I'm looking for some transfer case protection and saw that FROR has a deal on the combined purchase of crossmember and skid. I really like the idea of getting rid of the stock, low hanging front crossmember in the process.

According to Steve Hunt's SAS writeup he alludes to some modifications that are required to use the Tacoma x-member on a 3rd gen. Does anyone know what these modifications are? Does anyone have any opinions or pros/cons of using this x-member. It seems like a well proven design, I'm just not sure what's required to make it work on our trucks.

 

Yeah, I was looking at that the other day too. Looking underneath my truck to see if it would fit, I did not see any physical hangups.

I was just assuming that it would fit w/o any other modifications than the Tacoma.

Who knows?

I think calroxx has one of these installed too?

 

BudBuilt has them and if you call him by tomorrow, 20% off!

 

I have a front range crossmember, it's fine, you have to have a body lift to run it and there is more vibration than stock.

It's OK.

 

Not for 3rd gens. The frame mounts are completely different so it can't just bolt up like on earlier trucks.

 

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about vibration. I am interested in un-bling mods that will improve clearance, strength, protection, and general off-road capability without moving to 35" tires.

Do you still have a body lift even after the SAS or did you modify the crossmember and/or the 4Runner floor? Are you running any protection for your cases?

 

Yeah to everything.

but some of it was due to the crawler.

 

Budbuilt is very close to having one ready for the 3rd gen and Taco. I was going to use his, but he couldn't get it done in time for my project. Probably that damn group buy put him behind. Thanks guys.

 

That's good to know. I'll definately talk to Bud before I purchase something. Thanks!

 

There have a couple of peeps here to do this. Ravenr and Shaver both have done this mod. Steve, as he mentioned, has used the FROR member while Ravenr has used 4Crawlers design along with his own cross member. I plan on doing this mod along with an engine lift to put the drivelne back in line to hopefully eliminate any possible vibration. As soon as I find a house I am on it, need to find a welder though.

 

Is it possible to get rubber bushings to replace the poly ones that come with the FROR kit? That would reduce some of the vibrations wouldnt it?

Thanks

 

That's the way it originally was sold and apparently it was alot worse. The poly bushings are apparently alot better.

It's OK. It's a trade off.

 

Yeah, I ran that thing for a while.

I didn't like it, it made the truck vibrate too much. I realize I'm not driving a cadillac here, but it was just annoying for a daily driver. Plus it didn't really give me much more clearance, so nuts to that. Right now I run stock crossmembers with BudBuilt skids and I'm happy with that. Down the road someday I'll flatbelly it with the BudBuilt t-case clocker and crossmember.