Seeing ZUK work makes me want to go get a welder and burn some holes in my frame!

 

I appreciate the compliments.

But all it takes is to have the tools of the trade.....14" chop saw, 4.5" angle grinder, and a MIG welder.....and a little imagination.

 

wow, what a great axel swap Zuk thank you
I have a 01 Tacoma myself (5-speed trd)
does your truck have front ABS?
I think mine does
i'm wondering about the tone rings the abs gets it's signal from
is there room to put them on the front axel shafts with an SAS swap?
I know my rears just press on
guessing the stock fronts do too


PS: Your web page was a great help a couple years back when I had to
set up a set of gears for my rear after the stock gears blew out
(stock pinion had zero preload when I took er all apart)

 

Hi piglett-
No ABS on mine. I don't know about the tone rings but I think I would try disabling the ABS by pulling the Fuse out and see if you like the new braking characteristics. Glad to help with my gear install webpage.....I expect it to be there and grow with more links for at least another decade.....or 2.
Ken

 

well shoot, replaced a wheel seal on the back of my Tacoma , now there is some bad noises, sounds like a bearing going to hell
i'll have to re-pull the axle & see what's up in there
good thing I made my own bearing & tone ring removal tools

 

Very informative writeup and awesome fab work! Do you have any pics of it flexing out? Is there any reason why the front shackle setup wouldn't work on older ifs sas'd rigs? I know my last 86 4runner sas had alot of nose dive under heavy braking, it was annoying to say the least, lol.

 

Hi rust-
Thanks!
none flexing yet but believe me the rears....and front flex plenty I was told by someone watching me going thru a tight section. The front shackle works just fine on earlier trucks.

 

Hi rust-
Thanks!
none flexing yet but believe me the rears....and front flex plenty I was told by someone watching me going thru a tight section. The front shackle works just fine on earlier trucks.


thumbnail test.....my 1st time. random photo

 

I'm gonna blame the SAS on my driveshaft carrier bearing going out....actually it's probably been going out for 10 or 20 thousand miles and it finally let me know at 10am this morning that there is a BAD driveshaft vibration starting at 25 mph.

So here's a few pics of how easy it is to change one out with another GENUINE Toyota part number....
Toyota calls it a BEARING ASSY, CENTER SUPPORT 37230-35130




The part number that fits 96-04 I think.....retails at the dealer for 218...got lucky and got it for
174 plus tax at the dealership.







First thing is to remove the 4 very tight DS bolts and drop the rear part of the DS out of the way.
Please excuse all the water spots/dust from last weeks drizzle....didn't have a chance to wipe
everything down yet.








Remove the 2 long bolts that secure the carrier bearing to the cross brace bracket....
then spin the 24mm nut of with your favorite electric impact.








The order that things come off....24mm nut/fat washer/flange/two .032"shims/old center support assembly.








Looks like this....if this were Pennsylvania then everything would be rusted to hell and nothing would
be recognizable.







I noted before removing the old one that the "K" goes on the left side(driver side).






The reasons for the vibrations....185,000 miles and the rubber gave out.






Even worse on the other side.






Ahhhhh Yes....the new one. Maybe another 185,000 miles?






Hm...the part number here must be an old number.






Support assembly goes on first then the 2 shims...






then the flange....






Impacted it back to the same ding mark.





....and dinged it down again......a crappy ding but it will suffice.
All done....Now to go out and test drive.

 

Zuk I replaced mine last year on my 01'

what the local parts store sold me works

however I feel it had a bit more up & down slop in it than I like




PS: my rear wheel bearing took out my tone ring

lots of parts & pieces where the sealed bearing used to live

I had the bearing & outer seal, so I pressed them on

i'll put a new tone ring on once is shows up in the mailbox

 

Well piglet I'm not complaining because mine's a 2001 just like yours .....185,000 miles things are going to start to wear out.... even the drive shaft parts.

Now I should point out this vibration from my rear driveshaft suddenly seemed to appear all at once the other day at 10 o'clock in the morning.... not sure why it happened like that but it did. So I replaced the center support bearing and that took care of the vibration I had at 25 miles per hour.

Then I discovered I had another vibration at 35 miles per hour.... felt like a real rumble like a drive shaft out of balance. Closer inspection of the drive shaft and wiggling the joints revealed nothing. Got real lucky and saw the constant velocity joint shifting inside the cage while I was trying to break it loose from the flange so I replace that portion of the drive shaft now I'm vibration free again. Made me realize that the "double cardan" joint can be a little trickier to discover the excess slop in the joints.

Discovering that the double cardan joint was bad took some real force on the joint to see the movement not just casually twisting the drive shaft, that would not do it .....almost had to have a screwdriver in there to force it back and forth until the obvious motion made itself known. I can see how so many drive shaft vibration problems get overlooked that have a double cardan joint. A slight squeak squeak noise was happening a month ago so that should have been another clue for me.

Checking the spare driveshafts and parts in my garage, I found a spare rear half portion of the DS just like I needed from end to end with the double cardan on it.....
Looks like Craig to the rescue again as he gave that part to me way back when he was doing his SAS work.....it did the trick for me and again I am thankful that I have good friends :-)

 

Here is my current rig (not trying to hijack your thread)





and my last truck that I used to haul scrap metal in




ran hard & put away wet

 

Hijacking occurs when 6 or more pictures are posted. You're ok so far.
Your red 01 extra-cab is just about ready for an SAS isn't it?

Ken

 

how about this one that's been hanging out in the back yard for a few years now





the chain on the 22R started slapping a few years back so I had it towed home & it's still waiting for me to do something with it.

the bed is getting a little rough but I do have this one that I could cut down & mig back together

 

jeeez...New Hampshire is tough on metal.

 

the rust never sleeps,

Toyota had just replaced the frame on my Tacoma before I purchased it. They did a buy back on most of the 95' through 00' trucks in my area. That was 3 years ago & I just sent in the last payment, time for some "Real Tires" I would say. I have what looks to be 3" of lift up front & an inch from Skyjacker springs in the rear. Something in the 33" tall range should fit just fine if I ditch the mud flaps. then i think I need a real front bumper that can house a winch. the rear bumper has already been upgraded to a piece of 4" square tubing

 

Ahhh Yes... They call that IFS suspension. I have heard of that and, as a matter of fact, I think I used to have that suspension setup on my SAS truck. I feel sorry for the people that have ifs still :-)

 

if I was looking to further lift the truck then hell yes a SAS would be in order
however, it does see 99% on road use at this point, granted that could change,
I also use it to pull my 16' car trailer
Not counting the axle, how much do you think you have into your swap?
I do have a 300amp Lincoln stick welder. so prepping the axle for it's Tacoma based duty would not prove to be a problem.
I do have to buy tires next year, I was thinking 33's but maybe something in the 35" range would be happier living up under my truck

 

Hard to say how much I have into the sas all together and it depends on how much you can come up for free or not.

In my case, I had to lift the rear up to match the front....taller rear leafs and shocks and 7" between centers shackles.

The front....new packs....shocks.....Ford towers....IFS box....2 Marlin steering rods for FJ60 length. Made my own passenger steering Y-arm.

And then there are the tires.....most SAS projects won't look right with a 33 due to the amount of lift required to allow steering linkages to clear the bottom of the frame so a 35" tire is the minimum for most. With 35" tires the steering box can still deal with the additional loading.......put on some 37 or 38" tires and the whole nature of the beast changes and full hydraulics.

If you are thinking of 35" tires like you say then the tires are not really an "additional" cost ....you were going to get them anyways....but the re-gearing can be.....stock 410 gears now means 488 or even 529/571 gears will be desired depending on 4 cyl or V6 and manual vs auto.

Towing a 16' car trailer with an SAS truck..... that's a whole new thread all together.

 

i'm thinking that due to the fact that my Tacoma has to do dual duty at the moment, 35's are not going to be an asset to me. probably better for me to get my 88' together, I already have the front leaves/shocks along with cross over steering plus an 8" rear already set up with 488's & a Detroit locker.

my last tow vehicle had 1550 foot pounds of torque at the ready but I got tired or running coast to coast so I came home & got a job, I now sleep in my own bed every night.