aemravan's build thread - project TacoRunner
- Thread starter aemravan
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Finally got the molle panels and links on. Also installed the extended brakelines.
Love it. Disconnected the rear sway bar and took off the front to see what the articulation difference is.
Quite a difference in material sizing from the stock vs .25" sidewall DOM tubing.
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Love it. Disconnected the rear sway bar and took off the front to see what the articulation difference is.
Quite a difference in material sizing from the stock vs .25" sidewall DOM tubing.
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I wish I took more measurements the first time around, but the articulation now is definitely quite significantly increased.
Measured right at 26" to bottom of tire lip with the rear starting to come off. Don't know if most if due to sway bars (which I'm pretty sure it is) or if the icon shocks with new rear links also help.
All in all, super happy and can't wait to test it out on the trail. I do need to pull the disconnected rear link out so it doesn't keep rubbing on the bar thpugh. Driving aeound with no sway bar in normal conditions wasn't as bad as I thought. But aggressive turning... Holy crap... lol I don't know how some of you guys do it.
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Measured right at 26" to bottom of tire lip with the rear starting to come off. Don't know if most if due to sway bars (which I'm pretty sure it is) or if the icon shocks with new rear links also help.
All in all, super happy and can't wait to test it out on the trail. I do need to pull the disconnected rear link out so it doesn't keep rubbing on the bar thpugh. Driving aeound with no sway bar in normal conditions wasn't as bad as I thought. But aggressive turning... Holy crap... lol I don't know how some of you guys do it.
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randy88fj62
Member
How long have you had the exterior rear Molle panels on your truck? They seem like they would get hung up in brush and trees easily. What about road noise etc?
Curious about these but they just seem a little odd to me.
Curious about these but they just seem a little odd to me.
I've ran them offroad a couple of time and had them on road for a better part of probably 2000 miles. No road noise issues whatsoever. For the most part, unlike the rest of the build, they are more looks vs function, however, they do give me the ability to carry my extra fuel and traction boards where they are super easy to get to.
I don't haven't done any trails that are heavy with brush and trees.. Uwharrie trail system is the only thing really around where we take it offroad and I haven't had any issues there. I can certainly see them impeding side clearance on some tight, leaning sections, but I haven't gotten myself in a bid like that as of yet and hoping not so since they would probably bust the windows out pretty quick. These are more of a out-west open road overland type setup, but I really like the way they looked on some rigs so decided to design up my own.
Well, I must say, between the new rear links, icon 2.5s and no sway bars, the car is now amazing offroad.
I hope these shocks stay together because the ride is amazing. I got just enough travel out of the IFS (which is now pretty much maxed out without going long travel) to conquere all of the uwharrie trails. Both of thr ledges up the front side of Daniel were a peice of cake this time. No winching. I am stoked. Finally got my LFD front skid on as well so I am finally in the finishing stages with not much left to do except to maintain and enjoy the car.
The rcv axles burped a little grease out of the inner boots being flexed as hard as I had them and they told me they had no issues with me running worm gear clamps on there to help with that. But they did mention that if any part of the axle fails without deliberately being destroyed they'll honor the warranty no question. Super happy.
Now if I can only figure out how to post videos on here...
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I hope these shocks stay together because the ride is amazing. I got just enough travel out of the IFS (which is now pretty much maxed out without going long travel) to conquere all of the uwharrie trails. Both of thr ledges up the front side of Daniel were a peice of cake this time. No winching. I am stoked. Finally got my LFD front skid on as well so I am finally in the finishing stages with not much left to do except to maintain and enjoy the car.
The rcv axles burped a little grease out of the inner boots being flexed as hard as I had them and they told me they had no issues with me running worm gear clamps on there to help with that. But they did mention that if any part of the axle fails without deliberately being destroyed they'll honor the warranty no question. Super happy.
Now if I can only figure out how to post videos on here...
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My brother ended up getting some awesome footage co.ing up the 2 ledges on the front side of Daniel at URE. Made me so happy seeing the hard work pay off. This was the first of 2 times we went up this trail Sunday.
Uwharri Daniel first ledge - YouTube
Uwharri Daniel second ledge - YouTube
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Uwharri Daniel first ledge - YouTube
Uwharri Daniel second ledge - YouTube
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Stock v8 exhaust that I cut the middle muffler off of and welded the rear resonator to dump straight down after the Y pipe under the passenger side of the car
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The truck sounds good man. A couple spots looked a little knarly, like you were going to slam down hard.
And what was rattling? Was is your hi-lift?
Thanks man! Those 2 ledges can get sketchy pretty quick if you're off the correct line by a few inches. The second time up wasn't AS smooth, ended up bouncing around a couple of times before making it up the ledge.
The rattle/clunk was my rear swaybar (that I was too lazy to completely take off at first) slamming down on my rear diff after the ties holding it in place gave way. I ended up pulling it off on the trail and have no plans on putting it back on. The front will go back on for sure, but the rear is staying off.
I think my factory front skid was also on by 2 bolts and was slamming around a bit too, it made some very unpleasant sounds for sure, but did everything I could ask for lol.
A few updates on the taco:
1- the rear links are still holding up, the heim joints are taking some frequent lubrication with a dry lithium spray grease and wd40 but overall no big issues for a daily drive. The factory bolt is just a tad small for the opening in the heim spacers so unless it’s fully tightened on a regular basis it develops a slight clunk as you back up at certain times and the loading changes. I don’t really want to crank down too hard or put locktite on so I don’t have issues later so I’ll see if I want to live with the slight clunk sometimes or do something about it.
2- the Rcv axles proved to be prone to the same cv boot burping that the oem axles have wit extreme angles and articulation. The metal band clamps just aren’t tight enough and once a little grease makes it under it get progressively worse. I contacted RCV about installing my own worm gear clamps to overcome the issue and they said they would very much be ok with that and appreciated me taking extra steps to prevent possible premature failure. They did say that they fully stand by their axles and unless I go out of my way to destroy them that they would fully honor the lifetime warranty even if the boot ran dry of grease and the cv failed. That’s the main reason I invested the money into them so it was nice to get that reassurance once again.
3- the JBA uca’s have held up great so far other than slight wear on the ball joint boot but some regular greasing has kept it in great shape thus far. Not sure why I ever considered selling them in favor of the ICONs since those don’t seem to be any better other than additional cost. The ball joint being an off the shelf replacement seem appealing for when it needs to be swapped so we’ll see how it goes.
4- that lfd skid plate painted red makes for nice contrast, love it. But being a v8 I do need to drop it to change oil or put on /take off the front sway bar… for the time being I’ve been without the front sway bar for a while and it doesn’t bug me too much, but definitely would be nice to have for highway driving and on winding roads just in case.
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1- the rear links are still holding up, the heim joints are taking some frequent lubrication with a dry lithium spray grease and wd40 but overall no big issues for a daily drive. The factory bolt is just a tad small for the opening in the heim spacers so unless it’s fully tightened on a regular basis it develops a slight clunk as you back up at certain times and the loading changes. I don’t really want to crank down too hard or put locktite on so I don’t have issues later so I’ll see if I want to live with the slight clunk sometimes or do something about it.
2- the Rcv axles proved to be prone to the same cv boot burping that the oem axles have wit extreme angles and articulation. The metal band clamps just aren’t tight enough and once a little grease makes it under it get progressively worse. I contacted RCV about installing my own worm gear clamps to overcome the issue and they said they would very much be ok with that and appreciated me taking extra steps to prevent possible premature failure. They did say that they fully stand by their axles and unless I go out of my way to destroy them that they would fully honor the lifetime warranty even if the boot ran dry of grease and the cv failed. That’s the main reason I invested the money into them so it was nice to get that reassurance once again.
3- the JBA uca’s have held up great so far other than slight wear on the ball joint boot but some regular greasing has kept it in great shape thus far. Not sure why I ever considered selling them in favor of the ICONs since those don’t seem to be any better other than additional cost. The ball joint being an off the shelf replacement seem appealing for when it needs to be swapped so we’ll see how it goes.
4- that lfd skid plate painted red makes for nice contrast, love it. But being a v8 I do need to drop it to change oil or put on /take off the front sway bar… for the time being I’ve been without the front sway bar for a while and it doesn’t bug me too much, but definitely would be nice to have for highway driving and on winding roads just in case.
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Good to know about the clamp for the RCV axles, do you have pics of the clamp you put on?
A few updates on the taco:
1- the rear links are still holding up, the heim joints are taking some frequent lubrication with a dry lithium spray grease and wd40 but overall no big issues for a daily drive. The factory bolt is just a tad small for the opening in the heim spacers so unless it’s fully tightened on a regular basis it develops a slight clunk as you back up at certain times and the loading changes. I don’t really want to crank down too hard or put locktite on so I don’t have issues later so I’ll see if I want to live with the slight clunk sometimes or do something about it.
2- the Rcv axles proved to be prone to the same cv boot burping that the oem axles have wit extreme angles and articulation. The metal band clamps just aren’t tight enough and once a little grease makes it under it get progressively worse. I contacted RCV about installing my own worm gear clamps to overcome the issue and they said they would very much be ok with that and appreciated me taking extra steps to prevent possible premature failure. They did say that they fully stand by their axles and unless I go out of my way to destroy them that they would fully honor the lifetime warranty even if the boot ran dry of grease and the cv failed. That’s the main reason I invested the money into them so it was nice to get that reassurance once again.
3- the JBA uca’s have held up great so far other than slight wear on the ball joint boot but some regular greasing has kept it in great shape thus far. Not sure why I ever considered selling them in favor of the ICONs since those don’t seem to be any better other than additional cost. The ball joint being an off the shelf replacement seem appealing for when it needs to be swapped so we’ll see how it goes.
4- that lfd skid plate painted red makes for nice contrast, love it. But being a v8 I do need to drop it to change oil or put on /take off the front sway bar… for the time being I’ve been without the front sway bar for a while and it doesn’t bug me too much, but definitely would be nice to have for highway driving and on winding roads just in case.
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I got some I used before from McMaster, the larger one could be a little narrower if you can find but these worked out pretty good. I’d highly recommend swapping out to these as soon as you get them and forget about it. It was a bit of a pain to cut the clamps off on the car.
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Good to know, thank you!
I got some I used before from McMaster, the larger one could be a little narrower if you can find but these worked out pretty good. I’d highly recommend swapping out to these as soon as you get them and forget about it. It was a bit of a pain to cut the clamps off on the car.
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montijo505
Senior Member
You want these with the smooth edges to prevent the sharp edge digging in to the rubber boot if you get sendy on the install.
McMaster-Carr
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We’ll dang… if I knew those were available that’s what I would have gone with , maybe next time around haha
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We’ll, these definitely did not disappoint. So glad I grabbed my camera.
T4R Warehouse | Flickr
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T4R Warehouse | Flickr
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