Thread: 01 tacoma chase/prerunner budget build

I bought my truck in september of 2006 had glassworks 4.5 fiberglass up front and sway away 2.0 stock replacement coilover, and deaver prerunner pack. this is what it looked like when i bought it home


I did minor things since its my daily driver i did an intake,cat back exhaust, stereo, and tint. I had no plans to build it. I started going to the desert with others from another forum. started to push the truck a little really got into it. About a year later on a budget I had cranked my coilovers to far to give lift that I messed up my tires. So I knew i needed tires and new they would wear out fast if i didnt fix my suspension. Looked at my options and decided to go with the engage offroad Gen2 kit. best bang for the buck.

Needed coilovers found some used sway away 2.5x8 with king coils from Luigi.

Fan into a few snags with install but nothing major. took me 2 days to complete install(now maybe a couple hours).

so front end was 95% complete at the time.
Decided i needed to change the look of the bumper a little with some new lights give it my touch. Bought some hella 4000's and sold the lightforce(they stuck infront of the bumper by about 1/4" was afraid i was gonna break them if i hit something).
It was like that for about another year and half since I built 2 Honda rice rockets in the mean time. Got the bug to continue more work on my truck and sold my honda to pay off credit cards. Bought new front fiberglass and bedsides from Trifecta offroad.

About a week or so later Johnny from Trifecta Offroad hit me up saying he was doing another order from glassworks if i wanted a hood let him know. So I gathered my money and bought a hood.

On 4th of july this year I was in havasu and frustrated with things going on. I decided to hit some dirt trails behind the house to see were they went. About 5miles later i was stuck in a Valley could not make it up both hills. they were to steep even with a locker could not make it got the idea to hit the hill at an angel at like 50mph. well i slid into a ditch. not by best work. Took multi people to help, 4 tow ropes, and my moms tundra to get me out. with about 3hrs work.

Having minor body damage I left havasu early even more pissed off. Went home and fixed the body damage and decided I should paint the truck. So I sprayed it with black primer.

Well with lots of time on my hands since I got a temp layoff at work do to slow times. I'm going to build the rear suspension on a budget if possible. Been gathing parts for about 3-4months now just little things here an there. Got the front hanger, bushings, spring perch, shackle material, material to plate the frame, 22gal fuel cell, Bilstein 2.0x4 bumps, bump cans, should be getting springs from Trifecta today. Just missing shocks and tubing for hoops. My plan is going to be something close to Project taquito built for Desert tv. But me not knowing how to bend material Its going to be a learning curve for me. Rear suspension should start this weekend sometime.

Looks good man, just find someone to bend you some hoops and get it doen son.

i am doing the rear of my taco also! 50T ftw!

Originally Posted by slcpunk74

Looks good man, just find someone to bend you some hoops and get it doen son.

I have a bender. Had it for over a year now and never used it. Time to learn. I will need a cab cage eventually also. Im gonna borrow a die from a Johnny Racer. since the biggest i have is 1.5 and i want to use 1.75 tubing

Originally Posted by trifenix

i am doing the rear of my taco also! 50T ftw!

Sweet, John was telling me you were doing the rear end? Were you located?

Trifecta Offroad leafsprings 50T
measurements are from eye-eye no load 52.75"
- arc 13.5" from eye-eye center line to mounting surface on leafs
- 11 leaf pack
- triple wrap forward pivot
- extended U-Straps so less bind age under droop
- friction plates in between each leaf on "Pin Assembly"
- 1yr warranty for Prerunners
- 6month warranty for race
- comes with poly bushings

Just picked up the leafs a few mins ago ill have pictures soon as possible

wow nice build man,cant wait for more updated pics of the rear.

Originally Posted by tacorunner87

Trifecta Offroad leafsprings 50T
measurements are from eye-eye no load 52.75"
- arc 13.5" from eye-eye center line to mounting surface on leafs
- 11 leaf pack
- triple wrap forward pivot
- extended U-Straps so less bind age under droop
- friction plates in between each leaf on "Pin Assembly"
- comes with poly bushings

Just picked up the leafs a few mins ago ill have pictures soon as possible

what you got may be right, the 13.5" from bolt hole to bolt hole, i think most people go off of the arch just setting the leaf on the ground upside down and measuring to a flat surface, its around 15 1/4", up travel for days lol

Originally Posted by CVP PRERUNNERS

wow nice build man,cant wait for more updated pics of the rear.

Ya, I text your about a week ago about shocks. Im in chino hills and you didnt want to ship

Originally Posted by tacorunner87

Ya, I text your about a week ago about shocks. Im in chino hills and you didnt want to ship

oh shit lol haha tell you what,you get 450 bucks and their yours. i gotta get my front kit even if i have to sell all my glass,rims,tires,shocks,valve stems.... lol text me here in a few

Started some of the very minor things today. Still need to finish Cleaning out the garage so I can get my truck in there this weekend. I also need to talked to my neighbor about cutting and drilling the hole for the ends for shackles so I can build them. Had to reduce the whole in the front spring hanger since they were 3/4" and I welded the Little tubes for bolts on the bump cans. My welds are not the best since i have not pulled the trigger in almost a year plus Im using a 110v welder. For a lot of the work I plan to just Tack with the 110 and borrow my buddies 220 to finished everything up.
Not real happy with the way the bump cans turned out.

clean build so far bro nice work!

Thanks, Im planning to redo the bolt tubes on the bump cans before I install them.

I use a sherwin williams anti spatter and it is the anti-fish stank...

Originally Posted by tacorunner87

Im getting spatter, I tried that anti spatter crap but that shit stinks like fucking fish.

Looks like you need to turn up the wire-speed a little, that's why you're getting spatter, solve that and you won't need anti-spatter.

Originally Posted by maxyedor

Looks like you need to turn up the wire-speed a little, that's why you're getting spatter, solve that and you won't need anti-spatter.

Cool, thanks for the advice. The welder I have goes ABCD heat and 1-9 on wire speed. I was running on D and around 4 when I welded those. I'm hoping to get to start plating the frame today. That will give me a little more practice and a chance to find the right setup for welding. Ill try to post some updates tonight

And don't forget that wire speed is also connected to amperage, so you might try lowering the heat and raising the wire speed.

Mike

Originally Posted by only1mikey

And don't forget that wire speed is also connected to amperage, so you might try lowering the heat and raising the wire speed.

Mike

Cool ill do a bunch of little test sections have roughly 12ft of frame to box.

I totally wish i had a plasma right now trying to remove stock leaf spring mounts is a bitch with a grinder

Just after taking the bed off.




Ready to start plating the frame tomorrow. Made a template of the frame to transfer to steel to take to the place were i used to work to cut it with there plasma.

when I plate the frame just when i but pieces together just vertical or should i cut an arch into ever piece when i but it together. I plan to grind the welds smooth.

My neighbor dropped these off to me today. 1 15/16 cold rolled cut to 2" wide there going to be the ends of my shackles.

Started plating the frame yesterday

Got 1 frame rail almost done.

you think those shackle ends might be a little much. thats gonna weigh a ton. i like progress this far. trucks lookin good

Originally Posted by baja.1986

you think those shackle ends might be a little much. thats gonna weigh a ton. i like progress this far. trucks lookin good

They may be over kill but I wont have to worry about the center hole getting oblong. Iv seen TC style shackles where the center hole is oblong after about 6months to a years worth of abuse. I want to build only 1 set of shackles. Just want to build it solid as possible the first time. Im gonna say there gonna weight a shit load when there done. The rear cross member is also heavy as hell. its 3" x 2" 3/16 wall tubing and i plated my frame with 3/16 steel. Its just gonna be a rolling tanks. If i can sell my trd elocker axle i may be picking up a T100 axle.

Nice Truck... keep up with the updates!!!

Progress has been very slow with me going out of town for 4days coming back not motivated to work on the truck and the heat the last week. But I did make some progress and have collected some more parts.
Used fuel cell but with a new can.

F-O-A 2.5x16 smoothbodies(got a deal I couldnt pass up)

Sold my TRD axle with elocker and picked up a T100 axle(future plan is LSD)

Got the rear crossmember in but still needs some grinding to make it look good.


All I need now is a fuel pump, tubing, plating, fuel sending unit, and misc hardware. Im sure im missing some stuff.

Well I ran into a shit load of problems. With u bolts today. The ones i had for my tacoma axle were to narrow so I ended up having to special order them should be here in a couple of days. So I half assed getting it together so mock up leafs. as you can tell
Leafs are pretty flat very little de-arch if any.

Got roughly and inch more till i hit fiberglass

im running the all pro leafs johnny is selling also just ran them for the first time last weekend racin in lucerne. worked fine and didnt break like my deavers did. as for the shackle ends, its not overkill i did pretty much the same thing and plated around the ends to the tubes and counterbored the end so the bolt sits inside. ill take a pic tomorrow.

Scott I'v see yours they looked very clean cool part with the center bore is you can use a shorter bolt. The reason i didnt do it so with a visual inspection you can see if the nut is coming loose.

One more picture

ya they do come loose. so i just started double nutting them and havnt had a problem with them backing off. and lock tight every nut and bolt on the truck

Originally Posted by slater1472

ya they do come loose. so i just started double nutting them and havnt had a problem with them backing off. and lock tight every nut and bolt on the truck

Once my truck is done If you guys need a chase truck let me know im usually out there at most of the races. Well this year I didnt make it to many but Im hoping that will change.

we can always use a chase truck especially one that is capible of getting to us fast unlike our tow rigs lol

I used to chase for johnny when he had his truck and im usually there hanging out with albert or who ever is at the camp. I was at the night race with you guys it was my truck Jerry was shooting his fireworks off of.

ooo haha. that was hilarious when he shot it at my truck when jimmie was limping in

Ya, Dont worry when the plow is back up you just have to had some payback

ooo i will

Got the front hangers welded in just need to add some reinforcement to the back side. started on the rear shackle mount. Planning to knock the corners down after i strap the middle section.

Well Im royally fucked. Looking the front hangers there kicked in about 3/16" guessing the bottom of the frame is not flat like i thought. I should have put a level on them when i tacked them in. So I only have 2 options make or get new front hangers or get a torch and bend them.

Finished both rear shackle mounts.

Picked up my new custom bent ubolts yesterday. Got everything mounted up today. it cycles about 19" Got the truck back on all 4s. still not drive able fuel cell is not in same with hoops,shocks and axle is not welded to the spring perchs. Right now its sits 3/4" higher in the back.

drooped and sitting on the ubolts. still need to strap the shackles