girl and her minitruck build

[optica1ilusionz]

so dirty!

[whatshername]

I was so satisfied with how it looked.
But not how it drove.

The leafs banged on every nook and cranny in the road, the exhaust was constantly dragging, and I couldn’t even put my little brother’s bmx bike in the back without intensifying the banging and dragging.

So we rose up the truck for my leafs sake and searched for ways to keep it static, low, and useable.

We hoped putting new shocks in would help out.




But unfortunately they didn’t make a difference.
We looked into helper bags, but it was out of my price range.
Things were looking grim and hopeless.

But then we bought Monroe air shocks.
It was much cheaper and easier way to stiffen up the ride quality.
Instead of buying shocks specifically for a Tacoma we researched to find shock that when fully aired out it was equal to the resting height of the truck.
In turn when fully aired up, the shocks didn’t raise the truck at all.
They ended up being originally designed for a 60’s corvette, just had to press in new shock mount bushings.

I was happy we found a solution but upset I wasted money on a pair of shocks I used for a week.

The ride was extremely bouncy so we added a sway bar.
Reverse mounted Addco sway bar to stock bolt holes under the truck.
Also had the entire exhaust system raised above the frame rails.





It drove amazing and i was impressed.
Unfortunately, the leafs still hit on big bumps since they hung lower then the frame.
Now what?
I couldn't see raising it back up.
We had come so far, but at this rate my leafs weren't going to last long.

So we decided to notch the front leaf perch up higher into the frame.
Not only did it raise my leafs high enough for me to drive happily, it lowered me a tad as well.

[laBeef]

Looking tight. Take off the hub caps, it looks better imo

[7elephant]

really nice truck you got there. subscribe..

[Dave_The_BMXER]

sick, nice work figuring out the suspension.

My blazer static rode like such ass lol

[whatshername]

By now summer was over.
I went back to school and gave my bank account a rest after dumping a majority of it into the suspension.
My headaches slowly started to lighten up and eventually disappeared.

Things were going in good in my life and I decided to put all my focus into school, work, and my horse.
The truck went untouched for a couple months.

November rolled around and so did my birthday.
I asked for money and truck parts.
As a result I got a tonneau cover.







Christmas rolled around and again I asked for money and truck parts.
This time I got new headlights and a sticker I had been talking about designing since the day I got my truck.

I used my birthday/Christmas to buy myself a HID kit, LEDs for the license plate, gauges, and dome light.
I also purchased some rain visors.
The truck was starting to come together as well as my life.
I was happy.













But that didn’t last long.


One night, my boyfriend and I were driving the truck to our buddy’s house.
We were almost at our destination when we were rear ended by another couple.
What a good way to start the New Year.
The result was a smashed left tail light and bumper.
On top of that we were in a real bad town and the situation turned ugly all because of the boyfriend that was in the car that hit us.
When we found out they didn’t have insurance we just got out of the situation as fast as we could.

I was bummed but my bedside needed work anyway.
And I was looking into buying a roll pan and tail lights sometime in the future.
It just happened sooner than I thought.

[magoo_lc1]

Sounds like you have the same luck as I.....im glad your sticking to it though.

[Chip!]

Nice the c notch works with that set up out back?

I know a guy who has the same style taco and he has his step notched. But he also has a bag over axle setup insted of air shocks. and its just lowered not even bagged.


Truck looks really good!

[Oxer]

Please weld in a proper notch asap......

[benz88]

Please weld in a proper notch asap......

That notch is fine if they weld it in. No need of a bigger one if they arent planing on laying frame.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Ya whats wrong with bolt in notches?

[Obscevator]

looks nice girl! to bad about the accident tho... looking forward to the result of this build. how about some lipped wheels? it'll really set the truck apart from all those flat dished trucks!
+ subbed for all obvious reasons!

[whatshername]

Please weld in a proper notch asap......

Good eye sir
We actually welded it when we raised the leafs

[Oxer]

That notch is fine if they weld it in. No need of a bigger one if they arent planing on laying frame.

From an engineering point of view, The faults with that notch is the square edges. Under load and stress, all tention is focused on the corners and is the weak link in that type of notch. Ive seen many square styled notches fail stress testing due to this, although throughout america all you see is square notches.

Ya whats wrong with bolt in notches?

a notch in the chassis rails requires a section cut out of them. chassis rails on these models are made of two c sections which overlap and are welded together. when you cut them, the structural integrity is weakend. if you then 'bolt on a notch' the chassis section is still weakend, and since its static, there is an equal amount of load on the front mount and the rear mount. With that weaker section, its only a matter of time before the chassis deforms.

Over hear, all chassis must meet a certain standard in order to be legal. Square notches are out of the question due to their structural flaws. This is how we do them down here:





3mm laser cut side plates, 5mm top and bottom plates. All chassis have minor flex in them, and to be engineered and legalized, an modified chassis has to meet the factory flex testing requirements to within a minimal margin of degree.

Good eye sir
We actually welded it when we raised the leafs

Thats good to hear, Sorry if this post seems like a thread jack, I used to build trucks full time, So I have quite a bit of experience behind me.

[whatshername]

looks nice girl! to bad about the accident tho... looking forward to the result of this build. how about some lipped wheels? it'll really set the truck apart from all those flat dished trucks!
+ subbed for all obvious reasons!

funny you should mention that
i love deep lips and actually tried buying several sets of deep vsxxs and equips but every time the buyer flaked out last second
the wheels i eventually went with were far from my first choice