2002 Tacoma SAS and build.

[gslander]

I have been lurking for awhile and I like the vibe of this site with its budget builds and southern wheeling. Since im a cheap ass and i wheel mostly in the south being from Illinois, this is the place for me! This is the build of my 2002 Tacoma ext cab 3.4 5spd. I bought the truck when it was bone stock and in order to avoid boring with the details, pre solid axle swap the truck has: Dual's with 4.7s in the rear lefty gear drive case, 33's, an fj80 rear axle with a spartan locker winch armor blah blah blah. Here is a pic of how it looked pre swap:

The solid axle swap plan is/was:
- front frame chop from just about the firewall forward replaced with 3/16s 2x3 tube
- Flipped driver drop fj60 front axle
- RCV's
- IFS hubs and the usual toyota front axle upgrades
- 79 f150 forward swing box
- fj62 RUF with forward shackles
- 12" 7100 short body shocks
- 5.29s and a spartan locker
- 37" SSR's on 15" trail ready beadlocks. Not my first choice in tire and wheel, however i practically stole them so thats what i will run!
- trying to keep it as cheap as possible

First things first was i stripped and chopped the knuckle balls off the front axle, i used an angle grinder and cut it right behind the factory weld:

 

[gslander]

I ended up getting a DD and the cutting begun. I did the front frame chop to avoid the cutting, grinding and plateing of the usual tacoma SAS and i wanted room for more uptravel.

 

[gslander]

The new front frame rails are 2x3 3/16 and are 42" long and inboarded a 1/4" on each side, they basically hug the radiator. I plated them with 3/16's where they join the factory frame.

The motor mounts were made from .120 2x2 with the stock mount flange welded onto it.

 

[gslander]

Meanwhile i was building the front axle. This is a rear fj60 diff cover that i welded onto the front axle.

I mocked up the suspension, those are rear FJ 62 springs.

 

[gslander]

I set the castor at 6* and welded the knuckle balls on. This was a tedious PITA, but i managed to get evreything straight on the first shot, no leaks, axle not warped and the RCVS fit in there perfectly. This is a just about complete shot of the axle, it has marlin knuckle ball gussets, ruff stuff landcruiser SOA perches and the diff cover armor is the stock cover that i cut off, chopped up and welded on there.

Nothing like a big, clean organize workspace LOL

 

[gslander]

Next up was getting the steering setup. This was the most intimidating part of the project for me and gave me the most problems. The first challenge was getting the huge f150 box to mount up and mounted in a fashion that would not tear it off my frame. I sleeved it with 1" OD DOM tubeing.

The bottom hole was right up against the motor mount, good times....

My solution was this, a nut welded to the back side of a plate wrapped around the frame, it has held so far....

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I have since beefed this up some more and extended the top tube down the frame almost to the radiator.

Everything around that top tube has been filled in, plated and plated on top, no pic of that.

 

[gslander]

After i got the steering box mounted up, time to make the steering shaft. I used a borgenson 36" collapsible that i had to cut down to 12"....

Nice ujoint angle, i had to clearance the yokes to get it to turn.

I ended up using a FROR firewall plate, however that piece was a such a huge pile of crap i would have been time ahead making my own as i had to modify evrey aspect of it,

 

[gslander]

So the oil pan i used was off some foregein model hilux something or other that i got off a dude on pirate. It had a nice fat indent for my diff, however my steering links fought with the front of it pretty good. So i had to modify it, this took FOREVER with my flux core welder and impatience welding this thin metal. However i managed to get it done leak free.

Factory driveshaft bolted right up which is awesome.

At this point of the build i was closing in on a trip to south dakota in less than a month with a ton of stuff to do, so the pic takeing dropped off. However it was mostly gear setting up, axle/knuckle building and all that little stuff that takes forever....

Rolled it out of the garage 3 weeks before i was supposed to leave:

I put 100miles on it before leaving for a week long wheeling trip, no trailer....

 

[gslander]

Drove it 2 days and 800+ miles to the blackhills for its shakedown run. Uneventful drive except for the violent swamper shake. The truck will do 80 down the highway if you ignore the vibes, it would be great highway cruiser with better tires.

This is its first real flex test. The front shocks are 12" bilstein 7100 short bodies so they have 14" of travel. I have about 2" of uptravel on the truck, so it flexes really nice.

Truck worked great, although it did develop a pretty hard pull to the right, i think its because it ate its front shackle bushings in 3 days of wheeling:

I have some more wheeling pics. We ran hal johns over the course of two days and iceman and got rained out the last two. The truck went everywhere i pointed it, and nothing broke!! I ended up putting 2700 road miles over 6days and 3 days of wheeling on the truck, not bad for a shakedown run. I still have a laundry list of stuff to fix and add. Right now i dont have any bumpstops up front, so im saving my pennies for some airbumps. I also need to add steering stops, right now im not running any. I have some delrin that im going to make front frame end shackle bushings out of since the poly is trashed.

 

[TacomaJD]

I love SAS builds! Nice job man! Keep the pics coming! I had a 98 SAS'd with waggy D44. I really went good for what it was and to be on 36's, but it had stock t case and 4:88's with 2.7L in it, really needed crawl gear, but that was when I first getting into crawling (bought the truck already built). It had a Marlin Lefty in it before I bought it, but original builder took that out and sold it separately.

 

[TRD]

Awesome build and pics! Cool build, especially flipping the axle around. I've always had a soft spot for Tacomas ...

 

[scrambled]

What did you think of the Black Hills?

 

[gslander]

TacomJD: Yea low gears really make these trucks shine!

TRD: Thanks man, more pics coming...

Scrambled: Black hills is awesome! Some of the best west wheeling i have done (better than moab i think). Trails are crazy hard, boulders after boulders and the granite had what seemed like endless traction. Worth the drive for sure, however they keep the trails very secret, and one of the guys i went with had to court some locals at a landcruiser event a few years before to get a list of the trail names and locations. The forest service maps just list trail numbers, trying to figure out what trail is what is a pain and requires local knowledge, and its not easily found online.

 

[gslander]

Wow i really need to up date this, more pics coming this week. Truck wheels great, except the steering sucks, it overheats really quick despite now having an 18" cooler. Maybe i need a bigger pump?? Other than that the truck drives awesome (except swmpers being square) and wheels great. Pics coming regarding the install of front air bumps and steering cooler.

 

[gslander]

I went with fox 2.0x2s (bought from TRD BTW ;D) because of the low ride height im on the bumps all the time. Drivers side i had to hack apart my shock tower and weld the cans on and made a landing pad on the leaf spring plate. The pax side is mounted on the inside of the frame because the pax side shock is mounted more vertical than the drivers and there was no room for it. Pics were sideways when i attached off my phone, ill upload to photobucket and post later.

 

[gslander]

Pics of the airbump install:

Pax side mounted inside the frame rail.

Drivers side i had to cut out the shock mount. Due to my steering box, and motor mount clearence i had to mount them outside the frame rail, luckly the shock is laid back a bit giving me the clearance i need.

Random wheeling pics because why not:

 

[ridered3]

Cool build! I always like seeing 1st Gen Tacomas being used.

Whereabouts in Illionis are you?

 

[gslander]

Thank you, Its a 1st gen tacoma, but regardless not too many getting wheeled, especially around these parts!! I am in the western suburbs of shitcago.

 

[ridered3]

Thank you, Its a 1st gen tacoma, but regardless not too many getting wheeled, especially around these parts!! I am in the western suburbs of shitcago.

Yeah my bad on Generations. Definitely not many being wheeled West of the Mississipi.

Spent the weekend in Chicago and Wheaton/Naperville, Illinois since a wheeling buddy got married and moved from Tennessee to Wheaton.

 

[gslander]

Im over in bolingbrook, just south of naperville. The land of zombie appocolypse jks and bro dozers LOL!!