FoneRunner
New member
Hey man, my hatch is due here this week. Would you have any pics of this mounting method? I checked out the Yotatech guy and his pics aren't that great.
Blcktpgsr's '97 transformation
- Thread starter blcktpgsr
- Start date
Hey man, my hatch is due here this week. Would you have any pics of this mounting method? I checked out the Yotatech guy and his pics aren't that great.
brian2sun
Elite Member
Thanks dude, I'm glad you took the idea to a whole 'nother level! Your bumper really came out nice! Looks better than anything out there for sale IMO.
blcktpgsr
New member
Sweet! I'm happy to hear that you're this close to finally gettin' it.
Oh this is gooooona be long but bear with me. You might wanna print this out!
I don't have a picture of the top mount and how it's done per se..and I know it's a cliche' but it's really simple to tell you the truth.
Right now it's even harder to take pics because of the roll bar in the way.
You'll fully understand the concept of the reinforcement for both the upper and lower hinges once you started
drilling thru the body panel...Haha easy said than done I guess..lol!
First is ofcourse get the surf hatch installed, because you wanna be able to lock the swing-away
tire carrier in order to align the hinges properly. By locking the latching mechanism, you'll have the freedom to position the
hinges without all the weight of the carrier bearing on you.
In a nutshell:
The bottom hinge would pretty much just wrap around the panel beneath the tail light, the contacting surface should let you determine it's exact location. Check the level to make sure it's horizontally aligned. To help you better, I have mine mounted 3/16" just below the tail light. The holes will pretty much end up being right on the body line just before the panel curves inward and down.
There are 2 bolt holes for the lower hinge, and the one coming from the rear is done with the carrier open.
For this I suggest drilling the hole for the lower side and upper hinge and temporarily insert your 7/16" hex head bolts.
The upper hinge has a flat surface and it's just a matter of flushing it with the body panel. Mine is again just
3/16" from the edge of the quarter panel towards the rear door. Also note that I did add between 3/16"-1/4" fiberglass on the surface of the upper hinge. This is an un-necessary step you can skip or do depending on how you see it. The guy on Yotatech didn't find it necessary.
So with the hinges in place, mark the holes and drill accordingly..Amazingly, you will find that there are pre-drilled holes on the d-pillar matching the holes you will make on the panel.
An assistance from a friend would be nice while you're marking the holes.
The gap between the quarter panel and the d-pillar for the upper mount is no more than a 1/4". Like I mentioned, I used grade 8 7/16" bolts, so you want a sleeve/tubing big enough to accept that size bolt. I believe I used a 1/2" ID tubing in 2-3 mm gauge. By the way, yes I enlarged one hinge mount hole for the 7/16" hardware on the upper mount...IIRC, One hole is smaller than the other two.
The idea is to have those sleeves to act as spacers between the quarter panel and the d-pillar. So at the d-pillar end, you will also need to drill holes, enough to enable you to insert the said sleeves and butt them against the body panel(use step drill bit).
Conform the ends of those tubings according to the angle of the quarter panel, so all surface touches flat against it.
I had some nuts welded on the end of those sleeves so it frees one hand when tightening the bolt from the outside. Insert the bolts from the outside and temporarily tighten before welding on the d-pillar, to make sure the threads are aligned and doesn't cross at final mounting.
I also didn't find it necessary to do any welding on the body panel end so don't worry about it. The fabricator who welded mine is a custom hot rod and race car fabricator and could've done it, but he also found no point in doing so.,,,and it makes sense. Bottomline is that mine is holding pretty strongly without movement whatsoever.
I have some pictures of the lower mount, and how they are re-inforced are exactly the same way. Only ofcourse you need longer bolts and sleeves. I tried describing as best I could how thru some colorful illustrated drawings if it helps figuring it out. Check thread.
Also, you won't find a 7/16" bolt longer than 6.5" necessary for the lower hinge, so I fashioned my own with a redi-rod cut to length then weld a nut at the ends. May I also suggest using some lock nuts to keep the bolts from loosening due to vibrations.
Oh if only I had a welder and knew how to weld then!.......Just saying, it really isn't hard at all.
PS! I'm not gonna leave you hanging so do feel free to ask.
Check page 26 on my build for some updated photos.
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blcktpgsr
New member
That means alot coming from you...so Thanks again, I really appreciate that.:cheers:
blcktpgsr
New member
did you get out today?? I just got back from whistler.. had to go its a ritual for my birthdayAlso if you ever decide to get rid of your roll bar PLEASE let me know. Where did you pick yours up? Its from a 1st gen right?
Yes, we did and it was a good turn out. I'm gonna post a bunch of pics and vids including how I winched myself out...yep the winch and the winch bumper was tried and tested!
I'll update this as soon as I get some rest first. Stay tuned!
Oh the rollbar stays..matter of fact, I've already mounted a fire extinguisher on it. Got it from a Ist Gen owner guy off Craigslist for $40.
blcktpgsr
New member
Hmm...looks like a couple photos of yesterdays run can be seen at the Tacoma World forum..well until I can get everything organized and downloaded on the computer that is.
Vancouver Meet up/Trail ride - Page 9 - Tacoma World Forums
Vancouver Meet up/Trail ride - Page 9 - Tacoma World Forums
rickashay
New member
Some great pics there, thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing some more. Looks like there was some pretty off-camber stuff, lol. :wow:
quicksilvr
New member
Yeah....That one pic of your rig, I about shat my pants. I'm no pro, but it looked like you only had a couple more degrees before the top became the bottom.......
The97Runner
New member
So, when I get around to getting my ARB I'll make sure to send it to you first and then expect it to be returned to me looking just as bada$$ as yours?
blcktpgsr
New member
Yeah 'twas a goood day...no mud! lol. there'll be more photos and videos upcoming as soon as everything's ready. We went to the same place as last time, only this time we took the harder trails and yeah you could say you'd find yourself off cambered most times as there are steep incline/decline, drops etc.
First time one of my wheel sustained it's first battle scar to say the least, deeper than usual pinstripings and a 1/2" diameter torx head bolt puncturing thru my 10 ply.
Haha...the angle of the shot made it look worse than it actually is but the boys said I did come close if I would've backed down further.
Almost but not quite!:banana:
:lol:I'd hate to say it but it'll be the only one in existence....................NOT!
but you're more than welcome to imitate it...not like I have a patent on it or something!
blcktpgsr
New member
Rear hatch? What's this you speak of bud? :lol:
BigFishAllDay
New member
Nice vids man. I think that's the first time I've seen your truck in action outside of pictures. That "V" Rock looks interesting... did you take a bad line on the way up? When I watched the video of you coming down it looked like that line would have been alot better route to take on the way up too.
blcktpgsr
New member
The video quality on my camera sucks so, as much as I woulda liked to take some real actions...I stick to still shots.
Yeah I thought I did take a good line goin up but one thing just led to another and by the time i realized it, I was in a bad spot and the rear lockers just couldn't bail me out of it.
Like I said that rock should've been alot easier to take on. Next time.
blcktpgsr
New member
Holy cow blcktpgsr, I'm late to the party. Just seeing your shots of the modded ARB, that looks totally awesome.
Hey t4r4life, grab your welding kit and come over. I'll buy the cutting/grinding wheels and beers.
Oh that's quite fine, better late than never, lol! Yeah Eric can handle somethin like this no problem..maybe tell him to make 2 so I don't have to do it for my brother.:bravo:
BFAD did a comparison shot in the previous page, and here's another.
fightman80
New member
Where do you put your front plate when on the street??
blcktpgsr
New member
Oh it's always on and it's mounted just below the aluminum fairlead. You should be able to see it on the videos I posted.
