I spy with my little eye...


AXLESHAFTS!!!

 

It's back on it's feet!

 

Looking good boys! How long till you can steer it?

 

Wednesday is steering day. We will be installing the 4Runner steering box, plumbing it and measuring for tie rod and drag link. Once I call the measurements in, the tube will be cut and threaded and will be here a day later.

Once the steering box is on, we will move on to changing out the oil pan, remounting coolers, the little clean up stuff...

It feels really FREAKING good to see it sitting on it's own tires...

 

Hey Rob and Chris.

That looks sweet sitting on it own tires. Can't wait to see it in person.

Smegal

 

You know where to find us

 

So Rob, you really seem to be the type that likes working with his hands and doing good work.

Wanna trade with me and start over?

 

I DO enjoy working with my hands and seeing a project through from design to completion. It's a nice diversion from my regular job...

Both ChrisCo and I believe in "doing it right", so while we tend to take a little more time than is absolutely required, what comes out the other end tends to have a pretty fair bit of thought in it and tends to be fairly bullet proof

But, a trade is out of the question, I am getting pretty attached to this truck.

Sorry

Besides, that wouldn't be fair to you. You would miss out on the feeling of accomplishment when you do yours

 

Wow, that's really quite generous of you

Actually, I'm starting to do some research for my first 2.5-3.5 inches of lift
I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'm sure I'll manage.

Excellent work on your SAS thus far by the way
I'm sure you'll come back with a thorough and complete trail report once you're done

 

WATRD -- It is cool to watch your progress, because you have the burliest Tacoma I have ever seen. I read the 7th injector thread and all that and hope that my Taco someday grows up to be like your's.... I have a question since I do not seriously off road. Why do people do the SAS? Also, does the ARB go back on when you're done? Looks good, keep it up!

 

Looks good!!
I can't wait to see it in action

 

More Adobe fun....

 

Thanks for the compliments I was pretty happy with the truck before, so my hope is that this will only make it better I will be doing a full write up. We are archiving all of the webcam photos, so it should be pretty easy to piece them together into something that explains what we did.

I can't speak for everyone, but there's a couple of reasons I am doing the swap. First, even the least flexy solid axle has three or four times the articulation of the most flexy IFS Tacoma. As I have built the truck up, I have been taking it on more and more difficult trails. As the obstacles have gotten progressively larger, I have been pushing the limits of what the rig was capable of. Eventually I was starting to see more situations where I was right at the limits of what the truck could do and that is a scary place. When the truck is leaned over just shy of the roll point, it's no time to learn that you don't have enough flex.

Second, reliability/durability/simplicity. The stock IFS is designed with onroad and *light* offroading in mind. Some of us push the limits of that. I had been beefing mine up as I went, but there is only so much you can do. IFS is a pretty complicated beast, with lots of parts. The SA is far simpler, an axle, some springs and shocks. That's it. No inner and outer CV's, no coilovers, no upper and lower control arms. There's less stuff to break, fewer parts at their limits.

I AM planning to put the ARB back on if it kills us. Unfortunately, where the mounts for the bumper went, there is now a front spring hanger. So, we are going to dedicate a full day this weekend to figuring out how to mount it on the new set up and fabbing new mounting brackets. To my eye, that bumper really sets off the truck, so I am pretty insistant about finding a way to keep it.

 

You turned my truck into a pumpkin! How seasonal of you hehheheh

 

Looking good Rob! Nice job. Great idea to use the web cam.

Best of luck getting it finished and on the road/trails.

Peace!
G

 

Today's episode of TTORA garage is kinda boring. BUt im sure there is more to come.

 

Did you see it when we jacked it up to test the droop? THAT was pretty exciting...

12" from rest position BABY!

There's a photo of it up on the http://www.watrd.com/SWAP page.

 

Thanks for the IFS vs solid axle info. That is kind of what I figured, because I've seen some pics of serious articulation on SAS'd trucks.

I agree with you about the ARB, it looks so damn good on the truck! My buddy just put one on his 92 toyota truck this summer, and man what a difference. He's on 35" tires (I think) with 4" suspension lift and his truck looked mean before. Now it looks even better. Have fun and I look forward to seeing new pics of your Taco in action. Careful not to roll it!!

 

For those people with ARB bumpers on '86-'95 Toys, stay tuned for my swap. I'll be testing a new way of approaching the spring hanger versus bumper bracket issue.

 

Ya, this season was kind of short-lived, huh? Hey Rob, when is the DVD version coming out?