... I just need more time.
Don't we all!
Builds Box Rocket 1980 1st Gen Hilux (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Box Rocket
- Start date
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Don't we all!
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #102
Wheels repainted, and we pulled the MTRs and mounted the Baja Claws I've had on my cruiser to put on the pickup. Good looking setup if you ask me.
Still got a bit of SoCal prerunner lean going until we get the front suspension reworked but I picked up a full set of Doetsch Tech shocks yesterday for $20. Gonna have to do a bit of work on the mounts for them. Two are 12" travel (will probably go on the front) and the other two are 14" travel. I need to see if I can make them work in the rear or not. Might have to either go through the bed for the upper mounts or use the 14's up front and the 12's in the rear.
Still got a bit of SoCal prerunner lean going until we get the front suspension reworked but I picked up a full set of Doetsch Tech shocks yesterday for $20. Gonna have to do a bit of work on the mounts for them. Two are 12" travel (will probably go on the front) and the other two are 14" travel. I need to see if I can make them work in the rear or not. Might have to either go through the bed for the upper mounts or use the 14's up front and the 12's in the rear.
Man that thing looks good! Thanks now I changed my mind on my build again!
Totally love that color scheme.
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #105
Rear end is finally buttoned up. We picked up a full set of Doestch tech shocks, a pair of 12" travel and a pair of 14" travel. Got the rear axle cleaned up and new shock mounts done. We used the LowRange offroad upper shock mount crossmember
along with some LowRange lower shock mounts on the axle.
I like the ability to change the location of the upper mounting of the shock, but I think we got it measured out pretty well. Should have approximately 1.5" of shaft left on extension and compression. We ended up mounting them with a bit of rearward lean to the shocks (as well as being angled toward the center of the truck slightly). This was the best solution for avoiding bottoming out the shocks and I didn't want to cut through the bed.
They are inboard from the factory location so they won't offer quite the same stability of the factory setup but the Chevy springs seem to control body roll better than stock leaves so I think it should still feel pretty good on the road.
along with some LowRange lower shock mounts on the axle.
I like the ability to change the location of the upper mounting of the shock, but I think we got it measured out pretty well. Should have approximately 1.5" of shaft left on extension and compression. We ended up mounting them with a bit of rearward lean to the shocks (as well as being angled toward the center of the truck slightly). This was the best solution for avoiding bottoming out the shocks and I didn't want to cut through the bed.
They are inboard from the factory location so they won't offer quite the same stability of the factory setup but the Chevy springs seem to control body roll better than stock leaves so I think it should still feel pretty good on the road.
Box Rocket
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #106
I also picked up another full set of front axle shafts/birfs. They're all stock pieces but it will allow us to pick the best of what we have to go in the truck and still have spares left over. Also have another spare set of inner axles.
I got a power steering pump and lines from a friend in Vegas who was switching to full hydro and the only parts left that we need for the front end are high steer arms and links. We're going to start building the front axle this week. Once that's ready we'll cut off the stock front spring hangers and weld in the new LowRange low profile hanger and get the new 3" springs in place. The biggest slowdown continues to be a lack of time.
I got a power steering pump and lines from a friend in Vegas who was switching to full hydro and the only parts left that we need for the front end are high steer arms and links. We're going to start building the front axle this week. Once that's ready we'll cut off the stock front spring hangers and weld in the new LowRange low profile hanger and get the new 3" springs in place. The biggest slowdown continues to be a lack of time.
That is a great looking upper mount and they are a good price too!
I wish stuff like that was available when I did mine 13 years ago. Had to make everything by hand.
Nice work.
Nice work.
Looking good. Why did you choose to inboard the shocks so much? Seems you knew the ramifications of doing so.
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #110
Only real drawback to the mounting being more inboard is lateral stability is diminished a little. But the spring setup is still on the stiffer side given the weight of the truck. There is very little body roll in corners as it is so I'm not too concerned about any decrease in stability from the shock mounting.
The choice to mount them where I did was because that was the location that allowed for full shock stroke without limiting travel. The further outboard the shocks are the longer they need to be since the outside of the axle will move a lot more than the center of the axle during articulation. These are 12" travel shocks. If they were farther out they likely would have run out of length without enough extension at the limit of flex. If I had used the 14" travel shocks, the shock body was longer so they weren't going to have enough room for compression unless I cut through the bed and put the upper mounts up higher on towers through the bed, or limited up travel with larger bumpstops to keep the shocks from bottoming out. Didn't want to cut up the bed or limit travel so this seemed like the best option. So far they seem to be working well. If it turns out that, after some more road and trail time that it isn't handling the way we like, there is room to add another lower mount farther out.
I used a similar approach with my Tacoma when I did custom mounts for the OME shocks I had. The OME 9" travel shocks were just too short in the stock locations and limited down travel. I was also installing a u-bolt flip which eliminated the stock lower shock mount. This gave me the opportunity to make new mounts and continue using the same shocks but have them in a location that didn't limit travel. They ended being more inboard (very similar to what I did this time) but with no tipping toward the center of the truck at the upper mount. This setup worked really well. IMO.
the OME Dakar leaves are very flat to begin with and don't have much arch. They are designed this way and regularly go into negative arch. This was at full "bump". I never had an issue with the springs even with consistently pushing them to this point. You can see there was still a few inches of shock compression left. No risk of bottoming out the shock.
At full droop. This was as far as the spring would allow the axle to drop. The shock location allowed for full droop and still had ~1" of shaft left so there was no risk of over extending the shocks and damaging them. Had they been further outboard like the stock locations they would have been too short and would have over extended and limited travel.
Worked pretty well in the end.
Sorry. That's probably WAY more info that you wanted in an answer to a simple question.
At least maybe you can see some of the though behind the decision.Who made the rear bumper with swing out?
Sorry. That's probably WAY more info that you wanted in an answer to a simple question.
Perfect amount of info. That's about the same degree of thought that I would have put into it. Great explanation and sounds like the loss of stability is minimal with stiffer springs and enabled you to keep the shorter OME shocks on your Taco. Good stuff.
SFROMAN
SILVER Star
Only real drawback to the mounting being more inboard is lateral stability is diminished a little. But the spring setup is still on the stiffer side given the weight of the truck. There is very little body roll in corners as it is so I'm not too concerned about any decrease in stability from the shock mounting.
The choice to mount them where I did was because that was the location that allowed for full shock stroke without limiting travel. The further outboard the shocks are the longer they need to be since the outside of the axle will move a lot more than the center of the axle during articulation. These are 12" travel shocks. If they were farther out they likely would have run out of length without enough extension at the limit of flex. If I had used the 14" travel shocks, the shock body was longer so they weren't going to have enough room for compression unless I cut through the bed and put the upper mounts up higher on towers through the bed, or limited up travel with larger bumpstops to keep the shocks from bottoming out. Didn't want to cut up the bed or limit travel so this seemed like the best option. So far they seem to be working well. If it turns out that, after some more road and trail time that it isn't handling the way we like, there is room to add another lower mount farther out.
I used a similar approach with my Tacoma when I did custom mounts for the OME shocks I had. The OME 9" travel shocks were just too short in the stock locations and limited down travel. I was also installing a u-bolt flip which eliminated the stock lower shock mount. This gave me the opportunity to make new mounts and continue using the same shocks but have them in a location that didn't limit travel. They ended being more inboard (very similar to what I did this time) but with no tipping toward the center of the truck at the upper mount. This setup worked really well. IMO.
the OME Dakar leaves are very flat to begin with and don't have much arch. They are designed this way and regularly go into negative arch. This was at full "bump". I never had an issue with the springs even with consistently pushing them to this point. You can see there was still a few inches of shock compression left. No risk of bottoming out the shock.
At full droop. This was as far as the spring would allow the axle to drop. The shock location allowed for full droop and still had ~1" of shaft left so there was no risk of over extending the shocks and damaging them. Had they been further outboard like the stock locations they would have been too short and would have over extended and limited travel.
Worked pretty well in the end.
Sorry. That's probably WAY more info that you wanted in an answer to a simple question.
Great info
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #114
I did.
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #115
Can anyone tell me if there are different part numbers for OEM front brake rotors used on the first gen trucks? I got new aftermarket ones (solid rotors) for a 1980 but the front axle we're building is from a 1983. I assumed same specs on them since most stuff is sold for '79-'83.
But the calipers will not fit properly with the new rotors. It seems as though the rotor is too far inboard. They clear the backing plates just fine but they need to be about .5" more outboard to fit centered in the calipers. I'm wondering if the rotor "cap" is deeper on earlier ones than later models?
But otherwise the front axle is rebuilt with all new bearings and seals and new locking hubs etc.
We'll be using the stock J arm steering for a bit longer until we get the high steer.
Cruiser Outfitters rebuild kit
Axle trussed and cleaned
All back together
Hard to see here but the ears of the caliper are about.5" away from the mount brackets but the rotor is already against the side of the caliper.
Here's the rotor cap depth. Wonder if there is a different part that isn't as deep?
But the calipers will not fit properly with the new rotors. It seems as though the rotor is too far inboard. They clear the backing plates just fine but they need to be about .5" more outboard to fit centered in the calipers. I'm wondering if the rotor "cap" is deeper on earlier ones than later models?
But otherwise the front axle is rebuilt with all new bearings and seals and new locking hubs etc.
We'll be using the stock J arm steering for a bit longer until we get the high steer.
Cruiser Outfitters rebuild kit
Axle trussed and cleaned
All back together
Hard to see here but the ears of the caliper are about.5" away from the mount brackets but the rotor is already against the side of the caliper.
Here's the rotor cap depth. Wonder if there is a different part that isn't as deep?
ToyotaDon
I am here
I'll measure my old rotors tomorrow and report back. I just bought all the stuff to upgrade mine to vented rotors, about $200 at Napa with the "bucket" discount. They let me bring back the original calipers as cores.
Rotors are different from very early to just early. They mount onto the hub different as well. Six(6) bolts vs two(2) bolts to hold the rotor on. Right now I don't recall which is which, but I think the earlier version has the six(6) bolts.
I believe you are correct. Since the rotor is held to the hub by the six studs I'm not sure the bolts are even necessary.
And those rotors look wrong. They are solid, not vented. As I recall the solid rotors that would have come on the truck were pretty thin.
Box Rocket
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- Thread starter
- #119
Vented rotors did not come until later so solid rotors are correct for this truck. Thickness could be in question howeever.
These rotors attach to the hubs with 6 bolts
Vented rotors started with IFS. But I can't figure out why anybody would put solid rotors back on.
