Flipped toy front

[jh3]

So I wanted to go all toyota on my current truck (2000 tacoma) and as we all know all toyota fronts are pass. drop. This created an exspensive dilema....I could either A; spend 350 on an adapter and sell the fror crossmember, marlin twins, and stock taco case to switch to pass drop B; spend 4-5k on a diamond (which I just couldnt justify in my line of work)C; flip a toy front to driver drop.


I chose to flip as my buddy had a built toy front for a good deal, I could keep my stock case (since I had money in it already), and I havent seen alot of people do it.

So here it is so far......

Started with a stock (untouched) 84ish housing, and cut it to hell and back. I took my time cutting/grinding as to keep the heat down. The hardest part of this project is keeping it straight thru all the work/heat. I chose to use cut off wheels, and sawzall over torches, or a plasma for this reason.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront003.jpg

ATL roach had a good idea with the cover... it had to be flipped so why not build a beef one rather than flipp and add a cover to it. All 1/4 plate, hopfully it wont leak ;)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront005.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront007.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront008.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront014.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront016.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront015.jpg

In the center section I had to flip the breather, and clearance the housing itself quit a bit. I chose to fill the oem breather rather than put a drain plug back in. I'll use bolts in place of the 2 lower diff studs for draining. Also 6 out 10 diff studs lined up after the flip, the other 4 prolley could have been knocked around to work but I filled them and will drill/tap to be sure.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront017.jpg

[jh3]

Next was cutting/turning knuckles. Its pretty straight forward to any other knuck. turn other than having to rotate 180* I cut mine with a 4" grinder and knocked them off with a BFH. I cut a lil deep on the first one but was able to salvage it, so be carfull if you plan on it...it only needs about 3/16"-1/4" cut.

I'll be kepping my rig at no more than 22" to frame on 35's and will be going thru the frame with my shackles on flatish springs.. This is relivent to caster as I plan for the springs/perchs to set at 0-2* at ride height. So to set everything I jigged the housing, set the pinion to 10*, perchs to 0*, and knuckles to 5.5-6*. I'll wait to put my perchs on as to fine tune everything then.


http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront019.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront020.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront022.jpg

I tacked everything together, made sure it was what I wanted and took my time welding, makeing sure to wire brush the weld as soon as I was done (helps dissapate heat), and working with the natural draw of the heat (jumping around in somewhat of a organized maner, cooling in between)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront023-1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront024.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/toyfront025.jpg

Tomorow i'll start on gusseting (knuckles for sure!), building perches, and also need to locate a M8x1.25 tap.

[STOMPER]

Good work Josh I really like the cover.

[jh3]

Thanks man, its hard to tell but when its painted it should look like a three piece. Alot of thought and cardboard went into it too ;)

[link817]

damn nice work man.

[HillBilly_Young01]

your welding skillz akways amaze me man. keep up the good work.

[ATLRoach]

Awesome bud! I'm glad it came out like planned.

Give me a shout some time.

[gregers05]

nice job as usual josh, i may have you help me with my sas one day lol

[jh3]

Thanks guys...didnt get alot done today with family stuff and all. I worked on gusseting everything. I wasnt going to gusset the bottom (reversal of factory truss) but the factory welds for the old brackets had some pretty bad undercutting and I firured that would be where the majority of the impact would take place.

I used 1.5"x3"x3/16" tube for it. Again LOTS of time to weld/brush/wait. The pics give the illusion that the housing its self is warped. It gave me a big scare after putting this much time in it (17-18hrs) but after close examination i'm 99% sure its as straight as it was from toyota.

I plan to install the 3rd and see how the shafts look when I get work on it again. Hopefully i'll get the m8x1.25 tap I asked santa for in the am too:smokin:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/r67ir67i.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/fyjufy.jpg

I've been sectioning projects within the build (i.e. 1;cut/grind old 2;center section 3;knuckles..ext, ext.) as to keep heat down. while I was welding/brushing/waiting with the main truss I whittled on 1.5x1.5.3/16 tube for the lower knuckle gussets. I almost trashed them and went 3/8" plate (what I will use for the upper gussets) but after it was said and done they turned out nice.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/r78ir78i.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/fjkfuyikt.jpg

It will prolley be this weekend before I can work on it again. I want to get the axle completely assmebled before I start any other projects. I need to gusset the top of the knuckle, build steering stops, and drill/tap the 4 3rd studs to finish up the housing itself.

I need to sell a built e-locker 3rd, find a aussie or lockwrong for a 4cly 3rd, get a knuckle kit from marlin, and do some hella cleaning before i'm done with it completely.

Here what I came up with on the upper gusset/shock mounts and the steering stops.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/r8ir78i578o.jpg
the steering stop is a peice of the 1.5x1.5x3/16 cut diag. and compressed in the vise. It will be capped of coarse. I'm not so sure bout the mounts though...any thoughts?

Greg lets do yours first so can get some frame templates:)

[TRoss]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/r8ir78i578o.jpg I'm not so sure bout the mounts though...any thoughts?

What about duplicating your lower gusset above? But longer (toward the chunk) then mount your shock plate to that? I really like the lower gusset and the amount of support by way of increased surface area.

Awsome work man! BTW, I'm NOT a fabricator, just an arm chair wanna be :D

[sloppytaco]

Man, that is some killer fab work!

[jh3]

Its not possable to duplicate the top as the sweep of the knuckle is different. Here a good example...

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/87%20sas/awdasda002.jpg

Thats the set I made for the runner.. I lost the dam template though! I really like how the single shear mount on the 3/8" plate works in this application.

Thanks for the props! I discussed some milling work today with my bro-in-law to apply towards a complete custom housing in the near future so maybe this is just practice :)

[TRoss]

Yeah, I guess it'd get kinda close.

There's another upper gusset/mount design I saw earlier but I swear I can't find the bloomin' thing... I thought it was a TG but... it was a double sided deal. I'll post up if I can figure out where I saw it...

And oh, if your going to throw that housing away for a machined version lemme know... :D

Keep up the good work!!

[jh3]

Worked on it some more today. More or less done with the exception of the diff flange. Still havent decide on e-locker or not. Probly will, cause I plan to run it.

I will be moving my perchs out to 30.5", and the shocks will go to the back of the tab. I plated the bottom rather than clearancing it cause I have done so much to this housing I didnt want to risk warping it now. Used 3/16" plate but prolly lost 1/4" of ground clearance.....but I dont care, I can bash it without worry now.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr009.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr001.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr002.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr011.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr007.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e37/33JJ/toy%20front/tyfr008.jpg

At this point I am farly confident I could build a complete housing.. with less time/work involved. Money is the deciding factor in that though.

-Josh

[zman2day]

Thats some great work.... keep the pics comin.

[yotaman]

Check this idea out Josh.

Knuckle ball spacers.

http://blueherp.com/tacoma/spacer1.JPG
http://blueherp.com/tacoma/spacer2.JPG
http://blueherp.com/tacoma/spacer3.JPG

The spacer is 2 3/4" wide I think. If you used this on a mini housing it would get you almost 3" wider. The spacers sells for $50.00 each. I'm thinking one on each side of a FJ60 housing would be sweet.

[ATLRoach]

Where the hell did you find that? That's f'n awesome!

Those on a mini axle would be 61" w/o IFS spacers!

[TRoss]

Cool for sure... what do you do about a longer axle though?

[jh3]

Sweet dude! Those cruzer guys are a whole diff. breed! I'm still looking at how to make the mini knucks work on the 80 housing and not have to get custom shafts. I.E. something that bobby would have on the shelf to go with a 30spl. mini birf?????

[TRoss]

Cool for sure... what do you do about a longer axle though?

???

How do you machine that counterbore in the housing? Looks to me like you'd have to put it on a Horizontal boring mill, and get it indicated "in" by sweeping the inside of the tube, else it won't be very true.

[jh3]

Looks to me that carrier pucks and a bore jig would be needed on those. 100.00 bones is kinda high for a cheapass like me too :)

[yotaman]

Just posting ideas.

[jh3]

Thats good info man, not knocking it at all.