Topic: Carseat Crawler

[seebrookmeyer]

By the time this thing is done, the girls will probably be out of carseats.

She is officially smog legal. Next up is to continue unfucking some of the goofy done. Top priorities are to clean up electrical for some of the aftermarket and work on the cooling system. The electric radiator fans for the radiator and power steering cooler are getting power via the AC fan switch. They swapped the 10 amp fuse for a 25 amp fuse and just jammed a wire in the fuse block.

I'm pretty sure this thing was in a front end collision at some point. There is red paint showing through at various locations on the inside of the body panels on the passenger side and core support. They installed an aftermarket radiator, transmission cooler and power steering cooler. They are all stacked on top of each other and basically zipped tied in place. It runs a little hot which is no surprise considering each cooler is blocked by another cooler, driving around getting the monitors I had the scanner in reading live data. Coolant temps would hit 225 in stop and go traffic with the AC on, 205-210 without the AC, on a 95 degree day.

I need to figure out what the issue is with the elocker in the rear as it is not currently locking, front has an ARB, but need to install compressor and switches for that. I have an additional ARB 3rd so I'm on the hunt for a non elocker tacoma housing that can be swapped in so I'll have an ARB front and rear.   

Current long term plan is cage, links, tons and forties

[lone walker]

Cage is overkill unless you plan on green sticker and trailer queen. All that extra, unnecessary weight will bog the struggling 5vz as is already, especially if it's not SC.

IDK about you but when I shredded my SC belt a few weeks ago while on 40s, that remind me of my struggling 22ret with 33s. Pedal to the metal while enjoying the scenery and not going anywhere.

[Gnarly4X]

Just another opinion….

If your truck is going to be purposed-built for serious wheeling, I would definitely consider researching if a roll cage can be installed legally in a street driven vehicle.

Knowing what I know now, if I were to go back in time to my serious rock crawling days, I would definitely install a very tight-fitting chromoly roll cage if it were legal in my daily driver.

It would be the absolute bare minimum to prevent the roof at the top of windshield and the rear back glass from collapsing.

With interior roll bars, it is critical to have 5-point safety belts and seats that prevent body-bouncing, and padded areas on the bars to prevent bad head injuries.

The extra weight and the space the bars take up are definitely issues to consider, but so is a roll-over where the cab collapses into the interior driver/passenger areas.

Gnarls.

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Cage is overkill unless you plan on green sticker and trailer queen. All that extra, unnecessary weight will bog the struggling 5vz as is already, especially if it's not SC.

IDK about you but when I shredded my SC belt a few weeks ago while on 40s, that remind me of my struggling 22ret with 33s. Pedal to the metal while enjoying the scenery and not going anywhere.

I place a lot of value in a cage. Things can go south in a hurry, even at slow speeds.

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Nothing wildly exciting, but acquired a set of 05+ Super Duty Axles for this. Plan is to bench build these and collect other parts to hopefully reduce the down time when the actual swap takes place. On the hunt for a j shift, driver drop chain drive transfer case to use as a donor for an eco crawler if anyone has one they are looking to part with. been slim pickings on CL and FBMP.

[rapier46]

I did the same thing, ish.    I had mine out the door on tons in 6 weeks.   

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Haven't done much with this thing through the holidays, but my EcoCrawler showed up from NWF yesterday. Planning to start getting this assembled over the next couple weeks and everything everything installed prior to Sand Hollow.

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Been tinkering with this a bit to get it ready for Sand Hollow. Rear E locker was not functioning, started with verifying the PO had done the gray wire mod (allows the locker to be engaged in 2WD and 4HI). PO just wrapped the wire around a bolt so I put a ring terminal on it, but still did not have 12V at the rear end. Wires at the e locker hanging together by a few strands of copper and connector for the indicator switch was broken off. Ordered a new indicator switch and E locker harness. New harness had a different style connector at the frame, so spliced my frame side connector to the harness. Pulled the e locker motor out of the diff to test, I now had 12V, but the motor was seized up. Replaced the motor, added an e locker motor guard from Low Range and its now fully functional. 

PO had bought 2 ARB diffs and an ARB compressor prior to me buying it. I dont think he realized he couldn't install an ARB in an e locker housing, so I have a spare for the front now. He installed the front diff but didnt get any farther than that. The wiring harness for the compressor was cut into multiple pieces, presumably to be removed from whatever vehicle it was previously install in, so ordered a new harness. Cut a simple mount to install the compressor in the engine bay. Probably should have used something thicker but it will do for now. 

Center console had 2 rectangular holes with covers on them. PO was using one of the locations for the lights on the bumper. Pulled the cigarette lighters out in an attempt to just put the existing switches in those holes. Switches were smaller than the hole so cut the back of the lighter out and stuffed the switches in them. mounted the compressor and front locker switches in the rectangular holes. All this is "temporary" as the not to distant plan is to pull the interior to cage it. 

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Finished the ARB wiring and now have fully functional lockers front and rear. Just running the wiring for this under the dash confirms that an interior cage will be a very large undertaking.

[POR]

You'd want the cage on the outside. Give alittle protection.

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

"Wheeled" with the family out at Sand Hollow. Overall, pleasantly surprised as I had pretty low expectations and assumed I was going to be dealing with issues all weekend. for the little that I wheeled it I had a good time and am glad I felt it out prior to ripping the whole thing apart. It is a very different animal than TB. The seat time I got help prioritize the to do's for this thing. First being gearing. I was hoping to have the eco crawler in before the trip but TB prep for JV got in the way of that. 
Got home and torn the donor case down to assemble the reduction section of the eco crawler. That is the easy part of the process. I pulled the stock t case out of the truck last night and will begin tearing that down to install the new input shaft and get the entire assembly together. that should be only slightly more challenging. 

The real challenge comes with stuffing this all back into the truck. My original thought was to buy or build a new crossmember that would also act as the lower frame side mounts for the eventual front link set up when I swap in the super duty axles. WFO makes a crossmember for this generation truck, but address that it only works with a stock case. If you are running duals, this crossmember needs to be reworked. Pat's Tacoma, Elbow Grease, has a reworked version of this crossmember. Martec Engineering makes a similar style crossmember for the 2nd gen tacoma's that supposedly works with duals. But based on some eyeball measurements, it would take a significant amount of rework to clear the front driveline. Both of these crossmembers mount to the stock transmission mount location, which is pretty far forward from the front output on the t case. 
Pat's crossmember for reference. 

Martec crossmember for the 2nd gen


The truck currently has the front range style t case crossmember on it. I have this same style on TB, I dont like it on there, and can't say it was any better to deal with on this one. That being said, the bulk of the eco crawler installs I have seen have been done with this crossmember. Cam Hayes, from polyP's reworked his, and also clocked the t case the full 16 degrees you are able to with the eco crawler. I wasn't planning to clock mine, but may try to clock it 6-10 degrees to make a little more clearance for a skid.


The overall intent is to not have to rework this again once I do the axle swap so I am trying to be mindful of how I mount this on the first go around. 
ecocrawler reduction assembly



Stock t case, on the bench.

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

You'd want the cage on the outside. Give alittle protection.

After throwing the whole family in to wheel sand hollow, I need all the space in the cab I can get. plan is to build a nice tight exo for this with the b billars in the cab. 

[seebrookmeyer [OP]]

Finished assembling the t case and eco crawler last night. Installed the triple sticks and cycled through the various gear selections to make sure everything was rotating and shifting smoothly. Next up is to mock this up under the truck and figure out my crossmember/ skid plate.