Stlstrs' 03 Double Cab

[Stlstrs]

I'm terrible with pictures, hopefully I'll get better when the exciting stuff starts.

Put 5.29s in rear over the weekend, and pulled the front diff. A buddy delivered a pair All Pro 5s that I snagged off of Pirate. Those will go in the rear. My AP 4s for the front should be here tomorrow. I'm basically waiting for my AOR bumper to get here so I can weld in their cross member. At that point I can get things moving. It should be here in a week or so.

[fj-rankenstein]

i cant wait to get one of these trucks..    whats the tire size that you are running right now??

[Stlstrs]

I'm running 33s right now, going to bump up to 35s after the swap.

[Stlstrs]

Loaded up all my tools and a bunch of parts, and parked the truck in the shop at work. Hopefully get the rear knocked out this weekend, then start working on the front.

[Stlstrs]

Jrock, boxing in the rear.

[Stlstrs]

 So we started the swap this weekend. Put the truck in the shop Friday night, worked pretty much all day Saturday and half the day Sunday.



Boxed in the rear, relocated the spring and shackle hangers. We got hung up in the rear. I had picked up some used All pro 5" springs, but for some reason they look to be 1" shorter from the front eye to the center pin, 26.5, when I'm pretty sure they should be 27.5. This threw off all of our measurements. I'll probably end up getting a new set. I'm going to call AP in the morning and see if they can make any sense of it.
(*Edit: turns out none of the springs 4",5",6" have the same eye to pin dimensions in the front. I assumed they were all the same.)




Pile of old parts



Prepping the frame



Got all the IFS cut out, most of the grinding done, and the passenger frame plate tacked in. Pretty good for one weekend.

[Wolfe]

Awesome, really looking forward to this swap. 

[Stlstrs]

Looks like it didn't do my homework. All of the All Pro rear springs (pickup, not tacoma) have different front eye to center pin dimensions. So, these rear springs should work just fine, just need to move the hangers.

[Goldrush]

Awesome truck! def gonna keep my eye on this one.

[Stlstrs]

This weekend went great. Didn't touch the rear, but we got the front mocked up and weight on the axles.


I have the short frame, so we extended the frame 2 inches to run the AOR crossmember and bumper. We used a 2" long piece of 2x3 tube. Butt welded to the end of the frame and then plated on the inside to tie into the frame.


Then the crossmember goes over the extension. I didn't get a good picture of it, but the outside of the crossmember, the part that goes over the extension, goes all the way to the frame and is welded on.







Shackle aren't bolted together all the way, and the axle is a litel skewed, that's why they look goofy




This is about what it will look like. It looks alittle wide. But I'm sure I'll get used to it.

[jrock]

Diamond axle did a good job estimating for caster and pinion angles. Caster is currently 9* but that'll settle about 8* with the springs settling.

Front perch eye is 31.5" from the rear of the frame hole. This is the max we could get without cutting the core support. Just beat the crap out of it At full bump, the tie rod and drag link have .25" clearance. Axle location should comfortably fit 37s

[Stlstrs]

Still a bunch to do, but making tons of progress.

On 37s

[camhays556]

looks sick! I like the ride height

[brandt88]

Gotta love double cabs that is my favorite tacoma platform yet

[Wainiha]

Gotta love double cabs that is my favorite Tacoma platform yet

Yeah.  When I bought my 2000 xcab, I specifically did not want a double cab.   I wasn't going to haul all my friends around.

Now I might like them better....Need more room.

[Mytattootears]

Geez im so jealous, i wish i could do this to my 04, buy my wife wont let me bc my 79 isnt finished and bc we have a 6day old baby

[Stlstrs]

Hopefully I'll get some flex pictures soon. Jrock and I spent most of the day buttoning it up, almost done...

[dropzone]

Hopefully I'll get some flex pictures soon. Jrock and I spent most of the day buttoning it up, almost done...

When I bought my 05 DC I was looking for an 01-04 DC, just got a great deal on the 05 .The more builds I see like yours makes me contemplate selling my 81 and going back to my original plans of a Taco like yours.  More power and not dealing with 33 year old truck issues would be kind of nice..

[Stlstrs]

 The longer I have and build this truck, the more I love it.

And finally, some action shots. Well, not really action, but posing... Finally got to take it out this weekend. Turned out awesome. Big thanks to Jrock! I'd still be in the shop without all his help.