The Low and Slow Tennessee Build Thread

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My current steering set up. :/ I'm going to make steel plate that covers up the frame rails and ties into the motor mount and the steering box relocation kit to strengthen the frame and then weld the hoops to the plate. I'll do it to the other side too. The frame just doesn't seem strong enough for all of that stuff burned in there.

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Normally those kits come with a frame plating kit, I thought? Did they send you "flat-bottom" u-bolts for the driver side front? May be an optical illusion, but they look like round-bottom u-bolts for a round housing and not the bottom trussed housing you have. Not gonna cut off the mid frame torsion bar mounts? Making some good progress, man!
 
Jordan7118 said:
Normally those kits come with a frame plating kit, I thought? Did they send you "flat-bottom" u-bolts for the driver side front? May be an optical illusion, but they look like round-bottom u-bolts for a round housing and not the bottom trussed housing you have. Not gonna cut off the mid frame torsion bar mounts? Making some good progress, man!
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I wasn't planning on cutting them. My e brake cord runs through the one on the passenger side. They're not hurting anything lol. I only got round ones. I'm going to call allpro tomorrow and see if they have square ones. And the kit didn't come with the plates or steering. Box relocation. I gotta make the plates myself.
 
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Yeah, All-Pro was good stuff in the late 90s, early 2000s, but now a lot of companies have passed them in bang for the buck on swap kits. I think Front Range OffRoad maybe makes a frame plating kit?
 
Jordan7118 said:
Yeah, All-Pro was good stuff in the late 90s, early 2000s, but now a lot of companies have passed them in bang for the buck on swap kits. I think Front Range OffRoad maybe makes a frame plating kit?
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Due to time constraints I think I'm just going to make my own and cut it with a plasma. If I could go back I'd pay the extra for the sky kit. No company includes the steering box kit. It's weird
 
Made me some frame reinforcement plating using steel and a plasma. the notches ride around the motor mounts. and the flatter ones go on the outboard side of the frame.

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Also, made some super Ghetto Gussets out of said steel, and tacked them in place. Did a really bad job with the tacks, but im not a welder. My buddy will come behind me tomorrow and burn em all in. You can also see how far I moved my front spring hanger forward. I wanted to move my axle forward a bit so I dont rub, and when I move up to 37s I still dont want to rub. This will allow me not to cut my frame. I welded the frame tubes as far forward as I could go in the body mount. When I had the hanger flush, I had about 30-35 degrees on shackle without a transmission or gas tank. Moving the spring hanger forward about 3/4 inch or so gave me a 15 degree or so shackle angle. The springs are new and will settle a good bit. If I kept it how it was at first, when the springs broke in, id have a horrible shackle angle after break in. I posted these pics up on this 4runner facebook group and got all these people talking crap about my home made gussets, tack welds, and plates, and my spring hanger moved forward. Oh well. Shackle angle is all that matters. The gussets arent perfectly straight but who cares, and my tack welds do suck.

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Lastly, I got the Steering box reloaction kit kind of in the right spot, going to line it up and tack it tomorrow and my buddy is going to burn it in. The downside of moving your axle forward, is you have to move your steering box forward or else your tie rod is literally on top of your drag link. It looked horrible.

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So now this is happening

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Last but not least, I FINALLY DONT HAVE A GIANT HOLE IN MY FLOOR ANYMORE!!!!!!! Seriously, this is awesome, no more hot air that smells like gear oil in my truck anymore! The hole was just a hair too wide in certian spots, but I am going to use some silicone to fill them up. What really sucks, is that the boot in the plate for the T case that I bought has a rip in it. SH!TJASDJ!!!! Im going to try to see if I can find another one, or cut the t case rubber out and replace it with one of the ones I have laying around. Im pretty bummed it has a hole in it. Its in super good condition and when I bought it. Dude told me it didnt have any holes :/

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Awesome work.


(Damn, I need a better shop...)
 
I'm glad you found a proper place to do the swap! That would be rough in your driveway, and probably take you ten times longer.
 
Its been a while since I posted, Ironing out the final details, and got super busy at work. Heres some more Pics!

Shifter boots all in, still gotta get one made for the third shifter

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This took longer than I care to admit, ordered the switch rocker plates with blue instead of red for like $4 to match my head unit. they should be here soon

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Bump stops are too close to each other in these pics... :/ theyre touching, limiting flex

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Here is my solution. Im going to cut the lame trail gear bumpstop extensions off of the frame, and remove the hard bumpstops from the u bolt flip plates and weld these to my frame. Theyre big enough to strike the u bolt flip and not have any extension. They might actually even be too long lol. Might have to cut some off. These are from a 1995 nissan pathfinder. $4 at the junk yard. They didnt even have "bumpstops" in their computer system.

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Finally, its like 80 degrees and sunny today. Had to mall crawl on em a little bit today..

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