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Snowy's Village Whore Tacoma

Snowy

Well-known member
Joined
May 28, 2020
Member Number
1625
Messages
154
Loc
Northern IL
Never posted much on the OG board but finally ready to make the plunge here and post a build thread.

I bought this truck in 2014 as a basket case project DD when I was a senior in college with a 1 car garage to wrench in...Not the wisest move at the time but worked out great long term.

How it looks today

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It was a bit rough around the edges 350k-ish miles with a 3RZ and W59... It had the terrible front bumper, the center carrier bearing was held tight with zip ties, the dash cluster didn't work, and it had a goofy extension on the rear bumper to meet MN bumper laws. Lot's of good parts included though. Sky's driver drop Tacoma width front axle, 30 spline longs, PSC hydro assist and pump, trunion bearing eliminators, 5.29's with Detroit front and Powertrax rear lockers, and very little rust.

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I was able to backtrack a bunch of the history on the truck with some old threads from when TTORA was popular...I'm the 5th owner of it since the solid axle swap so it's definitely on village whore status.

How it looked when it was just a farmer's truck that eventually hit a cow and prompted it to be turned into a wheeler

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After the first owner solid axle swapped the truck in KY

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Then Chris bought it and turned it school bus yellow

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And then Jimmy bought it and it got a coat of snow camo

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Jimmy ended up selling it to a guy up in MN that was in way over his head and was willing to trade me straight across for a rusty 3rd gen 4Runner with the usual bolt ons and 33's. Met him in Rockford and drove it straight home to Indianapolis.

I fixed the center bearing, threw a set of non dry rotted tires on, put a new cluster in it, bobbed the bed about 9 inches, and built a set of tube doors with automotive style latches right away to go wheeling. It was my first real time welding at length so I was learning as I went

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The Powertrax decided the blow up on I90 just outside of O'Hare going 75 in the left lane after a few months of DD duty. Locked up the rear axle on the spot, scared the shit out of me, and ruined the trans input. $300 later, I had a junkyard W59 trans and Chase as ECGS really helped out to get me setup with a new 5.29 gearset with an ARB. I went without a compressor since I have a CO2 setup and opted to put a handheld air tank under the bed to supply the locker only. It is big enough and leak resistant enough to wheel for at least three days without dropping below 85 psi.

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I wheeled it for a little while and realized that duals aren't optional with a stick and built a crawlbox out on my back patio during the summer of 2014. Went TG for the 4.7's and adapter plates, kept the chain case behind the 4.7 crawler. 7 years later and I haven't had any issues with it. No leaks or issues with fretting on the chain case input last time I had it out in 2020.


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Around the spring of 2015 I made the jump to 37' PBR radials from the 35's that were on the truck and built a traction bar. Then I redrilled the front spring hanger eyelet higher to lower the ride height

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I borrowed a bender and started fucking up a bunch of tube but made a bumper eventually

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Then my ADD kicked in and I cut the bed up entirely to swap to an F150 tank and semi-tube bed

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After a few trips with the smaller bed and starting to realize that it may be time to start considering a tow rig, I finally made the jump to towing in 2016 with a grandpa spec low mile 7.3.

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At the end of 2016 the 3RZ was suspiciously starting to shed some oil pressure. Turns out the oil pan had more glitter than a Kesha concert after I started to investigate. Found a $650 rust bucket donor truck in MI and swapped engines. Not too disappointed after 350k hard miles

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Around the same time I thought it was time to ditch the snow camo and rolled on some Interlux flag blue boat paint. I thought every other owner has had their own paint on it, so why not me. Turned out perfect for who it was for and is super easy to touch up.

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Summer of 2017 I decided to borrow a bender again and fuck up some more tube building an exo. I briefly had an internal cage but at 6 feet tall, it was just too cramped inside. I hate the way exo's look but with my wife coming wheeling more and more, I had to start thinking about more than just me

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Went west wheeling for the first time too to CO and Moab too

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After the west trip, I decided to make some more changes...Namely making a better front bumper for approach angle and then swapping in an FZJ80 rear axle with a lunchbox locker. I was always paranoid about the 8" Tacoma rear and the ARB wasn't particularly reliable during the time I had it. Super happy with the axle swap, no vibes with the offset on the highway at all.

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I added vinyl flooring from Rock Auto to try and cut down on some cab noise compared to the bedlined floors I had...Huge improvement and fit super well

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I pretty much didn't do anything with the truck except wheel it for the next 2 seasons. Then in 2019 I made the plunge on some 2.0 resi Foxes from Accutune. I underestimated how well a leaf spring truck could ride with a nice pair of shocks. 12" threaded body shocks in front, just in case I decided to 3-link down the road and 14's in the back

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Summer of 2019 I made a big upgrade to my trailer game. 40' with LQ makes summer wheeling so much more enjoyable not camping in 100* weather or setting up shanty town with EZ ups

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Spring of 2020 my ADD kicked in again and I decided that I hate the old sliders that have been on the truck since I got it. Opted to cut the sliders out and weld in a 2x6 straight to the body instead. Ditched the ugly b-post bar on the exo and downbars to the bed. I know it's not as strong but I hated the way it looked too much to deal with it. Gained a ton of clearance in both height and narrowing the truck up.

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Right after I finished up the slider project, I changed the oil and noticed that I had another Kesha concert going on in the oil pan. :mad3: Pulled the #1 main bearing and confirmed my suspicion. I cut the balance shaft chains and rolled in new bearings after the crank checked out good.

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Upgraded the tow rig in the fall of 2020 too. I loved my 7.3 but there's no comparison to the 6.7 dually for towing the big trailer.

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During the winter last year, I started going through the front end with a fine tooth comb. The 44044's from 2006 were whooped and starting to sag really bad on the LF. The 37's kissed the firewall at full stuff and combined with the steering box not being pushed far enough forward nudged me into just 3-linking the front with a new frame section made from 2x3 tube. Ordered the Barnes 3-link bracket kit to save time and was super happy with it after making some L brackets to weld to the plated frame. Hardly #weldporn, but it works.


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Everything went pretty quick to this point but then all the steering stuff wanted to live in the same place as the panhard and upper link mount. To get everything to package how I wanted, I ended up ordering some FROR blank arms and a Barnes GM 1-ton y-link steering kit. It worked out great and after 2 seasons I have zero regrets on it.

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I was super happy with how it turned out in the end. It drives great on the road and is another huge step forward in offroad comfort too. One of the things I underestimated was how much more you can turn in the rocks when leaves aren't letting the axle shift left and right a bunch on sloppy shackles :eek:

That's pretty much up to current now. Looking forward to my 9th season wheeling it this year. Have a week planned in Hot Springs and then filling in the gaps otherwise around the SE at Harlan/Windrock/Flat Nasty.
 
post up when you plan on wheeling some of the missouri parks. i may be there as well. love the build.
 
Awesome Tacoma 🍻
I think I sold him my 40.
Born and raised in NWI.
Absolutely hate the population density up there.
 
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This is a badass build and story. Oddly enough out of all that work, the sliders into the rockers is what makes my pecker hard. I bet that makes a huge difference. I've always planned on doing that to my 1st gen.
 
Awesome Tacoma 🍻
I think I sold him my 40.
Born and raised in NWI.
Absolutely hate the population density up there.

I lived in Valpo for about 2 years and the town was fine but NWI definitely wasn’t my favorite place in general. My wife is from Portage and even living in Illinois now, she has no desire to go back.

This is a badass build and story. Oddly enough out of all that work, the sliders into the rockers is what makes my pecker hard. I bet that makes a huge difference. I've always planned on doing that to my 1st gen.

Thanks! It’s one of the better things I’ve done with it for sure. The whole truck just wheels smaller now.

I'll be calling the both of you for welding tips!

Just prepare to be on fire all day. Doing the inside seam sucks ass overhead when you’re trying to stick sheet metal to 3/16 tube and you end up getting rained on with molten sheet metal.
 
Awesome story and a badass rig. I had no idea it exchanged so many hands before you got it.
 
Cool build, I always wondered about an offset FJ80 rear end in a Toyota that has a centered output. Glad to hear you have no vibes. Do you know your rear driveshaft length off hand? Curious how long it is to help minimize the angle.
 
This is a badass build and story. Oddly enough out of all that work, the sliders into the rockers is what makes my pecker hard. I bet that makes a huge difference. I've always planned on doing that to my 1st gen.

You'll be shocked how much of a difference it truly does make. Do it.
Mind explaining why? I’m not a crawler guy so I don’t get it
 
Mind explaining why? I’m not a crawler guy so I don’t get it
You don't just gain the 2" thickness of the box tube, you gain the gap under the body seam, the body seam itself, and then the entirety of the Rocker. You usually end up gaining 3"+ of clearance, even more if you are willing to cut into the door as well. Plus, with no more legs stretching to the frame, you no longer have those grabbing rocks as well.

It's a very worthy investment, if you are willing to spend a day on fire as Snowy said.
 
Cool build, I always wondered about an offset FJ80 rear end in a Toyota that has a centered output. Glad to hear you have no vibes. Do you know your rear driveshaft length off hand? Curious how long it is to help minimize the angle.

It’s 28” long. I retained the two piece driveshaft setup with a carrier bearing to help keep it out of the rocks
 
Here for shenanigans and to also comment on the storied past of the rig. I had no idea the history and we've been wheeling a half dozen times together now, or so. I blame you Connor. :flipoff2:
 
I’ve neglected this thread for a year now…Mainly just out using the truck with a few little projects along the way.

Swapped my link heims to Metalcloak Duroflex joints to cut down on some noise and vibes. Super happy with them so far. The longer shank compared standard heims from Barnes was nice too.

I piled up some miles on the Tacoma as a DD to work this summer but I crawled under it and realized it’s time to pull it in the shop for maintenance. I’ve literally done nothing except an AC compressor since the 3-link.

The traction bar mount is ripping off the frame…again. Except this time it tore the 3/16” scab plate in half so the whole thing is getting cut out and redone on the driver side so it’s not fighting for space with the driveshaft and exhaust all on the passenger side. Going to just add a crossmember so it’s better supported this time.

While I was looking at the traction bar, I realized that years of paint were piling up on the frame and bubbling in a few spots from the inside out. I bought a needle scaler and started asking questions with it that I knew I didn’t want the answer to.

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I decided to take the back half of the truck apart and address the issues properly…and by properly I mean just cutting the rust out and adding scab plates like any good Toyota owner would do.

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The GT500 is a life saver for moving dumb heavy stuff like axles around. Took the time to properly disassemble, prep and paint things to keep the rust at bay as long as possible

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In the middle of this, I justified buying a second gen Tacoma basically for the wheels and swapped them over to the first gen. Definitely increase the bro score but I do really like them. 6lbs per corner lighter than my OG Procomps too

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On a recent wheeling trip, I noticed fuel dripping from the fuel tank when we stopped to do a recovery. Just a stress crack and a wrinkle in the tank in a random area that hadn’t been hit by anything.

I was completely perplexed as to what happened. Pondered if my support straps weren’t sturdy enough and the tank was buckling in the center. Then when I got home and cracked the fuel cap, it hit me that I’d never vented the tank properly since deleting evap in early 2020. I had a fill vent but no other vent with the evap line capped off.

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The solution got a lot more involved than I’d wanted but it was time to lift the tank up for a longer exhaust and make room for a 4 link in the future if I ever desired.

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I ended up building a new rear brake line feed that runs down the top of the traction bar to clean things up. Also installed a rollover valve and proper FATS vent system.
 
Then I turned attention to the front axle. I hadn’t opened it up in 3 years so it was due for an inspection.

Ignorance is bliss. Those that know, can smell this picture

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Serious birf soup. Go figure. Same story on both sides.

Figured I’m already this far, let’s pull the third too….

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Ignorance truly is bliss. Fortunately I picked up a couple 5.29 R&P’s during the Nitro clearance sale a couple months ago. Ordered a master install kit and will throw it together next week.

I hadn’t planned on the truck being immobile for a week and had parked it blocking the door to the shop when I had other shit to get in and looked at. Sooo…time for some sketchy shit with the tractor and the winch line to drag it to the side

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