2002 TuRD

[Slander]

I figure if we have an overlanding tundra with pro grill knock off as a build on here, my flux cored pile of rust is IBB worthy. I have a v6 5spd 2002 tacoma that I have and been building since 2005, I'll skip all the bolt on IFS on 33s stage of the build and post up the cool shit. The truck as of today has 37s, fj80 rear axle with a spartan, flipped fj60front with an Aussie locker, rcvs/longs 5.29s and is on leafs. It was all built in a suburban 2 car garage with a grinder, chop saw, 115v welder and no other special tools.
I built a lefty and dual combo in 2010 a few years after blowing up my taco box I built in front of the stock chain drive tacoma case. It's stuffed with 30spline marlin chromo shafts and some og 4.7:1 gears it's about as strong as you can make a toyota case minus the chromo comp gears. It's still going strong, looking back I should have built an atlas but here we are.

 

[Slander]

I am phone posting all this so bear with me.
I take forever to do anything especially build wise. So I drove the truck and wheeled it until 2014 when I swapped in my fj80 rear axle. Evreyone said it would vibrate, it infact does not. I stuffed it with a spartan and drove it while I saved up to SAS this bitch.

I then picked these up, some fj60 axles ..

 

[Slander]

My sister in law was over one night having some wine with my wife and I decided to clean the garage and see if I could get the truck in my small ass 2 car garage in such a way to work around the whole front end easily. Well I did, they were still talking and I was bored so....

 

[Slander]

I tore down the fj60 axle and decided I was going to flip it, I had done 0 axle work at this point so I figure this was a good way to learn. Off with the diff cover and knuckle balls.

I ended up welding the fj60 rear diff cover onto the front axle.

 

[Slander]

In the mean time I started fabbing up the front frame rails, they are 2x3 3/16 and fish plated on there with 3/16 scab plates. I used allenfab and the brocoma as my guide for this. In retrospect I should have notched the pax side because I am currently into the frame rail with the steering when flexed certain ways I also inboarded the front frame rails a bit, which was a good idea at the time but now that I look back makes for more hassel than anything.

the frame rails are pretty much butted up against the radiator, comes out to almost an inch narrower than stock. I am transferring these pics over from another site, this part of the build is from 2016....

 

[Slander]

I finished up the axle, it's all flux core welded without a true bar. Castor is set at 5.25* and the axles slide in and nothing leaks so it was/is true and I haven't died yet. I have rcv birfs with one TG long inner and one og bobby long inner and a used aussie locker because I'm a cheap fuck. It also has marlin gussets and oh yeah it's going on leafs.

 

[Rubirunner85]

I tore down the fj60 axle and decided I was going to flip it, I had done 0 axle work at this point so I figure this was a good way to learn. Off with the diff cover and knuckle balls.
I ended up welding the fj60 rear diff cover onto the front axle.

I think I remember you posting that. Boogerweldz offered advice and things.

 

[Slander]

Back to the frame, my dumbass decided I don't want to fuck with IFS boxes and hydro assist so I would use the Ford boxes that were all the rage for toyotas made by a certain builder in the 20teens. So I started to work on fitting that big bastard in there.

fuck me thats a huge bitch.
It ended up hitting my alternator, so modified the bracket.

and it clears

so I started on the mount.

hand drilled awesomeness with a milwaukee m18 hammer drill, I'm.lucky my wrist didn't get snapped into 5,000 pieces.

 

[Slander]

So the one mounting hole for the box was right where the motor mount is, so I did something that I'm sure I'm going to regret someday in the future, made my own nutsert thing.

building the mount....

I plated the ever holy hell out of the steering box mount because I wheeled primarily with guys with older toyotas and the ripped steering boxes off their frames pretty much constantly.

Im pretty sure this is the strongest part of the truck....

 

[Slander]

Onto the oil pan, I ended up getting this goofey oil pan off some overseas toyota from a PBB member, it had a perfect cutout for the diff.

however it got in the way of my steering. Which brings me to one major fuckup, this was after I built my beast of a steering box mount and realized when I hacked the frame off, I did the smart thing and marked the center line of ifs on the fender, but like an idiot I located evreything off that center line and didn't push anything forward, FUCK!! So my steering was going right where the oil pan was, so out with the grinder....

this thing was warped to fuck and has since stopped leaking, but I am confident if I had to redo this today it would look 10xs better.

 

[Slander]

I forgot to mention earlier this truck was going shackles forward, like i mentioned I wheeled with dudes with older SAS toyotas on leafs and watching the front axle drive out from under the truck, bending leafs and having 5ft of slip in the front driveshaft didn't look like fun. These are fj62 rear leafs that I got for free.

I don't have too many pics of this stage of the build forward as I was thrashing to get it done for a black hills trip. I ended up using f250 shock towers and bilstein 7100 12" short body's up front. Steering is a used marlin fj60 histeer kit, and at the time I was on 15" TR beadlocks and SSRs.

 

[Slander]

This stage of the build was all done the spring/early summer of 2016. I was building it to go on a black hills trip, and figured I had plenty of time, well I ended up leaving 2 days late! The first time the truck went over 55mph was merging on the highway with my wife and all our shit packed embarking on a 1000mile one way 8day wheeling trip. The shake down trail was hal johns and I was the only one in the group not to break. Felt good!!

 

[Slander]

So I didn't die from the trip but had to make some changes, those SSRS had to go as they suck donkey dick and we're rhombus shaped. I needed some new tires, more to come on those... In the meantime I needed to figure out why my steering box sucked ass and was overheating constantly. This couldn't be, people said the ford boxes were just as good as hydro assist.... So I threw the biggest cooler I could on there to cool it down.

still fucking over heats to this day. I believe it's because the box is like an inch away from the manifold. I need to build an inner fender well for it to shield it from the hot ass exhaust. I also have another ford box that I drilled and tapped that I need to install along with a ram.

 

[Slander]

I built this truck way too low, it's got a frame height of 23" on 37s with about 1" of uptravel. Remember me building this axle off the ifs center line? Yeah it continues to haunt me... So I got sick of my steering hitting my pitman arm and the oil pan so it was time for some bling. I got some fox bumps for it. Im pretty sure I have more $$$ in bump stops than the rest of the front suspension added up
Pax side was the easy side:

Drover side I had to hack up my shock mount, mount the can and weld the shock mount back to the can.

I gotta say air bumps are sweet! I thought it was a bunch of bro hype or they only belong on buggies, but damn they are awesome!! I want some for out back now.

 

[Yotota]

Sweet! I dig the shackle forward SAS, if I were to chop off my Taco's suspension and start from scratch I would do spring under with forward shackle.

 

[Slander]

Got some new tires at this point, I went with some toyo MTs as those were the only non interco 37 for a 15" rim. These tires somehow sucked worse offroad than the SSRs, but were awesome on the street which is what I needed as I don't have trailer and it's 8hrs of highway driving to the trails for me. These tires were way the hell too wide, but had some crazy thick sidewalls. I ran them for a season and sold them.

I ended up picking up some 37x12.50 procomp MT2s on some 17" pro comp beadlocks, I love this combo!

That pretty much brings us up to today. If you have any questions on anything post up and I'll snap pics and answer. I did this one a shoe string budget as a challenge and because I'm cheap. The goal of the truck has always been simple reliable and strong and it has been so far. I wish I would have went with a dana 60 up front as I hate toyota steering angles, this truck is like trying to turn a battle ship on the trail.

I suck at taking pics while building stuff and I move at glacial pace, this was 11yrs of building posted in this thread . Ask away!!

 

[Slander]

Sweet! I dig the shackle forward SAS, if I were to chop off my Taco's suspension and start from scratch I would do spring under with forward shackle.

Thanks man! It's been great so far, my stock IFS front shaft bolted right up and didn't need any long slip or anything. I thought about sua but honestly this truck I was the hell too low right now, It gets beached pretty easily and the uptravel sucks. I can deal.with it on the trail, but if I had to do it all over I would have built it a bit taller. When the truck was IFS it stuck to side hills like glue and was crazy stable, I wanted.to keep that after the SAS and I did.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Spring under would be tough without some very arched deavers or similar.

I'm a big fan of the front shackles on a crawler *when set up properly* but the combo of spua and shackle forward can be tricky since it usually puts the shackles low and into the rocks.

 

[Yotota]

Thanks man! It's been great so far, my stock IFS front shaft bolted right up and didn't need any long slip or anything. I thought about sua but honestly this truck I was the hell too low right now, It gets beached pretty easily and the uptravel sucks. I can deal.with it on the trail, but if I had to do it all over I would have built it a bit taller. When the truck was IFS it stuck to side hills like glue and was crazy stable, I wanted.to keep that after the SAS and I did.

Yeah, 23" frame height is pretty damn low! Is that what's it's still at now?

 

[Slander]

Yeah, 23" frame height is pretty damn low! Is that what's it's still at now?

Probably a bit lower as stuff has settled, another inch or so.

 

[Aisin]

Sweet! I dig the shackle forward SAS, if I were to chop off my Taco's suspension and start from scratch I would do spring under with forward shackle.

Exactly what I’m doing.

 

[rockota]

white tacomas are ugly.

 

[Slander]

I think I remember you posting that. Boogerweldz offered advice and things.

Probably! ZUK was helping me out as well on another site, he did almost the same exact swap I did, but 100xs cleaner.

 

[Slander]

white tacomas are ugly.

Fact

 

[Yotota]

Probably a bit lower as stuff has settled, another inch or so.

Wow, there are definitely some benefits of being that low though. Depending on your terrain of course. And the amount of skid plate rock dragging you can tolerate.

The rear shackle SAS fab on my Taco was originally done by Hackster on Pirate a good 9 years ago. I'm trying to wrap up a full rebuild and overhaul, and I have the front suspension almost done (again), and it's sitting at 24.5" frame height. But mine has the stock framerails... Having the 2x3 box tube definitely adds an inch or two of uptravel for yours which makes me jealous. My FJ60 high steer could stuff into the frame on both sides if I didn't limit the uptravel to ~3.5".

If I could make up some dream numbers for a Tacoma build, it would probably be 24" frame height with 5" of uptravel. SUA and some steering tweaks could make that happen (like heim steering under the arms).

 

[Yotota]

Exactly what I’m doing.

I frantically searched for a build thread but came up empty...

Have you posted anything about this yet?

 

[Yotota]

Spring under would be tough without some very arched deavers or similar.

I'm a big fan of the front shackles on a crawler *when set up properly* but the combo of spua and shackle forward can be tricky since it usually puts the shackles low and into the rocks.

Oh absolutely, it would involve a call to Deaver for some custom arched springs and getting very particular about shackle length and getting the shackle mount as high as possible. Brennan Metcalf's flatty is a good example.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Oh absolutely, it would involve a call to Deaver for some custom arched springs and getting very particular about shackle length and getting the shackle mount as high as possible. Brennan Metcalf's flatty is a good example.

Getting the steering lower is a big limit for uptravel. My 4runner sad was very similar to the op's and my drag link hit the frame, when I went full hydro, the tie rod hit the frame and oil pan at the same time

When I did the D60 with the artec arms, I contemplated putting the tie rod under the leafs, but it was just too low for me and it hit the diff cover.

I like leafs, but the current build is getting links in the front. I'm glad to be able to put everything exactly where I want it and still have adjustment afterwards.

My sami may get some interesting front leaf suspension though. It's your basic spua with some decent lift springs, but the shackles still kinda hang out there. Probably exaggerated by the fact that I'm running 32s on 40" trails

 

[Yotota]

Getting the steering lower is a big limit for uptravel. My 4runner sad was very similar to the op's and my drag link hit the frame, when I went full hydro, the tie rod hit the frame and oil pan at the same time

When I did the D60 with the artec arms, I contemplated putting the tie rod under the leafs, but it was just too low for me and it hit the diff cover.

I like leafs, but the current build is getting links in the front. I'm glad to be able to put everything exactly where I want it and still have adjustment afterwards.

My sami may get some interesting front leaf suspension though. It's your basic spua with some decent lift springs, but the shackles still kinda hang out there. Probably exaggerated by the fact that I'm running 32s on 40" trails

In theory (AKA who knows how well this would work LOL) running heim joint steering on the bottom of the high steer arms would allow more uptravel, and would be somewhat protected by the SPUA leaves. Then a hydro assist cylinder could be tucked under the drag link and protected by an angled axle skid flush with the bottom of the housing.

Depending on the axle it might take a bent tie rod to clear the diff, and a bent drag link to keep the heim angles decent, and......

 

[Slander]

Wow, there are definitely some benefits of being that low though. Depending on your terrain of course. And the amount of skid plate rock dragging you can tolerate.

The rear shackle SAS fab on my Taco was originally done by Hackster on Pirate a good 9 years ago. I'm trying to wrap up a full rebuild and overhaul, and I have the front suspension almost done (again), and it's sitting at 24.5" frame height. But mine has the stock framerails... Having the 2x3 box tube definitely adds an inch or two of uptravel for yours which makes me jealous. My FJ60 high steer could stuff into the frame on both sides if I didn't limit the uptravel to ~3.5".

If I could make up some dream numbers for a Tacoma build, it would probably be 24" frame height with 5" of uptravel. SUA and some steering tweaks could make that happen (like heim steering under the arms).

I wheel in the SE which is steep ass hill climbs and ledges and wet big ass boulder strewn trails (see below). So the length of the tacoma is awesome for hill climbing, until you get to the top, or if you slide off a boulder lol. Like YotaAtieToo said the steering hitting the frame is the limit now, and unless you are shortening the wheelbase, I would run the truck a bit higher.
example of what I'm dealing with down here: