Ray Charles Tacoma build

[Yotota]

how much can you shave off the front 60, i mean i took off the lip but can you go more?

My two cents on the shave is take as much without turning ring gear. I have two buddies that run have dabbled with the shave and the one that has turned the ring gear has been constantly fighting broken ring gears and the rig has been done for maybe 4 years (Atleast 2 R&P's one broke in the snow not even bound up). He's actually in process of doing a "Reverse shave" to get a full ring gear back in there lol The other friend trimmed as much as possible on the housing and made a custom diff cover and has been wheeling his buggy since around '08 I believe with no issues that I'm aware of. Both rigs have healthy power plants.

This is the ground clearance he could get away with without turning the gear. Probably similar to chaplinfj60

I've never done a 60 myself but I agree with Simple'72CJ that shaving all you can while leaving a small gap for your unmodified ring gear of choice is the right amount. I don't like the idea of turned gears mostly due to availability of replacements... If you're on a big trip or at an event and need new gears, next day shipping regular gears is viable but getting them turned is a whole other can of worms.

 

[Yotota]

I am going to run them without shaving them, few of my buddies have shaved 14 bolts and they leak. I am gonna let rocks self clearance and if it's an issue I will shave it down the rd

i would at least take a grinder to the lips, i know i smash the holly chit out of mine, kind wish i would have shaved it now, but thats in the past...

You can definitely give them a little grinder love now, and then run them for a bit to see if clearance is an issue for your rig and terrain and driving style.

At least the rear isn't a 14 bolt.

Back when I wheeled a 14 bolt, most trails I ran ended up with a nice V grooved down the middle. Even with 39.5s.

 

[chays2464]

How many of you guys run the 1550 shafts on these 05 axles? Wondering if I can get away with stock ones for a bit or I should just get the 1550s with the full circle clips

 

[RunningProblem]

This guy shaved a super duty 60 with the Ballistic Fab kit and clearanced the ring gear. His rig isn't done yet so no videos of it off road yet.

 

[chays2464]

small update, got most of the brackets cut off. I just have the 2" portion of cast that goes over the axle tube and a few spots to grind down.

Waiting on Artec Truss and brackets to show up

 

[chays2464]

Also I got new 8 lug Racelines so now I get to dismount all the 6 lug I just installed lol. IDIOT

 

[Hodgiemoto]

That thing is massive. Axle looks huge too You hire a plumber for the work?
sorry couldn't help it I've been a plumber for 30 years...

but dang look at the size of those calipers

 

[chays2464]

That thing is massive. Axle looks huge too You hire a plumber for the work?
sorry couldn't help it I've been a plumber for 30 years...

but dang look at the size of those calipers

Lol it is a beefy axle forsure, I think they weigh 630lbs bone stock

 

[chays2464]

Small update, got almost all the cast ground off and axle tube trimmed for the truss thanks to some help from my buddies Stacy and Eric. Stacy (production welder) welded the tubes for me.

Also got a beadlock mounted, 4 more to go

 

[chays2464]

More progress, got housing all cleaned up and truss 90% welded. The cast section was heated to 250-300 degrees and welded then let it cool overnight. Hoping nothing is warped.

Also sold my 6 lug bead locks to a buddy and got those mounted on his rig (rasins with blingy rims look so good!)

 

[chays2464]

Pulled my steering box apart after It locked up on me in cougar butts. Can't find anything broken. Guessing the balls are screwed up internally

I have a spare box I'm gonna rob parts of to see if I can make this all work. Axles are off getting re-geared right now

 

[chays2464]

My buddies shop where I had the axles at to get re-geared got broken into and the tweakers stole my gears, flanges and some small parts along with a ton of his stuff.

We are still waiting on the police to get fingerprint results back. Hoping they find the people and we get our stuff back

Got some new gears and parts on the way so hopefully this swap will be done before Marlin roundup in September

 

[Hodgiemoto]

Damn that sucks balls. Fuck them tweakers, they should be shot on sight. Will their insurance cover the loss if the stuff is not recovered?

 

[Steve300xcw]

that sucks. Seems like weird stuff for a tweaker to steal?

 

[chays2464]

Insurance doesn't cover it because its car parts, they only cover tools.

I think they just grabbed whatever they could and took off, weird cause they left my zip lockers and stole the gears that were sitting underneath them

 

[Slander]

Well don't worry, I'm sure they will go to good use being booger welded to a shopping cart, old lawn mower, washer machine yard ornament, so that should at least put you at ease.

Sucks man big time!!

 

[chays2464]

Small update, finally pulled the shitty 44 out and got the 60 under for mockup, going to need to move steering box again lol.

Planning on cutting off front driver side of frame in front of motor mount and just notching passenger side

 

[grapehead]

That axle jack is sexy. May have to copy that!

 

[chays2464]

That axle jack is sexy. May have to copy that!

It works pretty well, the 60 is a little heavy for it but its nice to be able to move axle up and down

 

[chays2464]

Spent this wkend just trimming sheet metal and moving wiring, selling my 12" 2.5 coilovers and going with a 14" 2.5 since I will be mounting the shocks off the lower link mounts vs on top the C like my old set up

 

[chays2464]

Got some more updates, I pulled inspiration from Matts build on Pirate along with @Hambones go fast 3 link tacoma sas on here

new frame made using 2x3" 3/16 wall , gained about 3" up up-travel from moving the motor up 2.5" from stock.

I still need to finish motor mounts and core support mounts but its getting there.
Gonna end up solid mounting the motor using trail gear bomb proof mounts.

Im not stoked on frame plates tying new frame into old one but ill cap them top and bottom and then eventually do an engine cage

 

[chays2464]

Ignore the welds on the inside of the frame, welder was giving me trouble with the settings

 

[RunningProblem]

Looking good. Will the hood still close with the engine 2" higher, and how does that change your transfer case output angles?

 

[chays2464]

Looking good. Will the hood still close with the engine 2" higher, and how does that change your transfer case output angles?

Tcase side looks good and hood has like an inch of clearance still with motor that high

 

[chays2464]

Links are built, ended up at 38.5" running Synergy Double adjusters on the frame side so you can adjust the links without pulling them

https://www.polyperformance.com/synergy-double-adjuster-tube-adapter

Motor is in, gonna end up moving my driver side mount higher to make more room for my upper link.

Probably going to notch the truss to get another inch of up travel since it doesn't want to play nice with the oil pan

Working on some cool stuff for steering, stay tuned

 

[chays2464]

 

[chays2464]

Got the frame fully plated in and got to cycle the suspension for the first time, It looks like everything is gonna clear with no rubbing.

I also ended up cutting down the truss to clear the oil pan at full bump which got me another 1.5" of uptravel.

Sitting at 25" to bottom of the frame with fully aired up 40s with 4.75" of uptravel. Note to self, don't truss a 60 they kill your uptravel

 

[chaplinfj60]

holy chit that close to pan.... it is a challenge for sure to stuff 10 pounds of shit into a 3 pound bag.... i had totally redo the front frame horns because i could not get the axle to live there.

 

[chays2464]

holy chit that close to pan.... it is a challenge for sure to stuff 10 pounds of shit into a 3 pound bag.... i had totally redo the front frame horns because i could not get the axle to live there.

Its close but clears barely! My issue now is the radiator rubs the new frame so I think I am gonna notch the inside to clear so it doesn't crack the radiator when the frame flexes

 

[chaplinfj60]

oh my.... the little things no ones talks about when doing a 3 link or 4 link hahah