ATN OFF ROADERS! Perfect Rocky Point Off Road Vehicle - 256k Beware!

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I wanted to write this post for a while now after the Boo Bar Poker Run 2020. There was a gentlemen that I did not get a chance to meet before the 2nd stop that wanted to talk to me about my Toyota Tacoma. The gentlemen had just purchased a first generation Toyota Tacoma and at the first stop he came over to talk about our trucks and what I've done to mine to make it an excellent Rocky Point off road fun run vehicle. Unfortunately, I was talking to a friend when he came over so my girlfriend told him that I would find him at the next stop to chat. Well, before the second stop the truck broke (my fault not the truck) so I never got a chance to field any of his questions or educate him on anything he was interested in. I suspect the itch caught him when I passed him in some really rough stuff and he saw what our trucks are capable of with a few changes. I feel there's many people who want something fun without having to get fully invested in a SXS (side by side) Can AM or Polaris for $25k plus the need for a trailer and such. Although those vehicles are extremely reliable and very capable there are still a few downsides in my humble opinion. For some the SXS's are just what they need. For others, they enjoy creature comforts, like AC and Heat and of not having sand/dirt hit you in the face and all down the cracks of every part of your body. Breathing fresh air will cost more in a SXS too because of the necessity for an air filter/pumper system which can only be used with a helmet.

I also want to start this post for others to post about their vehicles and set ups. Even SXS's are welcome! The one thing this forum has never had is a dedicated page to off roading in and around RP. Post up trip pics, vehicle pics, vehicle specs, suspension set ups, power adders ANYTHING off road related. I suspect there are a fair amount of users that can participate in this forum thread. Rocky Point has always been a fishing/off roaders get a way!

Ok! Let's get this started.

As they used to say on the forums in the early/mid 2000's ------------------ 256k BEWARE!!!!!! --------------------------------------

First Generation Toyota Tacoma 1996-2004

My vehicle: 99 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner SR5 3.4l V6 with a 3 speed tranny w/ electronic OD. Electronic locking rear diff.
Engine: 5vzfe, K&N cold air intake and throttle body spacer. Throttle body has been ported. Doug Thorley Headers, Flow Master 40 exhaust
Suspension: Front - Solo Motorsports 3.5 Long Travel Kit, 8" King Race Series Coilover Shocks with resis, limit straps.
Back - Custom Long Travel by Mexico Joe. Custom bed cage/upper shock mount, custom boxed lower shock mount, Ruff Stuff axle perch, Ruff Stuff Spring Under Plate, Ruff Stuff U Bolts, Ruff Stuff Spring Hanger, Ruff Stuff Shackle Hanger, Deaver F55 Leaf Springs, 14" Bilstein 7100 shocks with 255/70 valving, custom Mexico Joe 9" shackles.
Body: Front - Glassworks 3" Fiberglass fender, front pre-runner tube bumper with 1/4 aluminum skid plate. Back - Fiberwerx Fiberglass Bedside 3''.
Shoes: 35x17x12.5" Toyo Open Country AT Tires on 17" Mayhem wheels
Lights: 55w HID Headlight, 2 Rigid Industries LED Pod spot lights near hood/A pillar, 4 LED front grill lights (1,200 Lumen per light). Strobe box for grill lights.

I have personally done all of the work myself. This is my poor mans off road ripper/fun run vehicle for RP!

Front: Completely bolt in. No fabrication work required.







Back:

 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I had just completed the work on the back of the truck the night before we left for the Boo Bar Poker Run 2020. Here is a detailed guideline to how I made the rear set up.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
First: I had to cut all of the stock Toyota suspension geometry off of the truck.
Second: Start measuring and marking for Long Travel suspension geometry. There are plenty of write ups on how to go about calculating and measuring the new geometry. I can link my Tacoma World page below for detailed information. I knew the new geometry had to be 53.5 inches from the new leaf hanger eye to the new shackle mount eye location.





 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
After all the new geometry is tacked in to the frame rails we need to set the pinion angle of the 3rd member and driveline. Toyota uses a double cardon joint in the driveshaft between the front and rear shafts. Because of this you want the u joint and line angle to be straight. Set the pinion angle accordingly at ride/drive height. Tack the spring perches in and next we have to cycle the suspension.




Stock Toyota spring perch on top for the stock spring OVER set up.

New Ruff Stuff below with the Ruff Stuff spring UNDER plate too...
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I had to make my own shackles too. You can obviously buy everything but I like to save money and I enjoy working with metal so I opted to make my own. I essentially semi-copied a known companies design and theirs run for $350. I made my own for $20 and my time.

These are my first gen MexicoJoe 9" shackles. I re-made them to fix some error after the Boo Bar Poker Run... more on that later.


 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Unfortunately this entire process involves a lot of putting parts on, taking them right back off for days at a time to get everything built correctly and to ensure accuracy.

In saying that, I did all of this from a wheelchair for 21 straight days to make the BOO BAR POKER RUN. It's hard work but PIMPIN AINT EASY!

In order to get the pinion angle correct and the spring under perches tacked in the correct spot we had to put the new DEAVER F55 LT springs on the truck assembled. Spring under plate, everything in place with shackles hanging. If we're confident in our placement, tack the new spring under perches onto the axle which is shown in the picture above.

Now we need to disassemble everything we just assembled and take it off the truck. We then need to break down the leaf pack to just the main leaf. Now, with the main leaf put it back on the truck and using a piece of wood to simulate the other leaves put the whole assembly back on the truck using the spring under plate.

Now we can cycle the suspension to see how much wheel travel we're going to get, where our axle is at full bump (full compression), full droop (full extension) and our pinion angle at three stages of the suspension cycle, bump, ride height and droop.


 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Now you can see that as the suspension cycles upward the pinion angle also rotates upwards. The u joint needs to stay within 4 degrees of alignment between the line coming into it and the line going upwards that the 3rd member is on. Although the difference was only 3 degrees in this first assessment I decided that I wanted less error ratio an opted to cut the tacks off of the spring under perch and adjust accordingly rotating the pinion angle down a few degrees at ride height to ensure the pinion angle at full bump isn't as severe.

New pinion angle at full bump

 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Now that we have that squared away we can burn (fully weld) the spring perches in to the axle. I opted to leave everything tacked until the very end then I finish welded everything at once.

Now more measuring and shock placement.

Now that we've cycled the leaf spring we know how much wheel travel we're going to get and can start looking at shock placement.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Old shocks fully extended are nearly the same length as the new LT shocks fully compressed!

ORALLLEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Comparison shot of DEAVER F42 stock replacement (mid travel) springs vs DEAVER F55 LT Spring Under Axle springs

 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Decided to scrap the original idea and go all the way official with a little bed cage upper shock mount. The bed cage ties into the Toyota frame at two different spots on each side respectively. The cage is made from DOM .095 wall tubing. This is two fold system that strengthens the back of the truck by tying in both frame rails together while providing the upper shock mount for the shocks.

Holes had to be cut into the bed to allow the shocks to protrude through.



 
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