Addicted Offroad's Double Cab. Project "Frenchy"

[AddictedOffroad]

We are building this for a customer up in Dillon, CO.

Its a 2001 Tacoma Double Cab. Elocked. Pretty mild rig to be honest.

The plan is TG kit "C" which some mods to lower the ride height. We are going to french the springs hangers into the frame/crossmember up front to help lower the ride height. Customer plans on 35s for this rig, and I am confident we can deliver it with a frame height around 24" on TG leafs.

The rear will be more of the same with custom frenched spring hangers to lower it.

We already have it on the lift and have started assembling the front axle. FWIW, the TG Rock Assault housings have come a long way in quality since they were first released. Its a nice piece and much better than stock. Its still not a Diamond, but its good for the weekend wheeler and DD that this truck will be when done.

The rest of the build will consist of 5.29s, ARB up front, and 35s. We will also be building custom front plate bumper instead of our normal tube bumper for these.

 

[Kevin B.]

Subscribed!

 

[sixstringsteve]

Sweet! Are you going to rotate the knuckle balls to fix the caster?

 

[AddictedOffroad]

Sweet! Are you going to rotate the knuckle balls to fix the caster?

Can't with the TG housing. The caster is set due to the offset knuckle balls on their housings. If I cut and reweld I believe that the shaft won't line up in the carrier anymore. Honestly, they could use a little more caster IMO anyway.

 

[Marsh99]

subscribed... For my benefit why not use the new TG 3-link front Tacoma kit.

 

[AddictedOffroad]

subscribed... For my benefit why not use the new TG 3-link front Tacoma kit.

Because its a lot more $$$ invested, and IMO TG doesn't know what good link geometry is when building a 3-link kit. Their kit will have a lot of oversteer in it. And, I don't believe in building a DD that isn't done "right".

 

[AddictedOffroad]

Got the front axle all sexy today.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

why not just spring under the axles? i know it eats a bit of clearance, but it might be an easier solution.

 

[AddictedOffroad]

why not just spring under the axles? i know it eats a bit of clearance, but it might be an easier solution.

Because I don't see the point of reducing capability, ground clearance, and flex when we can french the hangers and end up with a better result. And, if I sprung it under, I would need different springs as these have antiwrap leafs built into them. Not to mention needing taller springs since it would lose 5" of lift going SUA. Even with TG's 5" springs it would essentially only give about 2-3" of overall lift which would not be enough to clear 35s-37s.

 

[Herzog]

Those centers look a lot better, appears to be a chunk of stamp/formed steel now...? I wasn't a fan of the cast versions but had no personal experience from them.

 

[Marsh99]

Because its a lot more $$$ invested, and IMO TG doesn't know what good link geometry is when building a 3-link kit. Their kit will have a lot of oversteer in it. And, I don't believe in building a DD that isn't done "right".

That's what I expected to hear. I love your Builds!

 

[Rot Box]

Wow looking forward to this one

 

[clfrnacwby]

Sub'd!

 

[sLcREX]

Sweet. Looking forward to this build

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Very cool

 

[AddictedOffroad]

Pulled the bed to get the rear frame plates welded in. We will also have to drop the tank to get the frenched hanger in later.

 

[Coco]

MMMM... Another Awesome build by AOR!! Cant wait to see the progress Scotty!

 

[AddictedOffroad]

Okay, so we mocked up the front hanger. Pics and measurements should speak for themselves.

First of all, we don't use TG's front crossmembers anyway in these kits. Theirs are .188 wall and an inch taller than ours to begin with. We use our Tacoma weld on crossmembers for our bumper instead. Ours is .250 wall and an inch shorter.

In this case we wanted to french the front spring hanger. So, we notched our crossmember to allow us to mount the new spring hanger into the frame. This saved a solid 2.875" of height here. That will equate to roughly 1.5" of lowered lift height.

TG's crossmember with their spring hanger is 7-3/8"
Our crossmember with french hangers is 4.5"

TG's

Our's

TG's

Ours

 

[_Auzzy_]

building my dream trail rig! keep it up!

 

[AddictedOffroad]

crossmember in place. Recessed back and frame is notched to allow more clearance. Steering is going to need a flat pitman arm, and we will llikely be notching the frame for clearance of it as well.