1998 tacoma..STANCEY TRUCK? Maybe

[moist taco]

So I havent gotten alot of feedback from truck sites on the truck so i figured i would venture here, hopefully with better results. First a little background; ive had the truck for 3 years, i bought it from my stepdad who has owned since 01. It was pretty much all factory besides some exhaust, and a downey cold air intake until 2 years ago. Then i did a simple ball joint flip in the front to net about a 4inch drop, then i pulled a leaf and added a 1inch block in the rear for a 4inch drop. It stayed like this for a little over a year. Now the truck sits at a 7/7 drop and will be a 8/8 this coming weekend. 8/8 is the lowest i can physically go without more custom frame mods, which wont be in the picture for a very long time. Now with pics..
The pics will be mildly out of order, but i will separate after its at a 7/7 drop.

truck front by realmenridestandups, on Flickr
IMG_2125 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr
20130922_111643 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr
20130821_192648 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr
image (1) by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

[moist taco]

Alright so now the current(ish) drop..The wheels i'm running have an offset of et45, those were way too sunk in for me (you will see in some pics) So i threw on 1.25" spacers in the front and 1.5" in the rear. This puts me at about et13 in the front and et7 in the rear if im calculating offset right. To make that fit i had to some serious massaging on the fenders, and add about -5* camber up front. The rear fenders are pulled about an inch, then massaged otherwise so that the wheels are just flush. I tuck about an inch of tire all the way around right now. I'm hoping to get some real wheels soon, just working on a college budget

fender wells before:
IMAG0210 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

after:
IMAG0211 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

doing a little road work before the first drive after all the work
IMAG0213 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

IMAG0218 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

first try at "fitment"
IMAG0255 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr
IMAG0259 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

with pulled fenders and spacer..dont mind the little spot of visible track damage to that fender
driver stance by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

passenger stance1 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

[projecthoarder]

I like it, what kind of look are you shooting for? A nice set of VIP style wheels would look killer on it in my opinion.

[moist taco]

thanks man, i dont really have a specific look. I have been wanting some VIP style wheels for ages. Hard to find something i like in an 18 though. Ive really been digging the 3sdm wheels lately, but they only have one style in my lug pattern.

[crazylegs]

ha moist taco, i get it.

Ive always liked this style tacoma both lifted and lowered. Good luck with the build!

[ChanceTheNapper]

those wheels... haha but dude this is a great start, keep it up!

[moist taco]

chance, i feel you on the wheels. Theyve been on the truck for about 4 years and theyre the only set ive kept for some reason. Theyre the only ones i have right now but my next upgrade for the truck is for sure going to be wheels.

[speakerboy]

How did you get a 4" from a ball joint flip? I'm just asking because I have an 02 Tacoma that I would like to lower, but everything I've read says it's about 2". Do you mind taking a pic of what your balls look like? Joints that is. I'd rather not see your berries.

[moist taco]

How did you get a 4" from a ball joint flip? I'm just asking because I have an 02 Tacoma that I would like to lower, but everything I've read says it's about 2". Do you mind taking a pic of what your balls look like? Joints that is. I'd rather not see your berries.

If you flip both the bottom and the top, you get 3"...Just between you and me though, i built a custom spacer out of half inch steel to space each another half inch away, netting me 4". I didnt publicize this on customtacos where i have been posting because the bj flip already has alot of controversy. I didnt want more people telling me it was the wrong way. My truck rides, and drives fine, 100x better than stock and has been on that same bj flip for a few years so i know its safe. Just a note though, if you decide you want a a 4" bj flip, be careful, my first aluminum spacer i made cracked.

[speakerboy]

If you flip both the bottom and the top, you get 3"...Just between you and me though, i built a custom spacer out of half inch steel to space each another half inch away, netting me 4". I didnt publicize this on customtacos where i have been posting because the bj flip already has alot of controversy. I didnt want more people telling me it was the wrong way. My truck rides, and drives fine, 100x better than stock and has been on that same bj flip for a few years so i know its safe. Just a note though, if you decide you want a a 4" bj flip, be careful, my first aluminum spacer i made cracked.

Beefedtaco sells a BJ flip kit with spacers, and EVERYONE is on his jock. In the FAQ for lowering 1st gens, it says to use grade 8 nuts on the new bolts, so I guess that would prevent the cracking issue. That's awesome. Mine is pretty stock, but I just want to bring it down. Did you have to dremel out the hub bore on those wheels, or did you get them machined? AFAIK, Lexus has a smaller hub bore.

[moist taco]

Beefedtaco sells a BJ flip kit with spacers, and EVERYONE is on his jock. In the FAQ for lowering 1st gens, it says to use grade 8 nuts on the new bolts, so I guess that would prevent the cracking issue. That's awesome. Mine is pretty stock, but I just want to bring it down. Did you have to dremel out the hub bore on those wheels, or did you get them machined? AFAIK, Lexus has a smaller hub bore.

His kit is only the hardware as far as I know. I've never heard or seen the spacer method before i had done it. I had the wheels machined, I've now dremmeled out a few pairs of rims but when i bought these i didnt think of doing that.

[moist taco]

Got a question for any of the stance gurus that read this thread... I just picked up some more wheel spacers to make up for the lack of offset..and lack of kewl wheels. Regardless, With these spacers i should be exactly at the fitment that i want, ill be adding 3/4 of an inch out all around. Soo i'm going to be swapping tires from my 225/40/18 to a 215/35/18 for a little bit of stretch on my 18x8's. My question is, if i have any rim lip exposed and my fender comes down and contacts the rim, will that harm the rim at all? I could just pull the fenders more but where's the fun in doing it the easy way? Plus i think my rears only have about 3/4 of an inch left before ill start really fudging them up. I dont plan on the fitment after these spacers to be dead on like a bagged setup would be, but if my math is correct, the rim should poke out just as thick as the face is, and now that i'm dropped to my final(ish) ride height my fender sits about .25" above the rim.

thanks for reading my novel

[projecthoarder]

It would depend on how hard of a bump you hit on how bad the damage would be, your fender/bedside would more than likely take the brunt of the impact then the rim. Just drive extra cautious on terrible roads or only have the extra spacers in when wanting to show off.

[moist taco]

Took a few decent pictures of the truck this weekend..Need to do some crossmember notches so i can go lower. I also need to recess the front leaf hanger and flip my ubolts. I'm pretty maxed out at my 8/8 drop right now. Need moar low.

Used the truck as a "truck"
2014-10-26_07.08.59_1 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

2014-10-26_07.18.35_2 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

2014-10-27_01.00.15_1 by realmenridestandups, on Flickr

[speakerboy]

A quick way down is smaller wheels. I'm not dogging them (I kinda like them in an X-Runner kind of way), but it is the easiest. What did you do to get to 8/8? Monoleaf and drop springs?