Bandit Runner's Build Thread

[theesotericone]

I plan on completely redoing my front and rear suspension this spring.]

SPRING???

Those wouldn't last 30 seconds on my garage floor before I pulled off the tires and went to work on them. lol

I applaud you for your patience and the way you plan things out. You'll dig the SPC arms. Very nice to get that extra clearance. Have fun with the install and for my sake I hope spring gets here quickly. lol

 

[SIN-Japan]

Those are sexy, I have been following the ADS thread and considering front and rear setups as well.

 

[owyheerat]

Well here is what was in the box:

Hoping to get some rear ADS shocks also, to go with OME 861 springs. I plan on completely redoing my front and rear suspension this spring. I also got these recently:

Jeremy,
I'm anxious for you to get these installed and post your opinions.

I really want to upgrade my suspension and would love to hear your thoughts.
I have a couple of questions:
Why did you chose ADS over say, Icon, King, etc? And why resi?
Which spindle gusset did you buy? and where?

Thanks

Durwin

 

[Bandit Runner]

Jeremy,
I'm anxious for you to get these installed and post your opinions.

I really want to upgrade my suspension and would love to hear your thoughts.
I have a couple of questions:
Why did you chose ADS over say, Icon, King, etc? And why resi?
Which spindle gusset did you buy? and where?

Thanks

Durwin

Hi Durwin,

I'm anxious too! Probably won't be for a while yet though
I chose ADS because I've heard a lot of good things about them, and the quality components they use in their shocks. Also been hearing of folks having issues with both Icon and King lately.

I ordered the Total Chaos spindle gusset from Wheelers Offroad.
https://wheelersoffroad.com/i-25490197-weld-on-spindle-gussets-for-1995-2004-tacoma-1999-2006-tundra-59697.html?ref=category:1388882

I'll definitely post my opinion of the coilovers later.

 

[Bandit Runner]

A few more parts came in for my front and rear suspension overhaul.

OME 861 springs for the rear:

Whiteline front sway bar bushings:

Beefy sway bar end links from [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION]:

More parts on the way too.

 

[theesotericone]

A few more parts came in for my front and rear suspension overhaul.

OME 861 springs for the rear:

What are you running on the rear now?

I was just looking at your sig and noticed your running 5.29's. I know your on almost 35's currently but did you ever run them on 33's? I'm gonna pull the trigger on F/R lockers and a re-gear soon and I'm having the back and forth between 4.88's and 5.29's. I'm currently on 33's but that will change.

 

[Bandit Runner]

What are you running on the rear now?

I was just looking at your sig and noticed your running 5.29's. I know your on almost 35's currently but did you ever run them on 33's? I'm gonna pull the trigger on F/R lockers and a re-gear soon and I'm having the back and forth between 4.88's and 5.29's. I'm currently on 33's but that will change.

Currently running Sonoran Steel 1.2 kit front and rear. I've had it for about 7 years, and it is starting to sag with all the weight I've added over the years.

I've only ran 35" tires with the 5.29's. IMO 5.29's are perfect for 35" tires with an auto tranny. (Unless you drive a ton of highway miles every day. Then maybe consider the 4.88's for lower RPM's).

 

[theesotericone]

Currently running Sonoran Steel 1.2 kit front and rear. I've had it for about 7 years, and it is starting to sag with all the weight I've added over the years.

I've only ran 35" tires with the 5.29's. IMO 5.29's are perfect for 35" tires with an auto tranny. (Unless you drive a ton of highway miles every day. Then maybe consider the 4.88's for lower RPM's).

The 861's are perfect for me. I've got a Savage dual swing rear bumper. It's got an 88lbs tire/rim, 48" hi-lift, 4 gallons water, and 6 gallons of gas hanging off of it. In the 8 months they've been installed that stuff has been on there 80% of the time. Other than about 1/4" in the first week they have not sagged at all.

Thanks for your input on the gearing.

 

[Bandit Runner]

The 861's are perfect for me. I've got a Savage dual swing rear bumper. It's got an 88lbs tire/rim, 48" hi-lift, 4 gallons water, and 6 gallons of gas hanging off of it. In the 8 months they've been installed that stuff has been on there 80% of the time. Other than about 1/4" in the first week they have not sagged at all.

Thanks for your input on the gearing.

No problem. I am a little concerned that I don't have enough weight for the 861's. I have a heavy steel plate bumper, but no tire swing-out. I do keep a lot of heavy tools in the cargo area, and a heavy spare tire in the stock location. Hopefully it won't be too light for the 861's.

I bought the 861's used with about 1200 miles on them, so I'm hoping they will be already "broken in" a little. If the rear is too high, I guess I'll just throw a few sand bags in rear.

 

[FR33Z3N]

Great work Bandit! Big fan of the build! Favorite part has to be those bumpers.

 

[psraff]

What are you running on the rear now?

I was just looking at your sig and noticed your running 5.29's. I know your on almost 35's currently but did you ever run them on 33's? I'm gonna pull the trigger on F/R lockers and a re-gear soon and I'm having the back and forth between 4.88's and 5.29's. I'm currently on 33's but that will change.

Not to hijack a thread here, but if you're an automatic, like me I would hands down go with 5.29 gears. I just put them in, changing from 4.30s and like people said long ago if I went with 4.88 I wouldn't notice much a difference.

Granted I haven't taken any road trips yet or anything, and I'm dying to feel how it does up in the mountains but around town it feels better.

If you have weight, plan on pulling a trailer, or run anything larger then a 33" tire I would run 5.29 gears (generally speaking). And I have to say generally speaking to keep a few people off my back. Up here, I hardly EVER drive over 65 mph. 90% of our roads are only 2 lane highways, at most with a limit of 55 mph. In town it's AVG 35 MPH. I prefer driving mountains roads so that's slow uphill pulls.

Just my $.02.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Great work Bandit! Big fan of the build! Favorite part has to be those bumpers.

Thanks! If you ever want to build your own Bandit bumpers, I sell the designs here:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/sale-t4r-items/184735-build-your-own-bandit-bumper-stevensville-mi.html

 

[Bandit Runner]

More parts for my front end rebuild. I got a set of used lower control arms from a member here.

Plan is to rebuild them with Whiteline bushings, which arrived from Amazon

I also received a few parts from Wheelers Offroad:
Total Chaos spindle gussets

Steering rack bushings

And two pairs of super bumpstops for the LCA's These are the softer version that come with the rear Tacoma kit.

Came with candy and stickers too!

 

[owyheerat]

Nice. Are you replacing your bushing (both LCA and steering rack) as precautionary measure? Or, are your's worn? I'm asking because, I have 220k on my stock bushing, and while they feel fine, I wonder if I should do the same?

Thanks

Durwin

 

[Bandit Runner]

Nice. Are you replacing your bushing (both LCA and steering rack) as precautionary measure? Or, are your's worn? I'm asking because, I have 220k on my stock bushing, and while they feel fine, I wonder if I should do the same?

Thanks

Durwin

Yes, mostly precautionary, as I only have 145K miles on mine. They don't feel worn, however, the rubber bushings do tend to get eaten by the salt from the roads during the winter. When I replaced my rear control arm bushings, some of them were getting pretty bad. I figure as long as everything is going to be apart anyway, now is the time to replace them.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I’ve been working on my spare set of front lower control arms, to get them ready for the big front suspension install. To remove the old bushings, I cut the rubber between the metal sleeves with a dremmel bit, which allowed the inner metal sleeves to push right out. Then I cut a slit in the outer sleeves with a hacksaw and those pushed right out too. Super quick and easy, and no heat or burning rubber required. Bushings pressed out:

When I got these used LCA’s, I was a little disappointed to see that one side of each shock mount was really worn. There was a really deep groove worn into the mount. The grooves were so deep (about 75% of the material thickness), that I was concerned about the structural integrity of the mounts. So I decided to cut them off and weld in new ones. Bad shock mount cut off:

I made the new mount pieces out of 3/16” thick steel, which is thicker than the original, which were only about 1/8” thick. New and old shock mount pieces. You can see the deep grooves worn into the old ones:

New mounts welded on:

Now I have peace of mind knowing that my new ADS coilovers will not fall off the truck. I still need to drill holes through the thick center of the LCA’s for mounting future LCA skids. Then press the new Whiteline bushings in, slap a few coats of paint on them, and finally install the 2 sets of Wheeler’s super bump stops.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Small dual projector update. I have coated the cover plates with 3 coats of fiberglass resin. This was to protect the 3D printed plastic from the heat, and also to provide a smooth finish.

Then I spent several hours sanding them. Here they are all smoothed out and basically ready for paint.

I also coated the headlight housings with the resin for the same reasons:

I am in the process of sanding these also. I also found that one of the low beam projectors is slightly crooked, so I need to fix that too.

Lame update I know - Sorry. This project is taking much longer than I anticipated, and lately I've taken a break from working on them, so I can work on suspension stuff.

[MENTION=102266]SRQ-Runner[/MENTION]

 

[JBurt]

No need to apologize. I like the updates. Quality takes time and doing 3 coats then sanding takes time. Priorities.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I got a little prep work done this weekend in anticipation of installing the new suspension in the near future. I bought the front and rear sway bar links from [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION] a while back, and finally got them installed. Of course every single one of the old ones broke when I tried to remove them, and I had to cut them all off with an angle grinder.
Lots of broken pieces:

Front installed:

Rear installed:

Man these things are so much beefier than the OEM links. Super happy with them!

Then I took some advice from [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] and wrapped my OME 861 springs with black HDPE spiral hose wrap. This was to prevent any squeaking and vibrations that some have experienced with these coils.

Just a few more things left to do before installing the new suspension.

 

[rkntoy]

Then I took some advice from [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] and wrapped my OME 861 springs with black HDPE spiral hose wrap. This was to prevent any squeaking and vibrations that some have experienced with these coils.

Looking good. What ID is that spiral hose wrap?