'97 tacoma build: Abner

[TJDukit]

That's great news Steve. Gotta love a company that will pull through and take care of you quick like that.

 

[Thspittingllama]

im so jelous right now!! i cant wait untill i get a doubler! are you going to get a tripple stick or just cut your floor boards?

 

[sixstringsteve]

yeah, Low Range rocks. They've always taken care of me.

 

[sixstringsteve]

im so jelous right now!! i cant wait untill i get a doubler! are you going to get a tripple stick or just cut your floor boards?

I'll be cutting the floor, no triple stick for me. Low t-case gears are my favorite mod.

 

[4biker]

I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to tonight, but progress is progress.

I removed the old sliders, and I removed the bench seat inside. I actually remembered to take it to the car wash and spray all the dirt off the bottom before I worked on it this time.

Hey Steve - looks like it's coming along really well. I'm still astonished at how you've attached yourself to this particular truck. It's obviously very capable, but who'd have thought? Anyway, I wish ANY of my carpet looked that clean. Even under my seats looks like the floor at McDonalds (including the french fries). That's cool you're swapping to buckets in the front - long drives will hopefully be more comfy too. Where's the puppy going to sit?

 

[sixstringsteve]

I made some more progress tonight. I got the duals all bolted together:

All in all, it added about 8" to the t-case setup. A bit more than your standard pickup duals, but not much.

Tomorrow I'll be extending all wiring/speedometer liens, cutting out the old crossmember, welding in the new one, cutting the holes in the floor for the new shifters, and installing the driver's seat. Hopefully it'll be driveable by tomorrow night so I can drop it off for Chance to finish the rear bumper.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Hey Steve - looks like it's coming along really well. I'm still astonished at how you've attached yourself to this particular truck. It's obviously very capable, but who'd have thought? Anyway, I wish ANY of my carpet looked that clean. Even under my seats looks like the floor at McDonalds (including the french fries). That's cool you're swapping to buckets in the front - long drives will hopefully be more comfy too. Where's the puppy going to sit?

Thanks for the kind words Spencer. A lot of people are astonished that I haven't sold this truck yet. Ironically, I was wondering what it'd be like to build a runner up like this instead of a pickup. The runners just have so many creature comforts that the tacomas don't. But then I realized how much I love this thing. I think the fact that the motor runs like a top and it's been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned helps a lot. I love the way it drives down the freeway, and I love the way it crawls. And I love that it's not a $15k truck that I've dumped another $10k into. If I tag the bed on a rock I won't be crying about it. My old taco was nice, but it was scary to wheel such a nice rig.

Believe me, there were a few french fries under my seats. It took a lot of vacuuming to get like this.

Fender isn't going to like the bucket seats at all. He didn't like the bench, and now he'll have nowhere to sit when there are two of us in there. Hopefully he'll like sitting in the back of the truck on the bench seat I'm going to put back there.

 

[zukijames]

nice!! im pretty sure my duals add 8 inches because i was thinking if i ditched it i could move my rear axle forward 8 inches and the front forward 6 and shorten my wheelbase to 115 and shorten front drive line 2 inches.

and still have the same rear but eitherway your DD is freaking sweet

 

[Kevin B.]

I made some more progress tonight. I got the duals all bolted together:

:: drool ::

 

[Max Power]

Looking good Steve. Did the new adapter have the holes tapped properly?

 

[sixstringsteve]

When I called Low Range, they looked on their shelves, and they had at least one other adapter that didn't have any holes tapped in it either. Fortunately they also had one that was tapped properly, and they sent that one to me that day. It all lined up and went together well.

I gotta give a shoutout to Nick @ lowrange. nick (schaeferandsons) is the man. I lost two dowell pins for my build, and he gave me his so I could get mine driving this weekend. What a great guy.

 

[zukijames]

nick really is the man.. i bought 2 trail gear full hyrdo kits. from somewhere else. they came with v pulleys but i needed different pulleys went down and nick took the time to get the pulleys off for me even though i bought nothing from them!

 

[TJDukit]

Sounds like they made an honest mistake on a run of adapters. With how well they pulled through for you I have no doubt they will make it right for anyone with the same problem.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Yeah. To be clear, Trail-Gear messed up on the adapters. Low Range sold them to me, and Low Range took care of the problem. I feel that TG would have taken care of me as well, but not like Low Range does. They're good people down there.

 

[sixstringsteve]

It may not look like it, but I got a lot done today. I would have completed more if the Hunger Games weren't such a good book, but oh well.


I removed the old crossmember and installed the new one.

It hangs down pretty low. I only have 15" of ground clearance at the lowest point, but it is what it is. The chain-driven t-cases hang down a lot lower than the old hilux gear-driven cases do. It'll be nice to have such a beefy skidplate under my babies.

I also started cutting the hole for the second case.

I had hoped to have it driving by now, but I'm happy with where I am. Not much left to get it driveable:

- fill cases and tranny
- finish interior work
- install shifters
- install drivelines
- install driver's seat

 

[sixstringsteve]

Last night I got the tranny and both cases filled with fluid. Drivelines are attached.

I just need a couple things left before it can drive to the car wash.

1) finish t-case wiring
2) install shifters
3) install driver's seat/seatbelt

Hopefully I can get that all done tonight after guitar lessons.

 

[4biker]

so did you replace the the factory crossmember with the new crossmember/skid plate just because you modified the t-case, or was it your intention to replace the factory crossmember anyway? Sorry if I missed that on an earlier post.

 

[sixstringsteve]

There's nothing wrong with the factory crossmember, I swapped it out because of the duals. The new one is more of a skidplate than a crossmember. It'll be nice to be able to slide over stuff with it. I wonder how it'll affect my budbuilt skid mounts. I"m sure I"m going to have to make an adapter to get the tranny skid to bolt up.

 

[clfrnacwby]

Hopefully I can get that all done tonight after guitar lessons.

Does this mean we can expect to be serenaded on camp outs?

 

[sixstringsteve]

if people want me to bring the guitar I'd be happy to bring it. You won't get any singing out of me though. My wife does the singing.