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2wd long travel custom cab

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Pool boy
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
403
Messages
1,523
Loc
Grass Valley, Ca
Let's get a few things out of the way first....

1) this is my first time doing a build thread, so it's probably gonna suck

2) I'm doing this on my phone so it's gonna suck even more

3) yes this build is 2wd....but I figured you guys might enjoy it. If you dont, you can eat shit..


Back story: As some of you know, I collect Toyota custom cabs (the 80s conversions where they added a 3' fiberglass section to a standard cab). I've owned 7, and current still have 5.

10 years ago I bought an 86 4wd turbo one to do a total chaos long travel build on. I started collecting parts for it. Then 7 years ago I found this 2wd custom cab and bought it and decided to build that one instead. I traded my long travel 4wd kit for a 2wd kit back on the old board.

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I found this truck on CL back on 2014. I called the guy, and we made a deal. I sent him a 500 dollar deposit and told him I would fly up to Seattle 6 weeks later and drive it home.

Sure as shit he was at the airport waiting for me. I gave him the rest of the cash and drove it 1300 miles home back to Northern CA. Thing ran tits!
 
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Here is the kit that I traded for back on the old board. The guy said it was a Total chaos kit. After contacting TC about it, turns out it's from a company that went out of business about 10 years ago, called Amplified Performance. The kit uses modified stock spindles (exactly like the old 5 lug TC kit). Wheel travel is 14" metal to metal, so slightly less when bumped
 
So around this time, I drove it completely stock for the next 6 years while I collected parts for the rear. I also was wheeling my 84 custom cab and it was my DD.


4 years ago I decided to be a fucking idiot and get a DUI, which almost killed me. Rolled the 84 three times at 60 mph...

The fiberglass held up well actually
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So December of 2020 I decided to get serious with the 2wd. I was still building on a budget and I called FOA (yeah....I know) and ordered up some 2.5x8" remote reservoir coilovers and took the truck and the front end kit to Rockhound off-road on Auburn Ca and had them do the install.

The 8" shocks were too big for the kit and the truck without blowing out the entire inner fenders and engine bay only to get less than an inch more travel than a 6" coilovers would get
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So I drove it home and pulled the 8" coilovers off and sent them back to FOA in exchange for some 6" ones. Then I waited.......and waited....and waited some more.

I called every week to get an update. I emailed probably 20x, and I even paid Aisin on here 75 dollars to drive to their shop and see wtf is going on...

8 months later I finally got my 6" coilovers. They didn't come with coils like my 8s did and they were almost 200 bucks cheaper. FOA has still not answered me back about those issues...fuck it, I'm over it and learned my lesson
 
Last month a buddy of mine (42sonyou from the old board) had some time off of work from his day job and I asked if he could help me finish the back end, as Rockhound (and every other fab shop in my area) are booked out for 4-6 months.


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By this time I had the parts to finish the rear. So on went the 62" deavers and Total chaos 9" shackles

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To keep the ass end from being a stink bug, I mounted the shackle pivots on top of the frame, and on top of a 1" pillow block. I then had to also do a 1.5" lowering block between the springs and axle to get the stance just right
 
I was originally going to run a T100 rear end, and spent 300 bucks rebuilding it, only to find out it was way too fucking wide. Sold it and bought a 96 Tacoma rear end to make it much better.

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Working with a used and poorly designed bed cage, we made it work as best we would, then fabbed up the spare tires carrier and recessed it down into the bed and. Cut out the factory crossmember and made a new one with hooks for the tire straps

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That about brings up up to speed. Took it out for it's maiden voyage about 2 hrs ago. Nothing fell apart so far. It does have a mystery clunk on the driver's front when hitting a bump.

It goes to Les Schwab tomorrow for an alignment.

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That is pretty fuckin awesome and definitely
one of a kind. :smokin:


What's the plan for a cage? I'd figure it would have to be gairly extensive to keep that frame from folding in half from any sort of real offroad use.
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
That is pretty fuckin awesome and definitely
one of a kind. :smokin:


What's the plan for a cage? I'd figure it would have to be gairly extensive to keep that frame from folding in half from any sort of real offroad use.
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An in cab cage and suspension seats are next on the list. I'll probably start with an old marlin or similar bolt together in cab cage and build off of it into the factory in cab roll bar that comes in the custom cabs
 
Add said:
The what what?
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The Matt Helton leaf formula. Everybody knows what that is.

Seth (amplified) kits varied a lot in quality. The early ones were really nice. The later ones not so much.

Truck looks good!
 
bdkw1 said:
The Matt Helton leaf formula. Everybody knows what that is.

Seth (amplified) kits varied a lot in quality. The early ones were really nice. The later ones not so much.

Truck looks good!
Click to expand...
Total chaos sent me a 2 page pdf on mounting 62" deavers. It was A LOT of fucking work. It is not the same as just mounting Chevy springs.
 
Rad indeed.... something different. Gonna need some video of that thing smashing whoops. Where do you even go living in Grass valley? Got a cousin that lives there.
 
Pretty sure you sent me $125.:flipoff2:I’m glad you finally got your shit.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Would be a fun dirt road cruiser, but in my experience most dirt roads have enough blid corners that actually using more than stock suspension is going to result in a head on.
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I agree....

I go to Nevada often enough to ride my quad, that this will be fun out there. But it also going to be my daily for awhile too. It's just too fucking fun to not drive.


Les Schwab pretty much laughed at me when I had them try to align it today. They couldnt do the camber or caster, they could only set the toe.

It does drive straight as an arrow down the road though
 
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