If i had $6500 you wouldnt even have to put it up for sale.

 

Very cool build man. Wish i had about half of your fab skills. Lots of solid welds and love the direction you too. Keep it coming.

 

thanks man.

well finally got the garage back enough to work in:



so i finally got time to finish this:

so far i only have a 1-1/4" pipe die and a 1/75" tube die but i see the pipe die getting used the most since tube is expensive up here!
this is my first project to learn how to bend:

took like 3 hours, i think i spent more time planning where to bend than i did building the rest of it.

getting the tacoma ready for my caribou hunt right now but should be back to working on the turtle as soon as that is done. might even have a line on a 327/turbo350/toy case combo lined up for a good price so that might go in too.... we will see.

 

and here is my 500 dollar tacoma. got bored of not wheeling on my birthday and cut the fender wells out and put on some 33's and welded the rear. now it has a canopy to sleep in and is getting a winch bumper buiult next. might have to start a build thread on her soon.

pics:

 

Have you considered swapping on a 4Runner body? That'd give you space to take the family wheeling. I just think it's such a shame when I see people sell a vehicle they've invested so much in, and not just money.

 

i have thought about swapping on a runner body, and i have also thought about building and extra extra cab with a wrangler jump seat in the back but i have decided to go a different route for a couple reasons, mainly i want something a little more streetable but still as capable.

also as nice of a swap canididate the 4.3 is i like the tacoma with the 3.4 better, and it is really nice to not have to deal with any of the motor swap issues or work.

as for lessons learned i would do differently here are a couple that come to mind:

1) histeer and low trucks equal little bump travel. this is great for rock crawling where you never hit any bumps at speed but i am not happy with my 3" of bump travel i have right now for anything above 20-25 MPH offroad. my goal for the next build is a 40-45 MPH speed on fire road type terrain and not have to worry about loosing my kidneys if i find a big pot hole.
2) one tons are great for stability but gears lockers hubs, etc are more spendy than toy axles, i plan on building my tacoma with a fj-60 front widened 2.5" on both sides and a fj-80 rear fullfloat to get the strength but still not be fullwidth.
3) full width track is great for stability but sucks for manuverability and fitting between trees. i would like to keep my next build to 83' outside of tire to outaside of tire, right now i am at 90". this makes tight trails a problem.
4) I really need some traction bars front and rear and after that work i might as well just link it, in the front at least, i still like the load carrying capability of the chevy springs out back for hunting and camping with the little ones stuff.
5) trail milage, i did not think about trail milage when building this truck but now that my budget is tighter with dependants and all. i feel the tacoma with the 3.4 and the toyota axles will be more efficient on the trail. normal hunting season trip took me about 20 gallons of fuel for the weekend trip. my buddy with a similarly built tacoma only took 14ish. 6 gallons per trip is a signifigant savings letting me get out more.

any ways these are only a couple reasons i want to build new, another factor is i just love building trucks. and that if i sell the turtle for 6k and invest that into all the parts i need for the tacoma it is minimal out of pocket for me where as buying another rig to swap bodies would be more expensive.

 

Hey I REALLY dig the factory graphic look. Mind if I snag that idea? If so how did you do it? Like dimension wise?

 

Go ahead. I just winged it from a picture I had and some 1-1/2" blue tape. The factory graphic had a fade from dark to light but I thought that was too intricate for a wheeling rig that was going to get scratched up.

 

Cool man....yeah I wasnt going to attempt the fade. Idk if ill do the side yet though.

Nice build man! I like the fullsize axles and its not jacked up all crazy......simple yet VERY functional.

 

thanks, biggest problem right now is i dont have enough time to play with it. i think i might just carry this paint scheme over to the tacoma when i get it done too i like it so much. and the tacoma is my only non tan toyota at the moment.

 

if anyone is interestwed here is a link to the tacoma build thread i just started:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f200...booger-239543/

the turtle will still ahve some updates later in september but hunting and building a fence is my focus till snow flies so the turtle is officially on the back burner.

 

well the turtle and everything i can possibly sell is up for sale, big turn of events..... looks like i am transferring to Olympia!

figure i can sell it all and build new down south, look out western washington here i come...


so anyone in the olypia area want to come have a beer i should be down there sometime this summer granted the house sells!

 

turtle is sold to a good friend of mine up here. off to new beginnings once the move is over.

 

that truck is rocking those meats

 

thanks, hopefully the next one will be better.