We are building this for a customer up in Dillon, CO.

Its a 2001 Tacoma Double Cab. Elocked. Pretty mild rig to be honest.

The plan is TG kit "C" which some mods to lower the ride height. We are going to french the springs hangers into the frame/crossmember up front to help lower the ride height. Customer plans on 35s for this rig, and I am confident we can deliver it with a frame height around 24" on TG leafs.

The rear will be more of the same with custom frenched spring hangers to lower it.

We already have it on the lift and have started assembling the front axle. FWIW, the TG Rock Assault housings have come a long way in quality since they were first released. Its a nice piece and much better than stock. Its still not a Diamond, but its good for the weekend wheeler and DD that this truck will be when done.

The rest of the build will consist of 5.29s, ARB up front, and 35s. We will also be building custom front plate bumper instead of our normal tube bumper for these.

 

Nice!!!

I can't wait to see the suspension setup

 

So pretty much you are building the truck I would love to build.
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Got the front axle all sexy today.

 

Tease....

 

Looks like the steering rod is touching the housing, which will only be exacerbated when turning. Is it just the angle of the picture, or is there actually a problem there?

 

Optical illusion. It sits 3" above the housing.

 

Pulled the bed to get the rear frame plates welded in. We will also have to drop the tank to get the frenched hanger in later.

 

Okay, so we mocked up the front hanger. Pics and measurements should speak for themselves.

First of all, we don't use TG's front crossmembers anyway in these kits. Theirs are .188 wall and an inch taller than ours to begin with. We use our Tacoma weld on crossmembers for our bumper instead. Ours is .250 wall and an inch shorter.

In this case we wanted to french the front spring hanger. So, we notched our crossmember to allow us to mount the new spring hanger into the frame. This saved a solid 2.875" of height here. That will equate to roughly 1.5" of lowered lift height.

TG's crossmember with their spring hanger is 7-3/8"
Our crossmember with french hangers is 4.5"

TG's


Our's


TG's


Ours



Here is the crossmember in place. Recessed back and frame is notched to allow more clearance. Steering is going to need a flat pitman arm, and we will llikely be notching the frame for clearance of it as well.

 

I like it.

 

Some progress. Grinding day sucks!

 

Axle is hung

 

Front is done minus the steering box. We're waiting on a flat pitman arm prior to messing with it.

Rear frenched hangers are being installed today as well.

 

Awesome work Scotty!

 

I am really liking this.
Will the frame need any plating around the frenched hanger?

 

we plated the frame on the inside of each frame rail as well as the front section of the outside in front of the body mount. Its not going anywhere.

I hate taking pics without cleaning the welds up as they look like ass otherwise, but this will give you the idea.

 

So, here are some pics with tires on it. The axles are sitting on jack stands. Tire is off the ground 1" and I would take out another 1" for tire squat. Frame height is 25.5" roughly. So, with 33s it should be 23.5".

Add 2" of height for 37s and it would be 25.5". And, it hasn't settled yet.

 

Nice! Man I really dig the way you did the hanger mounts. Very smart I wish my hangar mounts were that way on my '86

 

Got the rear buttoned up. 5.29s installed in the rear diff with a solid pinion spacer. Set pinion angle. Just need some shorter shocks for the rear to come in to get them mounted.

Radiator will be here on Tuesday too.

 

Thing is looking sick, Scotty!