ROTM - Project Daily Destroyer

[notyourmomslx450]

Well, looks like I'm up for ROTM, so here we go.

I've only ever owned one non-four-wheel-drive vehicle, so this is the natural progression for me. For toyotas, I've had a '96 Taco, an '85 4runner, a Lexus LX450 (still have it), and a '98 4Runner (my wife's rig). I have always had a soft spot for the 3rd gen trucks, and when gas prices went through the roof, I really started looking around for something to replace the lexus as a DD/wheeling rig.

Thus began the idea of the Daily Destroyer. After alot of looking w/ some specific criteria (xtra cab, 22RE, straight body), I finally found one last February. It takes a little longer in Houston, as most of the older toyotas can usually be found getting towed to Mexico behind another older toyota. Okay, so here go a couple fo pictures.

This is what it looked like the day I got it. 94 xtra cab 4x4 w/a a 22RE and a straight body, no rust!! Crappy cell phone picture alert:

It had pretty high mileage, but not a leak, dent, or scratch. It was previously owned by a small town minister, and he took great care of it. Doesn't burn any oil or other fluids. The interior looks almost brand new, as it has always had seat covers and husky floor mats. The engine is strong, and just in case, one of my good buddies has been a Toyota mechanic for the past 20+ years, so I'm not worried about it should the engine fail.

Okay, so now I've got my truck and I'm happy as a clam. Time to start planning. Here's my "artist rendering" of a vision for the truck:

And this little guy is what I chose as the attitude I was going for:

to be continued...

 

[notyourmomslx450]

Now, fast forward 6 months to August. I've been planning, hunting, and buying parts to get ready for the build. I knew that I wanted to do everything all at once, and knew exactly what was going to happen to this truck. I didn't have to feel out my abilities or what the truck could do, because I've done it before and knew what kind of wheeling I wanted to be able to do. So, by August my wife hates me. Our house has no garage, and our sunroom has become my parts room. Here's why she didn't like me very much:

Marlin MC07-R10 doubler kit, Marlin hy-steer kit

Front Range Off-Road fab rotated t-case crossmember/skidplate combo

MC 5" lift springs for MC SAS kit

The rest of the SAS kit

Also, out in the "stuffed to the gills" shed sat a top shift tcase I picked up for $100


Okay, so time to get to work, right? Luckily for me, one of my really good friends is also one of the best fab guys I've ever met. He let me use his shop and lent his skills to the project throughout, saving me a bundle of cash, since I bring the suck when it comes to welding (i'm working on it, but I still suck)

So, first step was to burn in the frame tubes and front spring hanger for the front end. We did this one night while I was still collecting parts and I drove around for almost a month w/ the front of my truck looking a bit buck toothed from the hanger.

Dave welding in the tubes after I used the frame jigs to cut out the holes

front hanger burned on

we also did the new front spring hangers for the rear lift while we were at it

In the meantime, I scored a front axle from a buddy for $100. Not much to look at when I first got it. Came out of an 83, so it wasn't fully gusseted, but I had plans for that.

The front axle got a custom upper truss by me, trail-gear knuckle ball gusset kit, fj60 rotors, 5.29s, detroit locker, longfield 30 spline shafts, birfs, and chromoly IFS conversion hub gears.

Then the front end fell out

And we hit the frame w/ the grinder, ALOT

Hung the front springs

threw on the axle

And finally got two of these out of the corner of my living room (more wife hating me)

Looked funny w/ the rear still stock

the next night we knocked out the rear lift, but didn't get any "during" photos since we were both going at it pretty hard.

 

[notyourmomslx450]

So now that the lift was done, it was time to tear out the tcase and regear the rear case to 4.7s. I had a buddy getting Dave to install 4.7s in his tcase, so one day we had a regear race. We tied.
and yes, the shop towel hat was necessary. It was 100+ degrees and my head was shaved. kept the sweat out of my eyes, unlike Dave! haha.

After that, we got the cases in along w/ the FROR crossmember and skid. Had to do more cutting and grinding to remove the torsion bar brackets. Got the new driveshafts ordered, and it was time to take it home. Oh happy day! This was taken late September. 2 months ain't bad for that transormation!

The next week, we started on the bed bob just in time for me to take it wheeling. Took 12" out of the bed.

I've gotta say, the truck did great. Drove 4 hours to the trail, wheeled all weekend, and drove 4 hours home w/ no problems whatsoever.

Lifted some tires since the springs hadn't settled. That, and my buddies wanted to force me to recalibrate my pucker meter after so long w/ out wheeling.

 

[notyourmomslx450]

so on the first wheeling trip, during one of the wheelstands, I took a root to the front fender. No worries, though. Dave has a body guy at his shop that was doing the finish bodywork on the bed for me, and he said he'd fix that while he was at it. I wanted it to look nice for a little while once it was completed prior to being beaten slowly into a raisin.

So, here it is post-body work. It came out looking fantastic. Almost like it came from the factory w/ a bobbed bed.

And now it was time for protection. I wanted it to be well armored for the trail before my next wheeling trip that was in January. This time I dropped it off at Dave's shop w/ the only direction being, make it cool and functional, give me a winch up front, and a trailer hitch out back. I went w/ a T-Max 9000 lb comp winch, since the drum is smaller, and he could make the bumper as compact as possible. This thing came out brilliantly. I also installed some 4xinnovations kickout sliders.

I didn't get to paint it or take any pics before the next wheeling trip, though. Dave didn't even get to do the rear bumper before I went. So, here are some shots of it on the next wheeling trip

Wheelbase got me here

And I did this to the driveshaft on the rock ledge before I got the tires to grab

note the jeep shirt. It was a toyota only event, so I figured I'd mess w/ everyone.

Anyway, my dad came out, too, with his stock tacoma. Since he had towed it out w/ his motorhome, and couldn't wheel the trails we were, he let me steal his driveshaft. I was lucky to have left the two piece shaft in when I did the duals, so I had only altered the front half of the rear shaft, and the rear half of his rear driveshaft was the exact same length. And alot more beefy.

Well, the springs did alot better on that trip, and I felt like it was flexing wayyy better. I also felt alot better wheeling it.

I did have one SNAFU, got high centered on the end of the rock garden. I like to say I was testing out the FROR skidplate, since the entire weight of the truck was sitting on it. It did great!

Funny video of it

 

[liljlandon]

Good job! Clean build! Now you need some protection

 

[notyourmomslx450]

Good job! Clean build! Now you need some protection

See last post. I must've been updating while you posted that.

So, got back, got the rear bumper done, took it wheeling more, and started my collection of dents. And no, still didn't paint the bumpers, what a loser, right?

funny white trash antenna stripper

Okay, so since I had this built at my buddy's shop, and they're sponsors at a MOROC event this coming weekend, and they want me to have my truck there for their shop, I finally got around to painting the bumpers and sliders. I think they look awesome. Rather than going w/ black, I chose to paint them w/ some rattle can metallic charcoal rustoleum. I smoothed down the rust scale, used some rust converter, then primed and painted them.

The cool thing about the rear bumper, is that my license plate is in the receiver hitch. the license plate light has a plug on it so the whole thing can be removed for wheeling. When I go offroad, I just pop out the license plate, hook in a shackle stinger, and hit the trails.

And that's how Project Daily Destroyer sits today. This is, as the name suggessts, my daily driver. I also drive it to every trail which means, in Texas, about 4 hours of driving on each side of wheeling. I average about 17 MPG on the highway, which beats the almost negative MPG the lexus gets.

Specs on the truck are:

5.29 gears
Detroits front and rear
Dual ultimate cases (2.28 & 4.7) w/ 10* rotation
FROR dual case skid/crossmember combo
Longfield 30 spline super set (axle shafts and birfs)
Longfield Chromoly IFS to solid axle hub gears (obviously allows use of IFS hubs on my solid axle)
Marlin Crawler SAS kit w/ 14" front, 12" rear shocks
Trail Gear knuckle ball gusset kit
Custom Gulf Coast Crawl Shop Axle truss on the front axle
All-Pro long spline kit for the front shaft
Custom front and rear bumpers from Gulf Coast Crawl Shop
4x Innovations sliders
T-Max winch
37" Goodyear MTRs
12" bed bob

Future plans include:
Rework the rear shackle hangers, since the rear shackle angle is horrendous
Clearance the firewall a little for when the tires are really stuffed up in there.
Hydro-assist
Rear disc brake conversion
Rear driveline disconnect (for those extra cool front burns that would be so handy in the trees and tight trails w/ my wheelbase)


That's about it. I love the truck just the way it is, and I think those few mods would make it absolutely perfect. I wheel w/ folks in everything from IFS yotas to full on v-8 powered buggies on 42s and one tons, and haven't been disappointed yet. I've been on 5 wheeling trips since finishing it, and only had to winch myself twice. Once because I was high centered, and once so I wouldn't totally break my driveshaft in half trying to get up a ledge.

 

[TxBxSx]

Dave did a rockin job on that bumper. One of these days i will head over to their shop and formally introduce myself...maybe after i get my rig put back together.

 

[liljlandon]

See last post. I must've been updating while you posted that.

Yep, must have been... Only thing it said was "wheel it" no picutes or nothing...

That is one badass bumper! Care if i go that direction with mine? Wow man... Slick!

 

[Mr2crazybyong]

that is one bad ass truck!! very nicely done, very professional.. can't wait to get mine!

 

[Izeloz]

What's your height from the framerail to the ground? Truck looks great. Have you ever wished for a shorter wheelbase?

 

[PurpleFJ62]

Bad Ass dude!!

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

what shop does your friend own? he pretty fair priced?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

That's a great transformation!

 

[notyourmomslx450]

What's your height from the framerail to the ground? Truck looks great. Have you ever wished for a shorter wheelbase?

Bad Ass dude!!

what shop does your friend own? he pretty fair priced?

That's a great transformation!

Hey guys,

Thanks for the compliments. I was in Europe for the better part of April, so I didn't get a chance to reply. Izeloz, I'll have to break out the tape measure to figure the frame height. I love my wheelbase, since I feel more stable going up and down stuff.

BDSeff1fitty, the name of the shop is Gulf Coast Crawl Shop. Dave is the fab guy. Price is good, especially for the quality of the work he does. Probably takes more time perfecting his projects than other shops would.

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

thanks ill definitely look him up when i get around to getting my body work and cage done

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

thanks for the recommendation. they did a great job on my front axle re-build. there gonna re-weld some stuff on my frame soon when i can find a day i got off work to grab a trailer and get over there to drop it off. he talked about your truck for a bit too about all the work they had done on it.

any new updates on your rig?

 

[fortysixandtwo]

Truck looks awesome man. Those are sick bumpers.

 

[notyourmomslx450]

Hey, glad they did some work for ya. Great shop w/ a LOT of knowledge about not only custom stuff, but Toyotas in general. Did you just get your axle rebuilt like last week? I saw it on the pallet w/ all the rebuild parts on it and threatened to throw it in the bed of my truck

No new updates, other than I blacked out the center of the hood. I love the way it looks. Just got back from a place in Marble Falls called Hidden Falls. It's a pretty new park, and we found some pretty good stuff. Here's a pic that shows the black out section AND some of the wheeling there.

the rest of the pics are here:

Hidden Falls 1st trip pictures by notyourmomslx450 - Photobucket

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

Hey, glad they did some work for ya. Great shop w/ a LOT of knowledge about not only custom stuff, but Toyotas in general. Did you just get your axle rebuilt like last week? I saw it on the pallet w/ all the rebuild parts on it and threatened to throw it in the bed of my truck

ya that was mine. they got my frame now re-welding all the suspension mounts and re-doing my PS mounts and fixing the PO's idiotic mistakes.

 

[notyourmomslx450]

cool, I'll have to go up there and check it out.