The Frankenstein Build: 1996 Tacoma Long Travel/Expo/Trail Rig

[Blackdawg]

Cool write-up! I've read the sos report and it was awesome too!

-Andy

Thanks! Yea the SOS is awesome haha The Epic actually is some of the same trails really. Kinda why i might just skip the write up on that.

The long travel kit looks so awesome. Cant wait to see more pics of it.

Thanks! Yea many more photos of that. Just about two years left to catch up on before that haha

 

[big a]

It's been a while since I read thru the sos thread, but if memory serves me correctly, wasn't the ball joint failure something had had happened previously on the other side? I was reading this thread to see if that showed up since it was previous to that trip.

Either way, good times man! I can't wait to get mine finished and start my adventures!

-Andy

 

[Blackdawg]

It's been a while since I read thru the sos thread, but if memory serves me correctly, wasn't the ball joint failure something had had happened previously on the other side? I was reading this thread to see if that showed up since it was previous to that trip.

Either way, good times man! I can't wait to get mine finished and start my adventures!

-Andy

That is true! I did blow the other just before the SOS. I will get to that eventually as well. Have all the photos for it.

Heck yea man! Get er done!

 

[big a]

LOL!!!! This thread is the prequel!!!!!!

 

[Blackdawg]

LOL!!!! This thread is the prequel!!!!!!

Basically haha

 

[wreckdiver1321]

It's fun to watch Frank come together like this. It's also fun reading about your ridiculous antics

You always seem to be finding the right kind of trouble.

 

[Blackdawg]

It's fun to watch Frank come together like this. It's also fun reading about your ridiculous antics

You always seem to be finding the right kind of trouble.

Haha yea I certainaly seem to find puddles of **** to drive through to cause problems. Trust me. It only gets worse haha

 

[Blackdawg]

Crap! I skipped some stuff! About 4 little trips and some welding..

Welp. I'll post those before doing The Epic trip.

 

[big a]

Yeah man, cuz you can't skip around in this awesome man-soap-opera! This is just too good! :lurk::clapping:

-Andy

 

[Climberclimb]

:coffeedrink: looking forward to more!! Cheers

 

[Blackdawg]

Such a good thread. I found a local guy selling a 96 with low miles for a song because it's got a broken front drivers side ball joint and he's getting old and doesn't want to deal with fixing it...here I am wondering if that's enough for me to pass on it and I hop on Expo and search "ball joint Tacoma" and find your thread and now I'm hoping that the rest of the truck is good, because if all it is a ball joint, I'm in! Loving these old Tacos.

Nice! I've destroyed two. But truck still works fine. Haha they are kinda expensive but not overly all things considered.

Good luck man and thanks for posting!

 

[Blackdawg]

Hard to find on the coast without rusty frames but I'm being patient. I'm selling my 98 Cruiser to get into one. I do miss having a bed! Used to the Toyota prices on repairs so I'm hoping the price shock for that repair won't hit hard.

A set of OEM LBJ are about 200 bucks or so. Don't get any other kind of LBJ. Trust me. The Toyota ones are superior in every way and worth the extra bucks.

 

[justcuz]

What is it that makes those lower ball joints come loose? Do they thread directly into the joint without a through bolt or just not have a proper lock washer or lock nut from the factory?

Another question, what happened to your drunk, thief, arsonist neighbor? Did he go to jail or did you take him on a trip to the way back country and leave him there?

 

[Blackdawg]

What is it that makes those lower ball joints come loose? Do they thread directly into the joint without a through bolt or just not have a proper lock washer or lock nut from the factory?

Another question, what happened to your drunk, thief, arsonist neighbor? Did he go to jail or did you take him on a trip to the way back country and leave him there?

The lower ball joints thread into the spindles. They are however single shear joint and it's held on by 4 small bolts that face down. You have two things happen, both have happened to me.

1) a couple of the 4 bolts fall out and then then wi that are left can't cope with the stress and sheer off. This happened to me in CO on the trail. Also almost happened to my buddy.

2) the joint itself eats itself away from the grease getting washed away and it just rips out of the cup. This also happened to me....twice.

2nd gens fixed this by having a built in double shear and bigger bolts.

He went to jail. For a few years then was let out on parole. Disappeared after then then was found again in Oregon. Brought back and put in jail again. Not sure what happened to him as of late. Haha

Useless person though. Stain on society pretty much. Oh well..

 

[Blackdawg]

How about a thread revilval?

Now that i can just copy and paste IMG code, this will go WAY faster and now i have motivation to do it since i won't have to rewrite and re link everything.

So


Here is some welding I missed early on. I fixed the tire mount to angle it up a bit and added my folding table and 90º latch. Id like to redo the latch to a smaller pin style later..

Ok here we go.

So first I did the tire mount. As you can see the tire leans back a bit. I didn't like that

So I made a cut as close as I could with a cut off wheel

Then took the BFH to it and whalla!

Seemed to level it out..

I still wanted it angled forward a bit tho

So..made another cut in the same spot..

And more BFH time!

And this is how the tire will sit now. I like it.

Welded up the cut. Mark..are you taking notes?? This is how you weld

Next I did the part for the hole for my lock pin. I fabbed up this piece before I left out of boiler 1/4" plate with the cutting torch. Time to weld it on!

Tached on

Welded on!

Again mark..taking notes still?

Welded on the lock pin.

Drilled a 1/2" hole for the pin. Had to file it a tad bigger

And this is how the swing out sits when the pin is down and locked

And now the Jerry can mount! I started by making a box 14x7" out of 1.25" strap

Mark..again...keep those notes going..

Then I ended cutting it on the 7" side to weld to the sides of the side posts I had to allow it to be just over 8" wide. Why? Well my Jerry can had expanded from being in the sun and filled with gas. So I needed it wider then my original dimensions. It's no big deal as it fits perfect and the lower part holds it very tight as it is.