Redesign Tacoma rear frame.....

motoxscott

motoxscott

Well-Known Member
 
With all the posts I've seen on here, I'm sure someone can help me out.

I'm building the rear of a Tacoma right now and I wanted to run my idea past you. First I'll tell you what we're planning on doing. We'll be installing 62" deaver leaf springs and using (1) 18" 2.5 triple bypass shocks per wheel. We're ditching the bed for fiberglass bedsides and will be caging the entire rear, but still leaving the frame with 1-3/4" tubing throughout.

Now comes the hard part, unlike the ford ranger the tacoma has the leaf springs directly below the frame, not to the outside. I'd like to locate the shock directly over the spring, but the frame is in its path. If I mount it inside the frame, it seems like it would be too close to the trucks center line to work to it's full potential. My thoughts were to alter the routing of the frame to give me the clearance to mount the shocks right over the springs.

I'm planning on using 2" x 4" x 0.120" rectangle tubing to match the size of the stock frame and to tie & gusset it to the surrounding frame and cage work.

Here's a birds eye view of what I was thinking. Bare with me I used illustrator to do this, not a CAD program. (see attached picture)

Any and all input would be great, the worst thing I'd hate to see is to go take this thing out the first time and have something fail.

Thanks in advance !

-Scott
 

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Flea

Well-Known Member
 
It seems like it might be easier just to relocate your springs to the outside of the frame rails and fab up some new spring hangers kind of like a fords. you can order new spring perches for your axle to. ??? it may be easier.
 
motoxscott

motoxscott

Well-Known Member
 
I've thought about that, but the toyota rear end, isnt wide enough. The rear tires almost hug the frame. If I was throwing in a 9", thats the direction I probably would go in.

Anyone else have any ideas, thumbs up/down. I'll take anything at this point......
 
Tyson

Tyson

Well-Known Member
 
I actually like the idea. . .Good luck. I would say though to remember that the leaf spring cycle is NOT straight up and down it does move in a sort of [ C ] throughout the travel, so just make sure that those bypass tubes clear the new frame work.

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Donahoe

Well-Known Member
 
I have a question for you.. Do you plan on moving your gas tank and exaust hangers? If you are I would suggest narrowing your frame right at the back of the cab then run it striaght back, I would try and stay away from kicking it in then back out like you have it on your drawing. Then just swing out your sping hangers. Just a thought But The gain you will achive for all that work really isnt all that much... You will gain a better motion Ratio on the shocks and they will perform better and stay cooler but Its not like you will feel it in your assometer. At that point you might want to go ahead and 4-link it.

NEVER LIFT!!!!!
 
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vwguy

Well-Known Member
 
i think it would hold up to use as long as you gusset it up really good and you have a cage built back there

how ironic is it that most people slow down for speed bumps yet almost all of us here im sure pin it
 
motoxscott

motoxscott

Well-Known Member
 
Kreg,

In theory would this work you think, or do you think the stress and torsion of the rear frame would be too much for it?

Down the road (6-8 months) we'll be adding a fuel cell, but at this point, we need to build something that works around the stock gas tank, and as it is, it sits pretty far back and close to the axle. This is part of the reason why I came up with this idea.

The bad part is that this is a daily driver, so it cant have a long down time.

Thanks for all the input so far.......

-Scott
 
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vwguy

Well-Known Member
 
Here is another alternative i believe it would work.
I have to do a little more cad work tonight and will let you know if it would cycle without the shock hitting the frame.

how ironic is it that most people slow down for speed bumps yet almost all of us here im sure pin it
 

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polar

Active Member
 
Friend of mine has a tacoma all caged with 62 nationals and a ford 9", running quad bypass bilstiens outboard of the frame, works well but i guess that would involve you getting a whole new rear end, just a thought....
oh yea, i have 16" 2 stage bypass kings inside the frame on my 90 toyota 4x4 with 62"nationals and it works well too!, shocks do fine and i stomp the whoops no problem, also i relocated the stock tank very easily to rest behind the rearend for weight, just had to get longer gas lines custom fabbed to work with the stock fittings at each end.
good luck!!
-Jesse
 
motoxscott

motoxscott

Well-Known Member
 
Thanks everyone,

Unless I get better feedback, which I dont think I will, it looks like going with a fuel cell and not modifing the frame is a better solution to our problem. I dont want to build up the whole rear, take it out in the dirt and have it fail or even fail down the road. Then I'm back to square one. Down the road I think if I want the shocks outside the frame and closer to the wheels, I'll throw in a 9".

You never know, this idea might catch on ...... we may see it in a Fabtech long travel kit or something........or its a next generation truggy setup......NOT.

Thanks again,

-Scott
 
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vwguy

Well-Known Member
 
sorry about the pic not working its hard to convert the cad format drawing to put it in something this website will show it will be fixed tonight

how ironic is it that most people slow down for speed bumps yet almost all of us here im sure pin it
 
Kritter

Kritter

Krittro Campbell
 
jsut do a "save as" and there are tons of different extensions to save it as.

Kris

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vwguy

Well-Known Member
 
im using architectural desktop so its like using autocad 2002 so yes its higher than r14
i can not save to file extensions of that nature
its a windows 2000 system on a network and they have a bunch of stuff jacked up on it

how ironic is it that most people slow down for speed bumps yet almost all of us here im sure pin it
 
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vwguy

Well-Known Member
 
ok here you go

how ironic is it that most people slow down for speed bumps yet almost all of us here im sure pin it
 

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