Drew303's 1987 Toyota PU Truggy Build

[drew303]

This build has already been posted on Yotatech since I did it. Thought I'd share with the Ih8mud crowd. History to present day. Here goes.


So starting somewhere around January of 2010 I started hammering down on a truggy design... researching what i wanted, how to do it and creating dozens of extensive full featured designs until finally settling with one that satisified all my requirements.

Starting the story from the beginning.

Stock pile of **** on a bent frame no exhaust crappy tires pile of dog ****
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/pic/orig_3.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/pic/orig_3.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/pic/orig_3.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/pic/orig_3.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]










It had a bent frame so I decided to frame swap it. Find the whole thread on it here:
Chassis Swap - Progress Thread *56k warning - YotaTech Forums
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/chassis_swap/day3/newframe2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/chassis_swap/day3/newframe2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/chassis_swap/day3/newframe2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/chassis_swap/day3/newframe2.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
Before the swap I had already junked the rear drums for a disc conversion. Thread here:
Rear Disc Brake Conversion - Writeup - YotaTech Forums
I had TONS of fun when it was still IFS... I mean tons, I beat the **** out of this truck and put it through everything it could possibly do.
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/ohstuck.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/ohstuck.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/ohstuck.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/ohstuck.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
some might recognize this picture from the YT forum banner
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/inwater09.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/inwater09.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/inwater09.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/inwater09.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/oopshole.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/oopshole.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/oopshole.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/oopshole.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/rockcandywater2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/rockcandywater2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/rockcandywater2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/misc/rockcandywater2.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]

[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/5pallets.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/5pallets.jpg"][/URL][/URL]



years later I SAS'd it.
Trail Gear 3" IFS eliminator Kit.
Heres the first rollout picture, 2" body lift, 3" TG kit, no rear mods done yet on brand new 33 KM2's
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/rollout.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/rollout.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/rollout.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/rollout.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
2" blocks in back and custom packs on 33's
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/level.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/level.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/level.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/sas/level.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
skipping ahead... 5.29 gears... Aussie Rear locker.. Detroit Truetrac in the front axle (5.29 obviously as well) and 37x12.5R15 brand new Goodyear Wrangler MT/R's x5 (spare)
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/37_2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/37_2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/37_2.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/37_2.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/clearanced.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/clearanced.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/clearanced.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/37/clearanced.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]
later I added a custom rear bumper... and TG sliders
thread here: Rear Bumper Build (Pic Heavy) - YotaTech Forums
[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/rearbumper/bumper_mudflaps.jpg"]

[URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/rearbumper/bumper_mudflaps.jpg"][URL="http://www.dojodesign.com/toyota/rearbumper/bumper_mudflaps.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL]

 

[drew303]

conceptual truggy/flatbed (whatever you prefer to call it!) drawings from years past when i was in my infant dreaming stages...

 

[drew303]

Jumping into the Truggy now.. Google Sketchup was my program of choice for simplicity and it did everything I needed to make this happen.

before picture

Ok so a little heads up on what the design consists of. First off I wanted to inboard the leaf springs. This means you mount the leaf springs closer together than what is stock. in a Formula Toyota Rock Crawler this means you mount the rear springs as close together as the front springs... i believe centered is 29"? ... dont quote me on that. Thats part of the F-toy rules... rear spring spacing. When you bring the springs together you gain articulation. It's fairly simple geometry in reality. The draw backs of bringing the spring packs closer is loss of stability ( in most peoples arguments )

Under my circumstances.. inboarding the springs to almost the dimensions of a sas'd toyota front setup... is infact not detrimental to ON ROAD .. or OFF ROAD stability. I've actually removed one leaf from the rear packs and never used the TK1 SwayBar..


new frame rail render

 

[drew303]

Ok, some more...

draft of the new chassis

beginning fabrication

The whole plan was to chop the frame directly behind the cab, build a whole new rear clip that is narrower (inbaorded leafs) and attach it to the front clip. It would slip inbetween the existing frame rails.

last wheeling trip before the overhaul smashed my door nicely doh!

little more progress

Putting the Tube bender to its first use

Tool box rails

One thing I wanted to do differently with the rear was have removeable shackles ... finding these mounts was kind of a pain, i ordered them from rockstomper.com since finding something like this locally was apparently impossible. Already used em at elbe! haha

Used creeper joints for the rear shackle hangars

Also got a TK1 Racing offroad sway bar (identical to Currie bar) in anticipation of increased on-road body roll and off camber instability that might happen with inboarding the rears. Ended up selling this to a guy with a linked Toy Truggy. No need for a rear sway bar, rig is stable.

last picture of the rig before cutting 'er in half

 

[drew303]

almost ready to be installed

starting the tear down, bumper cut off

tore down ready to be cut

frame cut and first night mockup with the new rear clip (nothings attached yet and thats not me, buddy workn hard with that beer lol)

welding it on

attached

hanging the springs..

Im running TG 3" front springs and the back has TG 4" leafs. The front has the lower 2 leafs removed as well. The truck sits perfectly level. Reason is how i designed the rear clip, the suspension (hangars) sits about 1.5" higher than it would if you were to put these under a stock rear (frame).

Cleaned up the rear axle and getting ready to set the pinion angle and weld the perches in. Because I inboarded 4" on each side you have to grind the perches a bit to get em to sit flat since the axle tube diamater increases as you get closer to the pumpkin.

setting the rear hangars. For max droop you want to set the shackle vertical. Actual "shackle angle" importance is a mostly web fubar. You want the spring to be freely expand (go flat) and under no load fall as far as possible. When the shackle starts inverting as the spring pulls down it begins pulling back up. TG's shackles are in fact to short for the nature of their springs. A 6" shackle works much better (I later junked their shackles for 6" ones, works much better)

getting the axle back under there

progress

installing the shocks, axles in ready to go

 

[drew303]

first rollout, right before the first test drive ( i had major fuel delivery problems for 4 days after this... finally resolved it, old filter nipple had broke off in a fuel line and collapsed... ugh 4 days of hell)

moving on

started bending the cage and welding er on

*note I added the rear tailgate at this point. it swings out.

rear cage done

First official rollout
Fuel problems still unresolved... ie the big fuel puddle under the front

First time flexing it out... took notes, later made adjustments before its first test run at Elbe.

------------------


TEST RUN: ELBE HILLS, WA JAN 15 2011

Trailered it down to Elbe for it's first test run.... results? SUCCESS. It's such a blast to wheel now! STABLE, FEEL-ABLE, RESPONSIVE, COMFORTABLE, !STABLE!

Sliders back on and upper shock mounts adjusted for travel as well as longer shackles (6")

 

[drew303]

finally got around to making a front bumper,

Another front bumper... - YotaTech Forums

Then just a more recent shot of the front with the winch officially installed. Already used it about 20 times. It has two vehicle recoveries on it, newer 4 door Tacoma slid off a forest road down a ravine then later the same night a quad cab long bed F250 Triton V10 that was in an 8ft ditch, now that recovery really made the tmax 9k work. wooeeee, then a crap load of tree removals off of highways and my backyard ;p

 

[drew303]

================

newest picture.... my GF making the truck look good.

Latest update..

New Yukon 8" 5.29 Gear Set for my rear Third.

It will replace my Trail Gear 5.29 gearset, which btw i DO NOT RECCOMEND TO ANYONE! They're loud and dont make proper gear contact (both my sets produce identical gear markings)

This is after 30k miles, the "highs" never wore down and I am done with the gear chatter.... It's absurd. The same pattern is observed on my front gear set... now in my rear axle till i rebuild this rear third with Yukons... blacklash opened up to 0.014" quiets the gears down considerably but still audible at highway speeds between accel/decel.. It's ridiculous. I would only possibly suggest TG for a front gear set or for a offroad toy only... but then ask yourself whats another $200 for QUALITY?

These patterns are speculated to be the reason for the gear chatter, as consulted by Zuk and a friend of mine experienced with 30 years in Gear setups.

The Drive Side pattern is OK. @0.014" backlash the contact favored the center more vs 0.008" which was strong on the heel but still acceptable. I'm going to still keep my FRONT third with the Trail-Gears as I havent noticed any problems yet (strength wise.. ie no damage and normal wear on the ring gear teeth).

Will also be installing an Aussie Locker in the front now, so the rig will be Aussie Front and Rear. While my Detroit TruTrac will go back to a rear application in my 85 ext cab SR5. Where it really belongs as it's an actual rear TruTrac. Still performed well IMO for the front despite not being a front model TruTrac

 

[drew303]

How come I can't edit my posts? .................

 

[drew303]

nevermind... guess i need more posts

 

[cody c]

Nice Rig!

And Finally, someone finally made a bumper for that body style truck that I like the lines of.

That is seriously the first bumper that I think looks good cosmetically and functionally. I dont mind the big stingers but they are a bit too much on the pickups, especially if they are a DD. The marlins' TG's etc. are similar, but that one just looks right.

Good work!

Oh, and the GF, what caliber she shooting?

 

[RogueFab]

Nice bumper, that is clean and simple. Any plans to cut more? I am impressed how much you built before attaching it to your rig. And the tire location is awesome

 

[drew303]

thx!


ha that's only a .22 she hasn't shot too many guns yet, m4 being the biggest yet. She likes em tho!

I plan on finishing the cage over the cab and then down and thru the fenders. There wont be an bars around the fenders/Hood to the bumper. Haven't gotten time and $ yet to do that.

then get my second tcase in there and raise the drivetrain 1". Its got a 22R... Like to fuel inject it eventually too.

 

[GLTHFJ60]