Macho Taco

[jeepchipjones]

My friend Adam gave his truck over to me and told me I could do whatever I wanted to... not so sure thats a good thing, but its been fun for me at least. I first cut the rear fenders bigger and chopped off about 8" of the bottom.


Then I bobbed the bed 12" and then dovetailed in 12" on each side.







I made some rock sliders out of the 2"x2" square tubing and they are mounted to the frame.


The frame was cut down to the shackle mounts in the rear, then extended out about 4" with a stronger frame, and the front is extended 8" to house the shackles for the front leaves, which we got out of a Wagoneer, 47" mounted. New bumpers were made for the front and rear.



We found a full width 14 bolt and dana 44 out of an 80s Chevy, they have 3.42 gears I believe, and Im not sure what the rear has in it, some sort of friction plate.





We never would have got the carrier out if I hadnt asked Craig, but I think we may have messed up the bearings on it, look at these pics and let me know:


For now, we put a 6" shackle lift in the rear, until I can find some lift springs/block lift. It still has the stock axles under it, but the bigger ones will be going in soon. The front axles will be moved forward about 6", and it will give the front end 5" of lift.

Heres some questions for you:
Whats the best way to make the steering work?
Is there enough room for the axle in the front, or does some modificaitons need to be made (oil pan, steering box and shaft, etc.)?
Are 4.88 gears what he needs to run 36" tires?
How much bracing needs to be done to the spring mounts?
Should we use revolver shackles anywhere, if so, where?

Heres a list of what we need so far:
locker for the 44
gears
driveshafts that will work with toyota t-case and chevy axles
16" rims for chevy 8 lug axles
longer shocks
lift springs for the rear

All the welding so far was done with a 110 with no gas, its all just tacked until I can get a 220. I think I may be able to use the one at school, but if not I may be need use someone's welder, but if thats the case I will provide the wire or rods.

Well, let me know what you think so far...

[rccolacc]

Nice truck. I have a 220 AC stick welder (cracker box) over at Andy Westfall's house. He lives behind Lowes over by Dan. He'll let you borrow it I'm sure. He only uses it every once in a while. Let me know if you take it, though. I need to know who to hunt down when I need it.
-RC

[jeepchipjones]

Whats his number? I lost it when I got a new phone.

[rsmith]

Wow Chip - I was wondering why you haven't posted a lot lately, now I know. You have been busy.

I have 1 front 80's 8" Chevy lift spring that I am tired of tripping over if you would be interested. It could be matched pretty easy.

Is this going to be a trail only rig? If so I would go hydro steering.

I am very interested in seeing how this turns out!

[rccolacc]

Sent Chip a PM with Andy's number.

[jeepchipjones]

I picked it up yesterday from Andy, but it doesnt fit my 220 outlet, so it is in my shed right now, but I can take it back to Andy's if you want.

[rccolacc]

It didn't fit Andy's 220 outlet either, so he made an adapter for it. He made a 3' cord with the correct end on it to fit his dryer plug. If you get that cord, the welder will probably work for your 220 outlet.
-RC

[broncocraigellis]

chip it looks really good man. i would think twice about using the stick welder on those body panels. sheetmetal is hard to weld with it. anyway, why not put the hangers at the front of the original frame, move put shackle hangers where they need to be in the back, and flip the waggy springs where the offset moves the axle foward a bit. also, check out www.marlincrawler.com and www.allprooffroad.com to look at how they made their hangers for the straight axle swap.

the IFS steering box is a good one and on a budget it will work great. just build a drag link and tie rod with heim joints and find a knuckle that has provisions for crossover steering instead of the GM steering arm that uses the short drag link.

check out using chevy 63" rear springs. you can use a stock spring and get a huge amount of lift. zack in b'ham has 'em on his taco and you know how tall it is. they flex like mad too.

4.88s with 36s should be about pretty good. you can always spring for a marlin case later on to get crazy low range.

keep it up and keep us posted. this thing's going to be really cool.

[jeepchipjones]

I got the stick welder to finish up the welding on the frame, hangers, sliders, and bumpers. Im pretty much done with the welding on the bed, except for some gaps that Im going to fill with the 110 some more. Then itll get bondo'd and sprayed, Im thinking "speedliner orange". I talked to a guy that says I need to brace up the frame in the front where the steering box is, b/c when he extended his frame, he hit it on a rock and cracked it. Im gonna have to sit down with you and talk about the steering, b/c its hard to visualize it right now. I extended the frame in the front b/c the springs were 47" mounted on the wagoneer, so Im keeping it the same distance for now. If I made it a shorter distance, he'd get more lift, but would it ride okay? The axle is getting moved forward a little over 5" in the front as it is now.

[YJCRAWLER]

Hydro would be the way to go, but it is abit more than other things. You will need to move the box forward to get the draglink to line up with the axle. I would deff. put a brace on the frame for the box and the poss. of installing a winch, and tow point. You should not move the spring hangers to get more lift, that will mess up the geo of the springs. I would use the longest spring that you could get, the chevy rear is a good one. I would put the revolvers in the back, but I would not run them in the front (I know alot of people that do but I would not) and you will without a doubt need to use something to stop axle wrap. I think that the 4.88 is a good gear for that combo, but I would put the 5.13 which is the lowest that you can get for that 14 bolt (5.38 is on its way, but not yet) I would also run a spool in the rear.

[jeepchipjones]

thanks guys

heres an idea for the cage:

[broncocraigellis]

that exo looks cool man! hook it up. i think you already told me that about the welder. sorry. i would beef up the frame around the steering too with a scab plate. i don't understand about mounting the leafs. like the steering, it's something i'd like to sit down and look at.

[jeepchipjones]

Look at this auction and see if it is legit:
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7978956073&category=33731

That looks like what is in Adam's 14 bolt, but Im not even sure what kind of 14 bolt Adam has. How can you tell if its FF, 10.5? Itd be cool if it already had an eaton in it, I guess that is a good thing, right?

Also, how can I tell if the 44 is standard rotation or reverse? Whats the best locker to get for the front?

[YJCRAWLER]

You do have the 10.5 FF, the way to tell is if the axle can be removed without taking the hub apart (8 bolts in the center about a 4" dia) that is your axle and can be removed without removing any other parts, by the way you need one.

[Busted Knuckle Racing]

if the 44 is a high pinion, it is reverse cut, if it is low pinion it is standard.