This is brilliant. I've just gotten into 3d printing and mostly been doing things to organize the garage. Since I got mine broken into though, I'm going to need some more things as the shop wasn't able to find replacement parts. I see it as an opportunity!

I have had trouble keeping the cams set in place for alignment.

I will start with everything in the neutral position. I already have the solo motor sports front arms that move the wheel 1" forward.



I have used the string technique to set the alignment and it works ok but I'm going to try and see if I can setup a jig to make things harder, yea why do the easy thing when you can over-engineer it and make it much harder?



so I cut some 1/8" plate on the plasma machine so the idea is to then use some straight edges on either side to just eyeball it for now, eventually I will see if I can setup a complete link between the rear axle assembly as well and get a 4 wheel alignment and adjust using the track bar as well.

I need to run out and pickup some rectangular stock now so I can create a visual reference.


I also decided I wanted to change the pre-load on my icon coil-overs. so I made a sketchy top thing to be used with the press. it works well enough to do the job, 3/8" stock would be better but I did not have anything on hand.







just so I remember what I did - I changed the ring from 40mm -> 20mm.

Any chance you'd be willing to make one for a 34R battery footprint?

10.75" x 6.875"

this is for a 35R interstate

35R (L x W x H)
230 x 175 x 225 mm

34R (L x W x H)
260 x 173 x 200 mm

and I can only print 250 x 250 x 400 mm max, at first I was like oh yea no problem... wait... bah! I could print it standing on it's side but then all the holes would droop ( even with supports ) defeating the purpose of having the nubs to hold it in place.

it's a fun little hobby to drive you crazy, it's hard to make stuff and I totally appreciate how much effort goes into the manufacture of even simple stuff.

I did some snap together hook like things for some garage stuff... like leaf blower that was always annoying me.


and I think my fav was this winter did the simple drawer organizer bracket like things. small little parts that hold wooden slats, easy to make, very adjustable and really not hard and cheap. That drawer in the kitchen is now mostly organized. used to drive me nutters.

credit to the guy who thinked it up
Kitchen Drawer Organizer Brackets/Braces by jeremykmac - Thingiverse

so if I'm ever going to execute my master plan for the rear of this truck... a dream that is now going on 3 years. I'm not going to even keep track no more because I'm so slow.

I need to outboard the rear shocks... so yes at full stuff your going to need wheel spacers to pull it off, confirmed. I was going to get longer shocks but I think for now I'm going to stick with my stock icons because I like them and they are still fine.



first proto-type of left over sheet metal was not great but proto-types are about failing so hey success!


I need to make some slight adjustments in angles and size but I think this is going to make me happy.


I have a lot of respect for people who do commercial fabrication after doing this kind of work. If I did it more often I'm sure I would be able to do much more fluid designs, but for now angular works for the setup and tools I own.

I need to add some extra flanges and maybe a couple of gussets up top I think but this is really a copy of the 4th gen shock mounts.

Make sure to check clearance at full articulation too (wheel top angles in more), not just full stuff.

I think the ones that have done outboard shocks without spacers have notched the frame a bit to push the shock inward a bit.

Any thoughts on moving the lower shock mount up (and upper shock mount up too) to allow more clearance below the axle?

-Charlie

yes sir, I will pop the springs out here shortly and move things up and down and even drive up my RTI ramp just to make sure things clear both up and down. I know always a chance when you take a hard hit to find things went a lot farther than you imagined they could.

I did think about moving things up but then I would have to fab a lower mount as well. just with all the stuff going on in my life I wish I had more time to spend on it. sucks.

cut it out of 3.33 mm or like 10 gauge? stupid metal thickness stuff, but slightly thicker than 1/8". I think that should be strong enough I hope.

Was a bit of a process to figure out the correct order... I'm not great at bending, but it almost turned out like the 3d model. Now I just need to clean off the mill scale and weld it up and grind it down to hide my bad welding skills.

oh yea and stick it onto the frame... meh details.

Here is the finals on the overall in STL format

shock mount V4 v5.stl - Google Drive

This is the flat pattern with the slots, for those of us who don't have 2 million dollar press robots
shock mount V4 flat pattern v5.stl - Google Drive

This is the flat pattern without the slots, for those of use who do have 2 million dollar bending robots
Flat Pattern shock mount no slots V5.dxf - Google Drive

and this is the ring to help center the bushings
Bushing Ring v5.stl - Google Drive

I did quite a bit of flex testing and nothing caused any trouble. Important to know I have the front range off road full floater so that add's .75" onto each side, then I used 1.25 wheel spacers to get a full +2" of wheel mounting clearance. I would not want to go any closer, I have enough clearance to be safe. especially once you air down and bend stuff it still might get a rub.









Now back to the gas tank relocation part and get it working.

Great work per usual man!


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Ok so long long time ago some drunk internet shopping caused me to purchase some rear control arms off a mid 90's land cruiser prado from Japan. don't know why but I have always been curious about rear radius arms.

so I figured to give a try, what the hell right? why not rekt a perfectly good rear link setup?

first thing was to figure out all the critical dimensions. axle tube is 81 mm OD, the bushings 185.5 on center. need to leave a bit for clearances so...



looks good right, sure. so it turns out the front bushing on the prado arm is the same OD as an 80's series front arm bushing. cool. so yea the bushing does stick out a bit from the arms but it's only a tiny bit. This also means I can maybe use a front arm bracket off an 80's series. got some of those.



even though the bush is a tiny bit too wide... it's pretty good really.



after scraping the internet for each and every picture of the rear end axle assembly mounts I came up with this.



did a minimal model just to test the setup in dimensions and it fits like a glove, a radius glove.



what's more I think the sway bar will clear without any mods. I think the main challenge will be getting the links flat because the brackets are meant for the front, but that is not even close to stopping me. And yes this is not an improvement in ground clearance, I know. don't care. since I'm probably on my way to a 4link anyways here eventually.

I wanted a way to have the truck sit at ride height without the wheels before I got cutting off the rear axle. so hub stand to the rescue?

picked up some 3/16" A36 sheet and cut one out, let it sit overnight in vinegar and then blasted it. ready for welding... and the first couple of tacks were terrible... DOH out of gas... I will put up the STL's just in case anybody else is interested in this one. keep in mind it's not tested yet. I will post an update when I get them mounted.






base xy
Hub Stand Base.dxf - Google Drive

Body XY
Hub Stand Upright.dxf - Google Drive

Support XY
Hub Stand Support.dxf - Google Drive

full hub stand
Hub Stand.stl - Google Drive

here is the idea in action


and here is also something of interest... hope I can use this to set camber/caster and maybe even toe? we shall see.

I’m wondering why you are asking that in the 3rd gen section (1996-2002) let alone a build thread for a 2000 4Runner. You have a 5th gen so maybe try looking in the 5th gen section for your 5th gen question about 5th gen products.