85 Extra Cab attempt at a "build"...

bigbadyoda · Mar 18, 2013

Ya, I am just trying to find another before I go back that route again.

Quick question about tire flex on my truck when setting up my links. I'm going to run about a 116" wheel base and plan to be about 23" to the frame all set on 37's. I don't think I want to go much lower than that for East coast wheeling.. At the moment I plan on running 4" of up travel. I've got the truck set up on jack stands at the moment with 23" from ground to frame. The reason I'm asking this is when working on it over the weekend I have the front axle in a 4" drop from full stuff. The center of the hub is about 2" lower than the center of my 37 mounted to an 17x8 rim. Made me think about tire squat/flex.

My question is how do I factor in tire flex when the truck's weight fully dressed is on the tires to still keep the 23" ground to frame height accurate. Do I need to set the truck at 24" ground to the frame when I'm building it so when all the weight is on the truck and tires at about 30 psi the tire squat and result in about a 23" ground to frame height.

Lastly what's the tube thickness that most people use for the front coilover hoops? I have a bunch of .120 HREW a stick of 10' of 1.5x.180DOM and just some basic 1.5x.250" for my upper links and panhard which I don't think I'll have enough for bending hoops...I WILL be running a removable brace across the engine.

bigbadyoda · Apr 28, 2013

I got some goods in

Question for you 3 link gurus... With 37" tires how do you ensure that the when I build the truck at a 22" or 23" ground to frame when I put the wheels/tires on how so I ensure that with the tire flex etc that it will stay at close to 22-23" frame to ground..

Could be way over thinking this but when I'm at full stuff I bring the axle down about 4.5-5" giving me about 4.5" or uptravel. When I do this it seems like the truck will be way way taller when I put on the wheel/tire on..

jimmysc13 · Apr 28, 2013

Build at full compression(both sides fully compressed) make sure everything clears, build at full compression.

Uptravel and ride height will be set, later and you mess with both to get what you want.

A thread in the Tacoma forum suggested that recently and I've see. The same suggested in several other threads.

Ride height will change based on up travel and tire deflection, so you don't really worry about it at this point. You have a general idea of what you want/aiming for but you can't be 100% certain. So you can base your lower link placement off of that general idea, but it won't be 100% correct.

I had the same question/concern as you, so I read a bunch.

You build at full bump cause that has no variables, and dictates everything else.

With the link placement pre-determined(4wu kit) you just roll with what you have there and move forward building the truck at full compression.

bigbadyoda · Apr 28, 2013

jimmysc13 said:
Build at full compression(both sides fully compressed) make sure everything clears, build at full compression.

Uptravel and ride height will be set, later and you mess with both to get what you want.

A thread in the Tacoma forum suggested that recently and I've see. The same suggested in several other threads.

Ride height will change based on up travel and tire deflection, so you don't really worry about it at this point. You have a general idea of what you want/aiming for but you can't be 100% certain. So you can base your lower link placement off of that general idea, but it won't be 100% correct.

I had the same question/concern as you, so I read a bunch.

You build at full bump cause that has no variables, and dictates everything else.

With the link placement pre-determined(4wu kit) you just roll with what you have there and move forward building the truck at full compression.

Yes, I'm building at full compression and helping a friend so a 3 link at the same time as well..

The 4wheelunderground kit will not let me get to my actual full compression. It binds on the frame side lower links.. I can lift the front axle up atleast 1" from where it binds.. Kind of a bummer...

jimmysc13 · Apr 29, 2013

bigbadyoda said:
Yes, I'm building at full compression and helping a friend so a 3 link at the same time as well..

The 4wheelunderground kit will not let me get to my actual full compression. It binds on the frame side lower links.. I can lift the front axle up atleast 1" from where it binds.. Kind of a bummer...

then thats what you build at, or modify the links/truck to allow the last inch.

Ride height/tire deflection/uptravel will come later.

bigbadyoda · May 29, 2013

So I ran into a problem the other day with my Panhard bar and the panhard brackets.... It didn't occur to me to check clearances while I was mocking up the brackets and getting the location of the panhard :shaking:

The issue I have is at full stuff when turned to full lock left or right the tie rod will actually go above the panhard (frame side) bracket/bolt... This is because I'm trying to stuff the axle so far up in there and still have the panhard level at ride height. So when this happens the tie rod will hit the bolt for the frame side panhard heim when the suspension cycles.

I can fix this by offsetting the panhard slightly ..... IE. frame side is 19" from the front of the truck and the axle side would need to be like 18"... This will work clearance wise because the axle side bolt would be above the tierod and not cycling obviously will not hit it.. I just don't know if this offset would work or if I would have to bend the link to make the each end parallel.

TO me I would have thought that the panhard would have to be equal distances back from say the front of the frame on the left side and the right side..

4runnedup · May 29, 2013

build is looking good, im running 3/4 heims for my steering on my front end. what I did was just stacked some washers under them and called it good. so far no problems, kinda bugs me so I thought about redrilling a new hole. just food for thought.

bigbadyoda · May 29, 2013

A little progress on the lower links.

Frame Side Lower Links

New tools.. Finally picked up a decent drill press... I was tiered of bending 5/8" - 1" drill bits using a big hand drill... It's almost broke my wrist several times..... Heard mixed reviews of the JET drill presses... Found this one on Craigslist barely used.... WIN !

Collection of tools necessary for the 3 link...

This is my dilemma.. I'm having to use this piece of square tubing to make sure the link does not hit the top of the diff. So the passenger side panhard bar will have to be about 1/2"-1" closer to the front of the truck..... Unless I drop the axle down a little bit and loose some full stuff numbers and increase my ride height a little bit.

Finished the lower links got heims and all mocked up. Just need to figure out what I want to do with my upper... I'm thinking of doing a vertical frame side mount for the upper. Making the mount extra tall probably about 3/4" of extra room on both the top and the bottom. I'd then fill in the extra space with washers and would really be able to fine tune my anti-squat numbers in... I'd be able to take a washer from below the heim and move it to the top and only move the heim about 1/8" or the thickness of the washer.. Sounds good, might be too fine tuning but just an idea at the moment.. I don't know what kind of room I'll have at the moment.

Unfortunately my Roll-Axis_Angle is not going to get close to 0. It's at +4.19 at the moment. I can either make the rear a little understeer I guess to counter the front end being that much oversteer or I can live with it.. At ride height, the difference from axle height to frame height on the lowers is roughly 5" on my excel file. I'll have to double check the actual placement downstairs later.....

bigbadyoda · Jun 19, 2013

To the guys that have built their own gas tanks, what thickness steel have you used? I have the chance to buy several 1/8" 4x8 sheets of steel for next to nothing and my other steel 3/16" I think is way overkill lol

I might use some 3/16" on the bottom for support or protection etc.

Taco-Runner · Jun 27, 2013

I just stumbled up on this build. Looks like you're having a few issues. Is there something I can help you with? Are you still using them?

For reference, check out this build. http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=91828.60

bigbadyoda · Oct 15, 2013

Finally got around to making a little more progression with the old Toyota.

Got my Upper mount tacked into place. Just need to plate it and add a side support.

Frame Side Upper mount. Will have a bunch of plate/reinforcement added. It will all be done when the cab is pulled off.. It's right up there..

Lower mounts, they hang down about 2" lower than the frame if I remember correctly.

Had the wifey cut me out some cardboard templates for my frame plate.

Panhard mount.

bigbadyoda · Oct 15, 2013

Panhard clearance with the Upper Mount and diff.

Panhard vs the oil pan. I can get about 1/4" more up travel. My jacks are fully extended and had nobody to help me put my 1/4" plate under jacks.

Near Full uptravel, have about 1/4"-3/8" clearance between lower link and frame. Didn't cut the frame.

Full passenger side lock vs panhard mount..

Full driver side lock vs panhard mount

bigbadyoda · Oct 19, 2013

Well, the Plasma Cutter got a little happy. Did a bunch of cutting for clearances. Only thing is I lack another 1.5-2" of turn left which leaves the tire in the steering box.. This is only when the passenger sides fully dropped and driver tucked.. I can limit the steering via ram and steering stops or can somehow move the steering box into the frame.

Did a little demo with my coilovers. Not sure if I will keep these or make new ones.. Any thoughts..

RcBro · Oct 21, 2013

Surprised no one has posted. I have no useful info, but nice job!

mjw · Oct 21, 2013

I would mount the booster and mc first and then mount the hoops

bigbadyoda · Jan 27, 2014

Been several months since I worked on this thing... I did forget to mount the MC and had to scrap that hoop. I'm stuck trying to figure out how I want to mount the hoop now. It's going to have to snake between the MC and the steering shaft unless I can come up with some other way.

bigbadyoda · Jan 27, 2014

Threw the rear axle under her to get a start on the rear 4 link. I have been playing with the numbers and trying to see how much room I'm working with and trying to get some respectable numbers in the link calculator.

Still debating on what wheelbase I want to run. 37's, 23ish frame height, 69" wms stock axles 3.5" BS wheels, extra cab. I currently have it set at 115". My front axle is pushed forward a good 4"-6".

Got the rear axle all cleaned up, leaf perches cut, got my axle lower link tabs made, just need to try and get a good cross member design for the lower frame side.

derick195 · Jan 27, 2014

are you going to make your own crossmember for the rear 4 link?

bigbadyoda · Jan 28, 2014

Yes, I'm trying to decide on how long I want my links to be. If I have my lowers around 45" I can build my crossmember UNDER the driveshaft. If I go any shorter, I will have to get a lot more creative.

My axle side mounts will be single holes, and the frame side will probably have 3 holes each bracket.

bigbadyoda · Jan 29, 2014

Here's my 4 link info.

Keep in mind that all the frame side mounts will have about 3 holes besides what's currently shown. I guess about 1" apart or so.

This is my current 4 link. I think the only thing that I'm not sure will fit is my upper mounts, frame inner width is approximately 37" and I have them set at that right now. They will most likely be set inboard the frame, about 3" inside each frame rail, making it about 31" which would make the value 15.5 rather than the 18.5". But that really does not change the numbers around that much.

Link length does not really make a big difference, I'm having a hard time deciding if I should just make all my lowers the same length which would make having a 1 spare super convenient. I made probably slightly longer links than most people but it works out to there I can run a straight piece of 2x2 .25" wall tubing straight under the rear driveshaft with my lower link brackets on it. Super easy to make and cheap.

My front 3 link is about as flat as I can go without creating "boat anchors" for my frame side lower link brackets. The AS is 94.5 with a Roll Axis angle of 3.7. The upper has 2 mounting options on both the axle and frame side about an inch higher either mount location which can reduce my AS numbers.

85 Extra Cab attempt at a "build"...

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