2003 Tacoma Crawler

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Thanks fellas.  I got my Ac recharged today.  It's cold as hell here but it will be nice for mcr!!

Cold there already?

[rapier46]

Cold there already?

What makes you think it warmed up?!

It's been a pretty lame summer.  And when it rains here it's really chilly.   I've got a good fire going inside to keep the house warm.

[rapier46]

Just changed out the ujoints on my spare axle shafts.  Have a spare for every shaft now. Hopefully won't need them but ya never know!

[rapier46]

Mounted my hilift tonight. Just trying to check a bunch of things off the list before my trip.

[rapier46]

Checking off some boxes for Moab & mcr. 

Got the hi lift mounted, and made a little rack to carry some stuff

[gnob]

Kewl. Definitely a sick rig.

[swilson]

Looking good

[rapier46]

MCR18 was pretty alright I guess!
















Soup bowl

https://youtu.be/MkTY8_CzA_s

[Dingman.]

What is your fuel capacity now?  8gallons? 

[rapier46]

What is your fuel capacity now?  8gallons? 

20 



Now that I know the front end works pretty well I added some extra meat to the shock hoops.


And some smaller gussets in the front side.  Welds turned out pretty well. 




Sooooo because I can’t leave well enough alone...


I cut everything off...


Because I now have to mount the cell, and if you noticed those MTRs in that photo...I now have a full-size spare.  So that will have to be mounted back there too.  I’ll have to redo everything to make it all fit together. 

[Blingn]

CLEAN WORK !!!

[rapier46]

CLEAN WORK !!!

Thanks man!!   

I didn't make much progress tonight. Only added a little bit of meat to the rear leaf hanger. If for no other reason that I had to grind a lot of off back there and I was worried it's getting thin being only 1/8" rectangle tube. 




In the next day or two I should be able to begin mounting the fuel cell.  Not sure exactly how to do it. But I'm going to remove that rotted out crossmember holding in the old tank and do something new. Mounted as low as possible, but not in the way when I link it.

[T-Revv]

MCR18 was pretty alright I guess!

Man, that is one good looking "T-Runner" behind you.  Who owns that sexy thing? I bet that guy is great  

[CORRODED]

Man, that is one good looking "T-Runner" behind you.  Who owns that sexy thing? I bet that guy is great  

You probably wouldn't be surprised to know he's actually quite a butthead. 

[rapier46]

Shots fired!

[rapier46]

[rapier46]

[rapier46]

Actually got a lot done today. 

Started here


Fish plated inside and out at every joint. 


The the new sections welded in





Ended here


Front and rear leaf perches in,  made loads of progress today.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Looks great. Why keep leaf springs though

[rapier46]

Looks great. Why keep leaf springs though

I just cant afford to link it now

[Lewis Hein]

I just cant afford to link it now

Links are old tech anyway. Modern suspensions use hyperlinks; you just click on the right suspension part and it sends you and your rig over the internet to a different part of the trail

[rapier46]

[rapier46]

I supposed I left y'all at a cliffhanger so here's an update. 

Ended up putting the bedsides back on for now after hammering them "straight".  Went to an ugly but simple and strong rear bumper for now.  No more tailgate.  But I have an idea for a tailgate in the works. 



Made new sliders finally.  Along with a total of 110" of frame plates to spread out the stress. Old ones were bent to snot.  Went with a bit of a kickout this time.   




And In the last couple days been figuring out a new fuel cell filler.  The flush cap is no good for snow and a bit of a pita to fill.  I could buy a fender fill kit for a few hundred dollars, or I could make my own for about $60.

Filler from a coach, these are safe, strong, and free. 

Cut some plate for it to fit into. Fits really nice.


Since the tank isn't threaded and you have to stick your hand through the filler hole to hold onto the nuts in the tank, and that would not work with a tube of those size..I came up with this.    Threaded ring that goes in, and you just nut it from the top.  Problem solved..




And made the new filler mount tonight.

[rapier46]

Went out with a couple old friends today.  Not much snow, and easy trails but it was fun.  I had to pull a bunch of people up a few hills.  Truck did good. 

[Gnarly4X]

Hey rapier46,

Just some thoughts about your post, photos, and nice truck.

I really enjoy photo documentaries, especially projects and wheeling. 

It looks like you are fab-a-holic, and a pretty darn good one at that. 

After 42 years as an active off-road enthusiast from sand rails to 4x4s it has always bothered me to witness the destruction of the "vehicle". 

I learned from my personal involvement there are many different perspectives on the pleasure of the hobby or sport.  During my early sand duning days, I knew a family that had no furniture in their home and most likely in debt up to their eyeballs, but they had the nicest sand rail, quads for their kids, toy hauler, and a dually pickup anyone would love to own.  BUT... they always seemed to have a great time 

I've seen one my duning buddies build a $6,000 engine, go to dunes for a week-end of fun, back if off his trailer, fire the engine, and smoke a clutch disc in about 30 seconds. 

I've watched a guy that owned one of the most beautiful Jeep TJs in Arizona join a 4x4 club, get infected with the rock crawling bug and within 12 months that TJ was thrashed so badly and sustained so much body, chassis, and drive train damage it was very painful for me to look it, and know the time and expense he went through to repair it and modify it.

I spent many hours repairing the body damage to my 85 short bed.  Since it was my daily driver, I could not drive it every day without repairing the damage rather quickly. 

What's my point?  For most us, the hobby and sport comes with some unavoidable carnage - sometimes a little, sometimes, a lot, sometimes total.  Of course, for some their fun is designing, fabricating, repairing, and rebuilding.

If I were to get back into active 4-wheeling, I'd build a simple, inexpensive, tube buggy.  I would NOT take a nice old or new Toyota 4-wheel drive vehicle, and attempt to turn it into a rockcrawler and ultimately end up destroying it. 

Your truck looks like a serious well-fab'd 4-wheeler that you really enjoy..... but it hurts my eyes to look at it.

The dog, however feels good to my eyes.  He looks to be on the older side of his life, and not necessarily enjoying the wheeling adventure.

Gnarls.

[Lewis Hein]

As far as tailgates go I tied a net out 3/16" rope and strung it across. Works fine so far.

[rapier46]

Hey rapier46,

Just some thoughts about your post, photos, and nice truck.

I really enjoy photo documentaries, especially projects and wheeling. 

It looks like you are fab-a-holic, and a pretty darn good one at that. 

After 42 years as an active off-road enthusiast from sand rails to 4x4s it has always bothered me to witness the destruction of the "vehicle". 

I learned from my personal involvement there are many different perspectives on the pleasure of the hobby or sport.  During my early sand duning days, I knew a family that had no furniture in their home and most likely in debt up to their eyeballs, but they had the nicest sand rail, quads for their kids, toy hauler, and a dually pickup anyone would love to own.  BUT... they always seemed to have a great time 

I've seen one my duning buddies build a $6,000 engine, go to dunes for a week-end of fun, back if off his trailer, fire the engine, and smoke a clutch disc in about 30 seconds. 

I've watched a guy that owned one of the most beautiful Jeep TJs in Arizona join a 4x4 club, get infected with the rock crawling bug and within 12 months that TJ was thrashed so badly and sustained so much body, chassis, and drive train damage it was very painful for me to look it, and know the time and expense he went through to repair it and modify it.

I spent many hours repairing the body damage to my 85 short bed.  Since it was my daily driver, I could not drive it every day without repairing the damage rather quickly. 

What's my point?  For most us, the hobby and sport comes with some unavoidable carnage - sometimes a little, sometimes, a lot, sometimes total.  Of course, for some their fun is designing, fabricating, repairing, and rebuilding.

If I were to get back into active 4-wheeling, I'd build a simple, inexpensive, tube buggy.  I would NOT take a nice old or new Toyota 4-wheel drive vehicle, and attempt to turn it into a rockcrawler and ultimately end up destroying it. 

Your truck looks like a serious well-fab'd 4-wheeler that you really enjoy..... but it hurts my eyes to look at it.

The dog, however feels good to my eyes.  He looks to be on the older side of his life, and not necessarily enjoying the wheeling adventure.

Gnarls.

........





.....

[camhays556]

 

[Gnarly4X]

........





.....

If I deliberately did that to my truck, I have several friends that would say to my face... "Gnarls, you need to go get some psychotherapy!!" 

Gnarls.

[rapier46]

I'm not friends with people that being me down