Builds Tacoma Resurrection (1 Viewer)

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canadian bum

canadian bum

SILVER Star
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Threads
171
Messages
1,439
Location
Red Deer, Alberta
Well as some of you may know I crashed my Tacoma back in January. I ordered a bunch of parts for it, acquired a bunch of parts for it and then it sat. For quite a while before I regained my motivation after some time away. Too long actually but things in life happen unexpectedly in other aspects. So now its time to let the fabrication and building go wild.

First off here is a picture of the truck after the crash. It really did a number.

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After getting the truck out to my parents farm I took a look at the damage and how bad it was. After the crash I took a quick glance and figured that was the end of the truck. But upon closer inspection seen that the truck held up quite well. The frame was only twisted at the very end of the horns so that was easily replaced. So the plan that was going to be a couple years down the road all of a sudden become a priority. One ton diffs with a Tundra V8.





I found a Tundra and made the purchase through a salvage auction. The engine runs great and the truck even drove. I had found a huge piece of the puzzle that was missing.






I cut away all the bad metal from the front of both trucks and pulled both engines out. The Tacoma V6 had the front cover cracked and the balancer smashed from the impact.









 
I went with a set of 40x13.5R17 Good Year MTR tires because I have heard a lot of good things about them and wanted to try something different.




Next came the axles, that were fairly easy to find actually. I used a set of axles out of a one ton Ford Super Duty. High pinion Dana 60 front and a Sterling 10.5 rear with disc brakes.



I built the rear axle with 5.13 gears and an ARB locker. This stuff is way bigger than any of the Toyota diffs. Stock axle shaft diameter is 1.5" 35 spline. Pretty beefy. But I didn't want any weak points in the axle so I had a solid pinion spacer machined to eliminate the crush sleeve. As well I changed out the Sterling ring gear bolts for Dana 70 ring gear bolts. The Dana 70 ring gear bolts have locking grooves on the head to prevent them from backing out. Axle is completed and ready to go in the truck other than a heavy duty diff cover and a drive flange for the driveshaft.



 
Next came removing the rear axle from the Tacoma. The tractor made this a fairly easy task. I had to strip down the brakes to remove the ebrake cables unlike the Ford axle that has the ebrake cables exposed like the older Toyota axles. I have to say I am looking forward to the better braking because the rear drum brakes on this axle maintained the Toyota standard for drum brakes of not working that well.





Rolled the old out and the new in. Even with the 40" tires compared to the Toyota axle on 37's I still lost just over an inch in ground clearance.





Now I'm sure in the last picture you may have noticed the clearance issue with the front of the rear fender. I decided to push the rear axle back a little to even things up. Now this isn't a for sure set on ride height because I have to build the link suspension in the front with the 14" King 2.5 coil overs and all the steering and tire has to clear. So I left the rear at this point until the front is set then I will most likely get a custom leaf pack built by Alcan.



After the axle was moved back to center it in the wheel well.





 
Now I still have a lot of work to do. I did some research and found that the engine mounts for a 4runner will allow my V8 to bolt right into my frame which is a nice bonus. The computers should plug right in so I'm hoping for a turn key swap, I'm not that lucky, but who knows things look promising this time.

I have the front axle to build. I'm hung up on a high steer knuckle I ordered back in May from ORU, so I am hoping that they get that back order sorted out soon. I also have to swap around the oil pan setup on the V8 to one off of a V8 land cruiser as well as add some performance goodies to the V8 to give it a little more jam. Still hunting salvage auctions for a Tacoma to get the front clip parts from. All in all my mildly wild Tacoma has transformed into extremely wild and I can't wait to get back out on the trails. More to come in the very near future.
 
did you have plans to open ( trim ) those fenders .?

I'm dying to try those tires .. ( I have a Set of the old model in Tencha and I kinda like 'em )
 
I'll see how everything fits under flex once final ride height is set. I'll obviously trim if need be. I'm also looking forward to trying out these tires.
 
Well got some time to do some more work. Completely stripped down the front Dana 60 cut off the spring perch and will clean up the housing a bit. Cancelled my order for a hi steer knuckle I ordered back in May in favor of the Dynatrac combo kit.

Here are some pics of the progress.





And some goodies to go inside, ARB locker and 5.13 gears.

 
Made some big progress by making a decision to dump my badly damaged Tacoma. And replace it with the exact same platform. Now I just build a clean truck with all the parts I had for the original. Same colour and everything. I had no luck at all finding a parts vehicle for a reasonable price so it only made sense to give in and just get a whole new clean platform. I will test run the V8 in my old truck to see if it works with the current electrical and sort out any potential electrical hurdles. If everything goes as to plan I should be rolling again by the end of August. Here are some pictures of the new truck.



And somewhat next to the old one.

 
Cool build for sure! It's amazing how quickly things escalate. I'm putting a 1uz in my Corolla right now. I'll be NA for 2015, but hopefully twin turbo by 2016. Sorry if I missed it, but what transmission do you plan on using, the Tundra? I'm using a 370z six speed, it should take my abuse.

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Nice, that thing is going to haul some serious ass. And yeah I'm using the tundra drive train.
 
when is this thing going to roll? I need a test run to see how my hydro assist works.
 
bwakeling said:
when is this thing going to roll? I need a test run to see how my hydro assist works.
Click to expand...

Hopefully be up and running by late spring at the latest. Got some plans for some big trips next year.
 
It's hard to keep all the threads up to date so here is the build thread that I have put together. Huge thanks to @hiluxjeremy for all his help and fancy fab skills that make things so much easier. See the link below for updates. Should be ready for the Marlin roundup
Tacoma Build
 
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