the top of the tunnel. I plan on adding a bungie cords to hold the unit in place but allow it to be removable for use on my kayak. Now all i have to do roll down the window cast out the transducer and bam, I know how deep the crossing is!

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[CLynn85]

Now that's pretty slick! Have you done any trials with using the depthfinder in muddy water. How does it react to soft mud on the bottom of the hole? Any change in the display based on a thick mud vs. watery vs. solid?

 

[Scott Brady]

too much fun :luxhello:

:lurk:

 

[Nullifier]

Now that's pretty slick! Have you done any trials with using the depthfinder in muddy water. How does it react to soft mud on the bottom of the hole? Any change in the display based on a thick mud vs. watery vs. solid?

I haven't official tried it in the truck on a trail but generally speaking the way the bottom reads on the screen is a grey scale. the harder the bottom the darker the image.. I have used these alot on kayaks over the years but never a smart cast. It is however a standard hummingbird operating system so it functions the same. I will give more feed back on this as trails beging. The rainy season is about to get going here so all those dry trails are about to get deep.

 

[p1michaud]

Tres cool!

Ok so I finaly got my new top secret mod all sorted out.

Very cool!

Nice updates on the "old" mods. I've been brainstorming for quite some time on how to build my rear bumper. Thanks for the pictures.
Cheers,
P

 

[Nullifier]

Ok so it looks like tuesday's and wednesdays's for the month of june are going to be the build days. I am running out of time to get stuff built and ready for the Idaho trip. First up is the electrical with dual batts, isolator, inverter, viar compresor and tank, fuse block, rock lights, some extra 12V plugs, lap top in cab with navigation and some driving lights. Then the new 4.88 gears and dual arb lockers. Then the ARB suspension and finally fitting 33X10.50 bfg muds. I figure that's a good 8 days work. I also have to fab up some brackets for the batteries and some storage boxes in the bed but that is no big deal. Since my truck is a '96 and I'm putting the late model springs so new leaf spring mounts will have to fabed.

I will start posting pics of the progress on thursday.

 

[Nullifier]

Oh man well we finally made progress today. I got the truck and all the goodies down to the shop. Inventoried everything and got all my measurements for batt wires got a list of other things like grommets, fluids fastners etc I will need. We got all that stuff and assembled the front OME coilovers.

Tomorrow we are going to drop in the front coil overs and then we are going to convert the Diamond plate tool box in the bed to the "electrical" box. Then we will fab up the new hangers for the longer late model OME leaf springs and call it a day.

 

[BajaTaco]

:lurk: I know just getting together all of the elec. pieces and mapping out the wiring is a time consumer. Sounds like you are humming along.

 

[Nullifier]

:lurk: I know just getting together all of the elec. pieces and mapping out the wiring is a time consumer. Sounds like you are humming along.

Oh man Baja you are correct. Getting all the stuff together to do a quality install is a major time consumer.

Today I got the OME coilovers insatalled. It took about an hour total. Everything went like clockwork. Just undid the sway bars, undid the bottome bolt poped it out then the 3 bolts up top. Stuck in the OME and reverse. Made a big difference to ride hieght and stifness thankfull. Now my 31"s look to small :clapsmile

Unfortunetly I spent the next hour arguing with my buddy who is helpng, over stupid stuff . He wanted to fab battery brackets from steel and I wanted aluminum. After an hour I said fine do what ever you want. He fabbed up the mounts and I started working on the tool box. After an hour he had cut all the angle and tacked it up. I said ok and then made a set out of aluminum. I hate arguing it's anti productive and besides it's my rig damn it. He is really into the hardcore stuff and doesn't understand my mentality on some things. I drive my truck hard (which is what he sees) when it's apropriate but as we know GVWR is an issue so anything you can do to save wieght you should.

Then he got a call from a mutual friend that got him mad and he "had to leave". Unfortunetly we rode together so that was the end of today. I think I will be doing the work on my own from here out LOL

END of Rant. Hopefully next week I will finish the Electrical box and get all the wiring and air lines done. That is next weeks goal. until then :lurk:

 

[UncleChris]

Unfortunetly I spent the next hour arguing with my buddy who is helpng, over stupid stuff . He wanted to fab battery brackets from steel and I wanted aluminum. After an hour I said fine do what ever you want. He fabbed up the mounts and I started working on the tool box. After an hour he had cut all the angle and tacked it up. I said ok and then made a set out of aluminum. I hate arguing it's anti productive and besides it's my rig damn it. He is really into the hardcore stuff and doesn't understand my mentality on some things. I drive my truck hard (which is what he sees) when it's apropriate but as we know GVWR is an issue so anything you can do to save wieght you should.

Then he got a call from a mutual friend that got him mad and he "had to leave". Unfortunetly we rode together so that was the end of today. I think I will be doing the work on my own from here out LOL

Sounds like a new reality TV Show

 

[BajaTaco]

Whoa! :smilies27 Hopefully next week will be better. Glad to hear that you like the OME results

 

[Nullifier]

Ok so I finally was able to get started on the rear suspension. This part of the suspension took as long as I thought it would, so it was done over 2 days.

First we removed the rear bumper, suspension, brake line, drive shaft, BPV assembly and gas tank. Then put it up in the air.

Since my rig is a '96 it has the shorter leaf springs. Since the OME stuff is several inches longer we had to make some extensive mods to the mounts. First we took some measurements and decided that 1" forward was perfect. After some debating we decided to try and use the existing hanger for the main bolt. We drilled a new hole in the bracket and filled in the old ones. After grinding it down you can only tell where it is filled on the inside of the bracket which you can't see with the spring in. the tough part was the inside of the hanger. It was shaped to be recessed for the main bolt. so it had to be reshaped. We took a piece of square tube, placed it in the hanger heated it up and flatened it with a BFH so it would ready for the new leaf spring. We also decided to take the time and mount a "skid plate on the leading edge up to the frame to help it slide over rocks and stiffen it some. Here it is before a coat of paint. This thing is now really stout witht he skid you can't see in frome this angle.

Next up was removing the rear hangers this only took about 1.5 hours LOL!

Then we disigned and started making new ones this is my lovely assistant Damon (the brains of the operation)

Hey it's starting to look like a hanger!

 

[Nullifier]

Next up was some test fitting.

After 3 attempts of tacking them into place, mounting and settling springs to check for proper shackle angles, they were welded into place.

Then some stiffening supports were added since in order to align them properly they had to stick out 1/4 inch outboard the frame.

Finally a smiling face at the sight of success!!!