What once was shall be no more (2 Viewers)

[tonyota]

Thanks I'm very happy to see it coming together.
Have the front turn signals mounted & been designing on bumpers & such.
More progress to come soon!

 

[tonyota]

Sliders on.
Plated & insured
Been running it up & down the road but still no tail lights.
Working out some bugs.
Damn those front springs are stiff!

 

[tonyota]

So I took it to work today (50 mile round trip)
And damn the suspension is so stiff its almost like a rigid mount suspension.
Are Bilsteins that stiff? Will they loosen up a bit ?

And the exhaust needs to run under the fuel tank, does that seem like a bad idea?

Please give me input as I have less than a week to finish up enough to wheel it at the shakedown

 

[x factor]

Use a heat shield for the gas tank. Got any aluminum laying around? Even some roll flashing would work as long as there is a gap between the tank and aluminum. Make it like a little tunnel to channel the heat away from tank.

 

[x factor]

How's your shackle angle? What springs do you have? Shocks shouldn't add a ton of stiffness to the ride.

 

[tonyota]

Yes, I was gonna make a heat shield. So thanks for the confirmation of that plan.

The front springs are 1980s Rancho 4" lift springs. I know they are stiff (3 thick leaves) and I hope they will soften as they get used. The rears are a home made pack. The shackle angles are not an issue, both ends are at a good place.
I weigh in at 205# and I can stand on either end of the truck & jump up & down and the shocks only compress about 1/4" (I smeard grease on the shafts to monitor movement)

I know I don't have all my weight on the truck yet...tools, spare & such but holy crap...on the "sectioned" state road I take home from work the bounce was so bad it was almost unbearable.
I have the tires at 25 psi front & 22 rear and still don't get a good contact patch but I hate to lower them any more.

 

[x factor]

I would think the 4" lift springs are where the stiffness is coming from.

 

[tonyota]

Mayhaps I'll remove one leaf & see if that helps

 

[4rnr]

I run my tires at 18lbs. Are your shackles to tight? Is the slip yoke on your drive shaft over full with grease?

 

[tonyota]

Don't think shackles are too tight...it flexes OK with either front tire on my big rock . I can check the slips but when I put them on the were slipping just fine & I haven't perfected the "80 series method" of greasing them so I haven't greased them since installed..
I'll leave the suspension alone until shake down & mayhaps we can look it over & think about it.
Over decent roads its fine and on smooth roads it rides like a Lexus, doesn't pull or drift, goes straight and is quite a joy to drive....but when you hit a rough patch you better be ready.

I must redo the exhaust cause I have it exiting just behind the driver door and its so loud you cannot hear anything but it....sounds good but way too loud.

 

[tonyota]

I will lower the tire psi some more for a better contact patch. Was just worried that I was going too low but if they aren't bulging and I'm not getting a good contact then I don't see how it could hurt..
Thanks for all the input!

 

[tonyota]

Replaced the right front fender with new.
Bed on & most of the lights working.
A few things left to do but they can wait till after the shake down run.
More pics to follow .

 

[tonyota]

almost done (for now). But good enough to give a shake down!
And everything worked very well! I am well pleased!
Now to do some more details and put a bed floor in it and ready for PYS!

 

[tonyota]

I decided to do a tube bed instead of an exocage. But still plan to do an exocage for the cab as $$ permits

 

[booty]

SWEET!!!! Can't wait to see it in action. Don't forget to make the doors removable, all the cool kids are doing it.

 

[4rnr]

As the passenger on Saturday, I can say I am way impressed with you have put together in short order and how well it worked on its first run!!!!

 

[Gappy]

Looks greeat Tony, almost as sexy as you!!

 

[tonyota]

As the passenger on Saturday, I can say I am way impressed with you have put together in short order and how well it worked on its first run!!!!

Thanks John John, means a lot to me.
Thank you everyone for all the compliments on this build. I love it!

 

[slander]

Tony, I am humbled by your badassedness!! You built that thing with one arm quicker than most people can with two!! Looks great, glad to hear it worked awesome and sucks I could not be there to see it in its full glory!

I need to get hustling, using your time table, i only have two days left to get an SAS done on the taco!

 

[tonyota]

Couldn't have done it without help from my friends in the form of labor, loaner tools and free parts!
But I must confess I don't fxxx around. I spent every minute I had available wrenching on it.
Thank you to everyone that gave in one form or another! Much appreciated!!!!!