Hey all,
I thought there may have been a lack of manufacturers making these nowadays. I put one together for my truck, and will be taking orders very shortly. I will require a buy in, and a minimum order of 5 before anything is burned out on the laser.
They are all 3/16" P&O steel, laser cut and CNC formed. Two 3/8" holes on each side, that cradle the rear lower control arm mounts, which is a common weak spot. Alot of people have complained about bending this portion of the suspension on their truck/4Runner, which then throws off your alignment.
This is a brace that eliminates this problem, as well as adds a skid plate under the front differential. As you can see from the pictures, there is an additional flange off the front leading edge, with (4) 3/8" holes in it. This is an ideal place to mount your front skid plate(available soon), making a smooth belly from the bumper of your rig, to rearward edge of your rear lower control arm mounts.
Price looks to be right about $190, in a bare metal finish, but this could go down slightly. I will also be offering just the brace, without the integrated skid plate for around $100. In the end, their will be a package deal including this brace, and a front skid plate...hopefully for right around $325ish.
PM or respond here if interested. As you can see in the pictures, the top is not capped off, but it will be. Any and all input is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

this is a really cool idea. hopefully you can get enough interest to get this going. i'm in the market for a brace now and would much rather have one of these.

 

man, no one ever comes up with stuff like this for an 86-88 lol. looking good though.

 

Very nice work! I few ideas for you though. First might want to box in the actual brace for strength. Second, when purchasing the brace for my truck (downey unit) i was concerned with it not playing with a diff drop. I was right and found that it was one or the other. I opted for the brace and went sans diff drop. You might want to create a piece that would play well with the 1" diff drop since there isn't a brace on the market yet that will do so. Maybe offer two versions one for regular bracing and the other if you have a diff drop installed. Love the integrated skid plate design. I would assume it would make it stronger than competitors due to the fact that there is more support.

 

Kyle, We still gotta discuss terms of making a 2nd gen 4runner bumper. You got some skills man. I'd even be interested in one of these to replace my stock skid plate, and even better. an IFS truss would be awesome.

 

Thanks for the interest guys! XXX, what is the difference between the earlier IFS setups? Would these not fit?
Yes, they would be completely boxed in, just didnt do it before the pictures. Id definitely like to have a few products in the Toyota world...but am slowly getting discouraged.
I too, hope there is enough interest for these. Keep the replys coming.
Thanks!

 

I think the width between the a-arms are different. There is like 3 different widths. If you wanna see what I mean check out the sonoransteel website for their truss. For some reason they require a measurement, however the trdparts4u one doesn't. ?????

 

Curley, is it possible to get the skid plate to go all the way up to where the stocker is bolted in on the top? That would add some pure sexiness to the front end I think. like for example, have it exactly the way it is right now, but instead of stopping underneath the front crossmember, go all the way up to the front bolt in locations? would that be much of a hassle?

Nevermind, I just read your entire post and you mentioned a skid plate that is going to be added to it.

I'd be pretty interested in one of these. I think it would provide some good ass protection and also look really good with my TJM. Lemme know if you start fabbin' them. I'll take one with a skid plate I also wouldn't mind if you wanted to laser etch your "logo" or some sort of signature... I dont mind supporting local toyota part fabricators

 

Thanks guys. XXX, if you look at the design, the only thing that determines the length on these is the small "gussets" that are welded in place, and located with a slot and tab configuration. If the dimension is all that much different, I could just have people give me their dimension, and then move the location of the slots/tabs. Would take about 2 minutes to change the location of those pieces.
My truck measured right about 16.9375, which is what I made this brace to. It could easily be changed. If thats the only thing you were referring to(I had read this earlier on the Sonoran units as well), then its an easy fix.
Mak, yeah the additional skid plate will go up to the front. Havnt gotten around to drawing that up...havnt even gone any farther than the brace is, in these pictures. LOL. Racing the next 2 weekends in a row, so it may be the end of June, beginning of July. Id definitely like to mass product these, but as mentioned, only if I can get 5 or so people at a time who will buy in before hand(similar to what Sonoran did).
Thanks again!

 

alrighty. Post some pictures up of when you got it braced and with the skid plate. I really like the look of this. and I plan on trussing my IFS anyway, but if a local guy is gonna make one ( you ) i'd rather support that than ordering one offline. plus your design looks killer man.

 

Thanks for the compliments. I appreciate it. Ill be sure to put pictures up when the rest of it gets finished up.

 

Well, did the work that needed to be done at work today. I'll hopefully have it at least tacked up as a complete unit by mid morning on Monday. Had to do a little "trimming" with the plasma, to clearance the diff more, but thats why they call them prototypes right?! Ill post pictures when I can.

 

if you could make this fit with a diff drop i would for sure buy one. you do quality work

 

kyle, Do you have one fitted to your truck already? do you have any pictures of that?

 

Thanks for the compliments guys. What would be required to fit a diff drop setup? Just the notch go farther down, to avoid contact with the diff? How much of a drop is common?
Mak, only pictures I have are the ones posted. I hope to have more by Monday. At the racetrack right now, so cant make progress.

 

usually diff drops are just 1" spacers at the 2 side mounts of the diff between the diff and the frame mount. I can try to take a picture tomarrow.

 

Heres the latest pics. Was able to get one together this evening. Im really not fond of welding all the way across the top "cap", but I assume if I dont, Ill catch some grief from guys. Just a really long drawn out weld looks tacky in my opinion. Im thinking about stitch welding it in say 8 different places(4 on each side). Let me know what you think...

 

I'm in, just let me know when you need the money and how, and how long it will take to get in hand...thanks oh and i'd want one capable of the diff. drop and full skid integrated if you get it that far.

 

Just a recommendation...

You're gunna want to drill two holes up under the front IFS crossmember under the diff. to bolt it in on the front as well. Having it just sitting there will be asking for it to get ripped off if you catch it on a rock the right way, and will provide a better mount for your skid plate that you are going to be offering in the future. It would make it so it wouldn't be completely flat, but you could make it so you used tapered low profile allen head bolts that would be pretty much flat (this is what budbuilt and trail gear do on their dual case crossmembers to retain as flat a belly as possible) Just a thought

Looks great other than that!

 

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