Yum... Tacos

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This is my brother in laws 97' taco. A few years back I bobbed it and built a rear bumper. Over the last couple years he had been talking about wanting to sas it and wanted to link it. After a bunch of discussion I convinced him to do a simple leaf setup since that really will fit his needs far more than a linked rig.

This is my last big project before I start mine.

 

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A pallet of parts arrived....

 

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Unboxed everything and organized it.

I am no big fan of trail gear stuff but this isn't mine and it really does make the job easy--especially for the taco's.

He got everything, housing, six shooters the whole works.

Will also be doing a rear disk conversion also.

 

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in the shop and all leveled out.

 

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Got the front all torn apart.

Are these taco parts worth anything?

 

[ToyotaTom]

That's a nice pile of parts you got there.

 

[notstock]

I remember wheeling with him the first time he ever went out up at Reiter. Tell him I said hello!

 

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That's a nice pile of parts you got there.

Took a full sized truck to bring to my shop,lol

I remember wheeling with him the first time he ever went out up at Reiter. Tell him I said hello!

:awesomework:

 

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So the tacos have no front frame cross member like the mini trucks.

So before you cut out the IFS subframe its important to get the front cross member welded into place first so the frame horns don't go all goofy on ya.

 

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Getting the new crossmember situated and aligned was fairly easy with the aligning brackets that come with the kit.

Got it burned in so now its ready to have **** cut off...

 

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I made lots of smoke.....:bbbball:

 

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Burned myself a few times, had my arms go numb a few times but got the front frame rails cleaned. One thing that I can't stand is when portions of old brackets are still left--drives me nuts. The underside and inside of the rails is where the hard work was.

One thing I say invest in is full leathers--saved my butt a number of times over the years. One thing thats different from the mini trucks is no need for a plate at the motor mount--simply weld the edge to the rail.

 

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Time to get the front shackle mounts done. Like the mini truck the kit comes with jigs for the shackles. The big difference with the taco's to run a 29" spring center diff its ALLOT more work since the shackles are in boarded on the frame. Now running a wider housing would definitely simplify this part of it.

Got the frame rails cut.

 

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Got the shackle mounts in place and the kit comes with an alignment bar which makes it really nice to get them square.

 

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The mount is multiple pieces. The main part is welded into place then there is a frame plate that goes around the mount, one above the mount and then the bottom frame plate. Took a bit of work to get this part completed.

 

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Of course the oil pan needs replaced to move the pickup to the rear of the motor like the mini trucks.

 

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I got the front spring hanger clamped into a rough location and springs tossed on..

 

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I ended up having to hit the housing with a 9/16" drill bit. The holes were stamped and had a small edge to where I could not get the spring center pins to go in.

 

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And the rig is sitting under its own weight. I was able to get the hanger tweeked a hair and tacked into place.

 

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And to the part thats going to be slow going with ALLOT of welding.. Starting with the easier/passenger side then onto the driver side.

You can never have enough clamps :redneck: