cbechtold's Long Travel IFS Crawler Tacoma Build

[cbechtold]

Yep. Machine finish was the correct call. Now to get some dirt on them!


PXL_20230505_231106948 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I also ditched the swingout for wheeling season this year and put my spare in the bed. I feel like I'm going to like this change, but I'm definitely not use to seeing the truck without one.


PXL_20230505_212228019 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

 

[cbechtold]

Alright. This is like version 3 of this already the 3rd go around of rewiring the truck, and if I'm lucky, this will be the last setup on the truck, or at least for a long time. I finally made my mind up on how I'm going to wire everything and where everything is going to be stored. I've got to give credit where credit it due. My buddy Rob showed my what he was doing for his truck which is pretty damn similar to how I have things setup here. He can go more into detail on his thread once he post that, but props to him for being the brains behind this.

Here's the short of what's going on and what's going to live in this little box.

- Dual Optima YellowTop 34/78 Batteries
- ICT Billet Battery Trays
- KeyLine Dual Battery Isolator
- Switch Pros SP-9100 Unit
- Blue Sea Fuse Panel/Terminal Block/Bus Bar/Circuit Breakers
- Fastronix Remote Charging Post/Military Spec Battery Terminals
- ARB CKMA 12 Air Compressor

I've still got a bunch of work to get to before I bolt this in the bed of the truck, but so far, I'm pretty happy with how this is turning out. For the wiring talk, this time I plan on wiring the winch and the truck separately and adding cut off switches for both of them. Outside of that, I'll start wiring accessories to it once I get this bolted down to the truck starting with the compressor and lockers. Lights and whatnot can come later.


PXL_20230516_020701377 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230516_023529643~2 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230516_015131544 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

 

[cbechtold]

Got a little bit more work done on the auxiliary electrical system. Put some cutouts in the electrical panel for the switch pros and fuse panel for ease of use when wiring. Also got my KeyLine Dual Battery Isolator Kit in and a handful of the wires taken care of. Still got some more wiring to get around to, but good progress today.

PXL_20230522_002639581 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230521_225549877.PORTRAIT by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Fitment is absolutely mint. Way better than I could have ever done without that help of my Dad and his mill.


PXL_20230522_002802211 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230522_002845563 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230522_033918999 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

 

[cbechtold]

Well in an attempt to get the truck ready for Summer, I'm trying to wrap up my "Winter Projects." It ain't going to plan lol

I start on a good note, here's a photo of the truck with the new wheels. Still can't get enough of how these look.


PXL_20230525_013036565 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230525_012910317 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Now on to the main thing I'm working on over my 4 day weekend, fixing my steering rack leak.


PXL_20230526_182231805 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I'm also taking this as a time to upgrade a weak point for these trucks. Hello Total Chaos Lower Uniball Conversion.


PXL_20230526_201723362 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230527_002953173 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

These things are beef. Also going to run dual sheer heims now and see how those work. Hopefully I don't kill a steering rack quickly or break mounts like a wet napkin.


PXL_20230527_002646717 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Now into my biggest road block now. I'm still completely confused on how I didn't see this when I did all the work for the long travel last year, but one of the fittings for the power steering is completely rounded off. I'm hoping I can get parts tomorrow if by some stroke of luck a local Toyota dealership has the power steering lines. I'll be making calls in the morning, but worse case I guess I'll order parts that I need and go a head and start working on the electrical stuff for the truck again.

 

[thezentree]

Good luck. That’s a $500+ hose

 

[cbechtold]

Good luck. That’s a $500+ hose

Yeah, that's what I'm seeing as well. Sucks, but it's a 20+ year old truck, so I guess I signed up for it lol

 

[Blender]

do the TC uniball lowers have the same angular travel as an OEM LBJ? is the uniball cup canted relative to the mounting face? The random welded conversion i tried doesnt allow enough droop travel.

 

[cbechtold]

do the TC uniball lowers have the same angular travel as an OEM LBJ? is the uniball cup canted relative to the mounting face? The random welded conversion i tried doesnt allow enough droop travel.

Similar amount of angle, but as you said, the canted uniball allows for more optimized travel with the steering linkage. They also optimized these around heim steering since the biggest complaint with their heim steering kit was the heim would bind at full droop on factory LBJs. Also no more needing to cut off the steering stops since these are also built with LT droop in mind so clearance is mint.

 

[cbechtold]

Finally wrapped up my time in wiring purgatory. As much as I'm happy I took the time and stoked on the outcome of the wiring this time around, I'm so over wiring right now and I'm still not done yet. Still have a few things to wire up, but that's a problem for future me. Anyways, here's where everything sits in it's mostly final form.

I last left off on putting the finishing touches for the box prior to installing it in the truck. Afterwards, I went ahead and started getting a good base with ripping out all the previous wiring outside of the winch controls and got the box bolted to the bed.


PXL_20230530_231742842 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230531_023529243 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230606_051403077 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

There are 8 5/16" bolts holding down the box, which is not at all overkill. :bananadead:

Once I had everything ready to wiring, I started with figuring out where to put an in-cab battery cut off switch. Ended up sacrificing the lower center console in the truck, but I never use it anyways, so it's fine I guess.


PXL_20230528_010453393 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Easy access and hidden out of the way. This is mostly for the event of an electrical fire.



PXL_20230528_013121529 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Also added a 12v sockets and usb outlet inside that going to be constant hot power to the 2nd battery.

With everything mostly laid out, I could finally start rewiring the auxiliary accessories. I started with wiring the Switch Pro head unit, battery cut off switch, and power/ground leads for the main battery to the terminals under the hood. For those curious, the truck was swapped over to 1/0 gauge wire. I'll explain more on this later.

I also ran terminal pass thrus under the driver seat as well as I found grommet that I could run the Switch Pros harness through without cutting another hole. This couldn't have worked out more perfect.


PXL_20230602_052049835 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230604_224555691 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

This is also where I decided to add a cut off switch for the winch. While I doubt I'll use it often, or ever, I've had it laying around for a few years and it actually works out perfectly since the winch is going to be ran on a separate circuit from the truck. I was actually able to reuse some of the 4/0 gauge wire that I had on the truck previously for this circuit with minimal amp/voltage drop from the battery to the winch.

With all that ran, I made a quick little harness for the lights on the front of the truck, wired up the winch, and started cleaning up wires. Also had to replumb the front locker since I moved the ARB compressor as well to the box.

PXL_20230606_043815008 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230606_040924944 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

If anyone is interested, the loom I'm using is off of Amazon. It's made by Alex Tech. Looks a ton better than the old wire loom I had under the truck. I used a variety of sizes and mix between their braided expandable loom and their split sleeve loom. Anyways, back to wiring.

I ended up having a little bit more time while I was still waiting on parts for the steering, so I also ran the wires for the 12v socket and usb outlets and a future HAM radio through another grommet I found on the passenger side of the truck. This side was going great until I realize that there's basically nowhere to zip tie the cables too. Eventually landed on just wire loom clamp and bolting it to the underside the truck to keep the cables out of the way. Yes, I put a little bit of seam sealer on the threads before I finalized install. Ideally, I wanted to put the whole harness harness on the frame, but I'd need to order up some weld on zip tie brackets and I don't have time to wait for that unfortunately.


PXL_20230616_014817194 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

And that just about wraps up the majority of the wiring. Like I originally said, I still have a few things I'm going to get done at a later date, but I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out this go around. While definitely not the last time I'll dig into rewiring this truck, I'm willing to bet this will probably stay in the truck for the longest period of time.

Here's what the battery box ended up looking like. It's a little tight with everything now wired and installed, but it's cleaner than what I had before.


PXL_20230616_022759414 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I still have a little more cleaning to do as well as I'd like to label everything eventually to satisfy my OCD.

Also here's the end result in the cab with the Switch Pros and the HAM radio head unit.


PXL_20230617_020005209 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230617_015703931 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Not half bad if I don't say so myself. Now to wrap up the steering this weekend and stop wrenching on this truck all the damn time.

 

[Blender]

Props for ham radio over pirate race radio

 

[cbechtold]

Props for ham radio over pirate race radio

Thanks. Eventually I'll build a mount for the antenna, but I figured it would be a good addition to have since everyone I wheel with uses HAM nowadays.

 

[Dukestaco]

Finally wrapped up my time in wiring purgatory. As much as I'm happy I took the time and stoked on the outcome of the wiring this time around, I'm so over wiring right now and I'm still not done yet. Still have a few things to wire up, but that's a problem for future me. Anyways, here's where everything sits in it's mostly final form.

I last left off on putting the finishing touches for the box prior to installing it in the truck. Afterwards, I went ahead and started getting a good base with ripping out all the previous wiring outside of the winch controls and got the box bolted to the bed.


PXL_20230530_231742842 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230531_023529243 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230606_051403077 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

There are 8 5/16" bolts holding down the box, which is not at all overkill. :bananadead:

Once I had everything ready to wiring, I started with figuring out where to put an in-cab battery cut off switch. Ended up sacrificing the lower center console in the truck, but I never use it anyways, so it's fine I guess.


PXL_20230528_010453393 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Easy access and hidden out of the way. This is mostly for the event of an electrical fire.



PXL_20230528_013121529 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Also added a 12v sockets and usb outlet inside that going to be constant hot power to the 2nd battery.

With everything mostly laid out, I could finally start rewiring the auxiliary accessories. I started with wiring the Switch Pro head unit, battery cut off switch, and power/ground leads for the main battery to the terminals under the hood. For those curious, the truck was swapped over to 1/0 gauge wire. I'll explain more on this later.

I also ran terminal pass thrus under the driver seat as well as I found grommet that I could run the Switch Pros harness through without cutting another hole. This couldn't have worked out more perfect.


PXL_20230602_052049835 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230604_224555691 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

This is also where I decided to add a cut off switch for the winch. While I doubt I'll use it often, or ever, I've had it laying around for a few years and it actually works out perfectly since the winch is going to be ran on a separate circuit from the truck. I was actually able to reuse some of the 4/0 gauge wire that I had on the truck previously for this circuit with minimal amp/voltage drop from the battery to the winch.

With all that ran, I made a quick little harness for the lights on the front of the truck, wired up the winch, and started cleaning up wires. Also had to replumb the front locker since I moved the ARB compressor as well to the box.

PXL_20230606_043815008 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230606_040924944 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

If anyone is interested, the loom I'm using is off of Amazon. It's made by Alex Tech. Looks a ton better than the old wire loom I had under the truck. I used a variety of sizes and mix between their braided expandable loom and their split sleeve loom. Anyways, back to wiring.

I ended up having a little bit more time while I was still waiting on parts for the steering, so I also ran the wires for the 12v socket and usb outlets and a future HAM radio through another grommet I found on the passenger side of the truck. This side was going great until I realize that there's basically nowhere to zip tie the cables too. Eventually landed on just wire loom clamp and bolting it to the underside the truck to keep the cables out of the way. Yes, I put a little bit of seam sealer on the threads before I finalized install. Ideally, I wanted to put the whole harness harness on the frame, but I'd need to order up some weld on zip tie brackets and I don't have time to wait for that unfortunately.


PXL_20230616_014817194 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

And that just about wraps up the majority of the wiring. Like I originally said, I still have a few things I'm going to get done at a later date, but I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out this go around. While definitely not the last time I'll dig into rewiring this truck, I'm willing to bet this will probably stay in the truck for the longest period of time.

Here's what the battery box ended up looking like. It's a little tight with everything now wired and installed, but it's cleaner than what I had before.


PXL_20230616_022759414 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I still have a little more cleaning to do as well as I'd like to label everything eventually to satisfy my OCD.

Also here's the end result in the cab with the Switch Pros and the HAM radio head unit.


PXL_20230617_020005209 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230617_015703931 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Not half bad if I don't say so myself. Now to wrap up the steering this weekend and stop wrenching on this truck all the damn time.

Nice work. Go enjoy it.

 

[cbechtold]

Nice work. Go enjoy it.

Thanks! and I absolutely will... once the truck can steer again. Should road ready this weekend!

 

[slander]

I like that loom, I need to do that for my cables running from the bed to the bus bars under the hood. Wiring looks good, I'm not patient enough for it lol!!

 

[cbechtold]

I like that loom, I need to do that for my cables running from the bed to the bus bars under the hood. Wiring looks good, I'm not patient enough for it lol!!

I can definitely recommend the Alex Tech loom. Both the split loom and braided expandable stuff has been awesome! It's a little pricey compared to regular plastic wire loom, but I can definitely say I don't see myself using the regular cheap stuff anymore now.

 

[Stairgod]

Will definitely be looking into that loom.
Currently tubbing for 37s and need to clean up a shit ton of wiring

 

[cbechtold]

Time for another update before I start beating on the old girl this Summer. Got some fun trips coming up that I'm excited about especially after no wheeling or camping last year. She's pretty much wrapped up at this point with a few small projects that I'll work at a later time. More wheeling, less wrenching Cory!


PXL_20230625_004212410 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

I start off with where I left off with the steering.


PXL_20230618_181502103 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Out with the old, in with new new. Most likely the original steering rack, so a new one will be nice.


PXL_20230619_033722236 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Along with a new rack, I also added a 333 Fabrication billet rack clamp. Super tight fitment on this, so hopefully this helps keep the rack in place better the stock one.


PXL_20230618_222452345 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230624_213350075 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Also added a Derale cooler for the power steering. Factory steering setup never had one, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to add one for some better longevity on the power steering fluid.


PXL_20230624_213045051 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Steering setup is pretty legit now and I'm pretty happy with it. Been driving it for a little bit and it's feels great so far. Now only time will tell if the rack and the mounts can keep up.


PXL_20230628_025442135~2 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


PXL_20230628_025520447~2 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Ditched the swingout and lowered the rear suspension about an inch as well to level out the truck more. Flexed out the truck as much as I could and thinks clear great fortunately. Truck handles so much better without the swingout.


PXL_20230706_161905312 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Took the truck to Stellarbuilt to get aligned. Truck drives better than she ever has. Hopefully it'll last for a little bit before I need to get another one haha!


PXL_20230709_222321389 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Lastly, a new carrier bearing was a must! I was getting so tired of the vibrations being so random on the freeway. Little disappointed that the last one only lasted just around 3.5k miles since the driveline was rebuilt.

Now, enough wrenching for now. I'll be doing hoodrat shit with the buds this weekend!

 

[cbechtold]

Great weekend in the woods with the buds. Fordyce is a little bit tougher of a trail than I was planning on for a break in run before the Rubicon, but I'm super stoked with how the truck did this weekend. Still a few bugs to work out with the front end, but I've got some time between now and when I hit the Rubicon. Didn't take a bunch of photos this trip. Just enjoyed wheeling and having some great company.


IMG_7630 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7640 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7653 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7658 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7659 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7671 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

 

[cbechtold]

Speaking of Rubicon, Rubicon was a big success this past weekend. Ended up going on the Tacos on the Rubicon run with Nick from Martec Engineering and George from Unleashed 4x4. Bunch of awesome built Tacomas, pretty much all of them on one tons and 40s. Definitely felt a little outclassed since myself and one other were on the smallest tires of the group as well as being one of the 3 only IFS rigs to join up. Day 1 was rough. We had a pretty big recovery task on an FJ Cruiser that broke both lower rear links, rear driveshaft, and an inner tie rod. Fortunately he was able to get back on the road from what I last heard.


IMG_7693 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7677 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7683 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7678 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7686 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7680 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7688 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7690 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7694 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7696 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7698 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7700 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_7702 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Overall though, I couldn't be happier with how the truck performed. It's wild how capable this truck is now especially since I wasn't really playing catchup too often with the rest of the group. She's able to kind of keep up which was absolutely impressing the hell out of me. It's trips like this where I absolutely love this truck and what is can do! Not a lot of photos, but a lot of memories and fun. Already can't wait to be back in a few weeks!

 

[thezentree]

That looks like a great time. One of these days I’ll make it out west…

How does your front skid mount? I’ve got a 333 fab rack clamp sitting on my workbench but discovered it interferes with the rear skid mount for my Bud Built skids. I think it’ll fit with a little bit of grindering but I ran out of time to dick with it when I had it apart.