FrankenTRD - Stock -> 37's on IFS -> Full Widths

[frankentrd]

FrankenTRD​

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What's up! Welcome to the FrankenTRD build thread. I've been a long time TacomaWorld user but figured it was time to come see what the cool kids are up to on the Bad Lines forums!



I've been working on this thing for the better part of 6 years. I won't bore you with every detail (if you want to suffer through that take a look at the TacomaWorld thread here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/frankenstein-build-stock-37s-on-ifs-sas.616428/) so I'll be organizing the 1st few posts by year/milestones.

A Bit About Me​

I've been into anything with an engine my whole life. From "rebuilding" my parents lawn mowers to working on dirt bikes then cars then trucks. I've tinkered with it all. Growing up my dad had a 2000 Z71 Silverado with a manual transmission which was the family vacation rig for essentially my entire life. We never did anything crazy in it but it was just enough to get me hooked on off-roading!
(I have a photo of this thing somewhere but a few months ago my hard drive took a shit on me and when I recovered my files everything got disorganized and thrown in folders by file type, so it could be a while before I unearth it)

Now I work in IT as my day job and in 2022 opened my very own offroad shop in Pomona CA, KPOffroad, with a good friend of mine. I am fortunate enough to live up in Lake Arrowhead CA right next to some of my favorite offroad trails. I'm always outside whether it be wheeling, camping, hiking, fishing, if it involves the outdoors I'm all in!

I've been through many vehicles but the current aresenol is:
Frank, my 1999 Tacoma (which this thread is eventually going to be about, I promise):


Rocky my 2004 4Runner/daily driver/overland rig (build thread coming soon):


And my wifes 2006 Jeep TJ (which much to her dismay did not stay stock for long):

 

[frankentrd]

2019 - In the beginning...​

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As stated above I've had quite a few vehicles but this is about the Tacoma, so lets start there.

After some lowballing on OfferUp I scored this pretty fresh 1999 Toyota Tacoma TRD w/150k miles and manual transmission for only $5500 ($22k in today's money)! It was the color I wanted and everything. On the way home my girlfriend (now wife) called it Frank for some reason and the name stuck.




Part of me now wishes I just kept it as-is, but we all know that was never going to happen, so on to the build!

Things started off pretty basic with new OME leaf springs, used Fox 2.0 Emulsion coilovers, and used Total Chaos upper control arms:


Shortly thereafter I got myself a new Trail Gear bumper, used Trail Gear rock sliders, and some new Cooper Evolution M/T 33's:


I swapped my original set of used Fox 2.0 emulsion coilovers out for some used Stay-A-Way 2.5 remote resi ones and just enjoyed the truck, fixing whatever it was I broke that week and trekking on. Not much changed during the rest of 2019.

 

[frankentrd]

2020 - Still Poor But Wanting More​

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I'm wrapping up college at this point and on my 2nd day back to school after summer break I do a stupid and forget to torque my lug nuts after a late night fixing something to get Frank prepped as a daily driver again. I was ripping down the 215 going probably 70 when it started to violently shake and BAM! I'm sliding on my rotor as I watch my wheel go rolling down the freeway. Due to some miracle no one, including myself, got hurt. I slammed into the retaining all in a safe location and was able to get a tow truck ride home:




As I was focusing on school and working a new internship I didn't do much with the truck. Most notable changes are my DIY roof top:



Used Savage Offroad transmission skid plates paired with a new a Trail Gear engine skid plate:


Ghetto DIY air tank:


New Marlin Crawler clutch:


As many camping trips as I could squeeze into my schedule:



And, what's this? Dana 44 solid axle?? Yup, but I didn't end up doing anything with this one. I was just starting to think that maybe a SAS was a good idea, but I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it quite yet:


And that wraps up year 2. Don't worry, it starts to get interesting now!

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

Welcome dude! Let's get one thing straight no one is cool over here haha..

Hope to see ya in the dirt at some point !

 

[frankentrd]

2021 - Things Finally Start To Get Interesting​

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Now if anyone has read to this point I'm sure you're thinking, wait isn't this for rock crawler builds? Yes it is! And I promise we're getting there. Though there are no images here I have taken the Tacoma out nearly every weekend including John Bull, Holcomb Creek, Lytle Creek nearly every week, part of Gold Mountain (got stuck due to snow), and many many more trails within a few hours of where I was living at the time.

At this point I've graduated college and landed my 1st job in IT making the BIG BUCKS (not really) but it was more than I had ever made to this point. I decided it was time to get the IFS as strong as possible as I had big plans this year, 37's! I started out with the basics, Total Chaos spindle gussets, Eimkeith LCA reinforcements, and Eimkeith shock tower reinforcements.



My light game was pretty bad so I went ahead and decked the ol guy out with only the highest quality lights Amazon had to offer:


I also made some DIY retrofits which I eventually threw away as I was tired of blinding anyone who came around the corner. They were cool when I had them but factory headlights with aftermarket lights to use when offroading is the way to do it in my opinion:




When browsing OfferUp one night I came across a set of essentially new ProComp 37's for $800. I jumped on them immediately:


I got myself a 1996 Civic to daily and parked the truck at my grandparents so I could start the fitment of 37's:



I was doing the regear myself and landed on 4.88's which matched the factory ratio. I also installed a spartan locker in the front which was the worst idea I ever had as it caused it to fight me too much in the steering. This was my 1st time ever doing gears and I'm happy to say they lasted for as long as I ran them:




Next up: beadlocks. I decided to go with one of the DIY WIY kits which came out nice but I didn't keep them for long as they were impossible to balance:



And now on to the cutting! I drove the truck from my grandparents to my buddies house so we could start the long process of tubbing and tucking the 37's. It took us 2 full weeks and we had a deadline to meet as we were planning on attending the Norcal x Socal event. I'll let the images speak for themselves in how much needed to be removed to fit these things properly:





It was quite a night when I got to drive this thing home on 37's!

 

[frankentrd]

2021 - Cont.​

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We were also in the process of developing our now popular alignment kits so I was stoked to report the truck was able to be aligned perfectly!


And yes, we made it on the trip and yes, I hit all the bad lines and had a good time. Despite the DIY beadlocks shaking all around it was a huge success and a ton of fun, but I knew the IFS had limited life with these tires:

 

[frankentrd]

2022 - The SAS Begins​

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I daily drove the thing on 37's for the better part of a year just enjoying it and having as much fun as I could but the writing was on the walls for all those poor ball joints. During that time I started collecting SAS parts.

After careful consideration I sold the Dana 44 and ended up with a Dana 60 from a F250. I went to town dismantling and chopping off parts from the Dana 60 getting it ready for the 3 link I was planning on running:


I also picked up a Sterling 10.5 from an F250:


I drove the truck to my grandparents again and threw it up on jack stands and started striping everything:


Brought the Dana 60 to my buddies to have the truss and high steer welded on:




Instead of cutting off all the IFS mounting points I went ahead and chopped the frame and built a new one to start fresh with:


Got the Sterling regeared with 5.71's and threw in a Yukon Grizzly locker while I was in there:


Around this time I decided I was tired of working in the dirt and moved the Taco into my grandparents garage after spending about a week cleaning it out:


Got the rear axle mounted with some Chevy 63's. The goal is to run 14" shocks with ~5" of up and ~9" of down travel in both the front and rear:


I was pretty happy with the rear so I moved on to the front 3 link. I started out making the links out of PVC pipe to get the angles and lengths figured out before I made them out of steel. They ended up needing quite a few bends to dodge the 5VZ but I was happy with the setup:




Got the Trail Gear crawl box with 4.7 gears built and installed. I had to machine the OG Toyota box a bit to fit the larger gears:

 

[frankentrd]

2023-2024 - A Bit Of A Hiatus​

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After ~1.5 years I FINALLY got the thing running and was able to take it for a little test drive. I glossed over so many details with the SAS including rear bump stops, shock mounts, steering components, braking components, radiator, front gears and lockers, you name it. You'll see why I did that in a bit. On top of that it was getting harder and harder to work at my grandparents. I moved into a shift working later in the evening so by the time I was off they were already asleep which made it hard to do anything that required noise.


I was also missing wheeling so I sold my Honda and got the 4th Gen 4R which was taking up any free time I had to work on a personal vehicle:


My buddy and I had also been running KPO out of his living room/garage for about a year and we finally made the move into our 1st shop. I spent nearly every free day I had at the shop working on customers trucks:


The Tacoma sat, rusting away in my grandparents driveway for pretty much all of 2024. In that year my wife graduated school and got a job as nurse which finally meant we could start looking for our own place. We eventually found the perfect place in Lake Arrowhead which is quite literally at the exit of Dishpan Springs:


We were here for probably 6 months getting settled in, setting up the garage, and all that comes with a new house before I had time to get the Tacoma up the hill. Surprisingly, I drove it from my grandparents up the 18 without any issues, even after sitting for so long. In fact I think it drove better than the 4Runner! Due to it sitting everything was rusty, and there was so much I learned working in the shop that I wanted to apply to the Tacoma so, back to the chopping block it went!

 

[frankentrd]

2025 - Finally, The Present!​

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And that brings us to 2025, the restart to the SAS!! 1st things 1st, I wanted to do it right. Now with my own place and the ability to work into the night I didn't waste any time pulling it apart; and I mean completely apart:









It's also the perfect time for an engine swap! I'm going with a 1UZ out of a 1997 LS400 along with a Supercharger from a 2004 Mustang Cobra:


Peep the DIY rear sump oil pan:


The axles have been getting painted:


And currently the frame is sitting outside, waiting to be sand blasted and painted:


I'm still working in our shop which is now located in Pomona and in a MUCH bigger space:


Now I can keep this thread up to date with the progress as it continues. My next goal is to get the frame sand blasted and painted. Once I have that done I'll push it back in the garage where I can start reassembly. I brushed over a lot of the original build because I knew so much was going to change including:

• Sand blast/paint everything rusty
• New rear spring axle perches
• New rear outboard shock kit (probably going with the new Solo Motorsports kit)
• Weld in our rear frame box kit
• Clean transmission
• Locate, design, and mount 1UZ motor mounts
• Drop steering box 1"
• Engine cage
• Radiator mounts
• New body mount bushings
• Build new transmission cross member
• New drive shaft center support bearing cross member
• New rear drive shaft
• New hard and soft brake lines all around
• 1UZ ECU wiring
• Lots of misc. engine work
• Roll cage
• Find beadlocks
• Mount 40's on the beadlocks
• ...I'm sure there is a lot more

So there you go, the story of Frank from the day I bought it to now. Stay tuned!

 

[frankentrd]

Welcome dude! Let's get one thing straight no one is cool over here haha..

Hope to see ya in the dirt at some point !

I've been figuring that out as I work through the podcast lol

If you ever find yourself wheeling in Big Bear/Arrowhead hit me up!

 

[the bodj]

This is rad!

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

fack bud... you weren't joking... all the way down! look forward to the rebuild.

 

[Motiracer38]

That's an ambitious project, can't wait to see updates.

What supercharger adapter parts are you using? I was looking into the Elate parts for my 1UZ and they are really nice.

Careful though, I blew apart a truck once to fix everything at one time and life took over so it never went back together. You may end up putting those axles under the 4Runner!

 

[frankentrd]

That's an ambitious project, can't wait to see updates.

What supercharger adapter parts are you using? I was looking into the Elate parts for my 1UZ and they are really nice.

Careful though, I blew apart a truck once to fix everything at one time and life took over so it never went back together. You may end up putting those axles under the 4Runner!

Yea it is haha

I went with the Elate parts. I got the intercooled supercharger manifold, pulleys, and fuel rails from them. The parts are very nice and the guys over there are awesome! They also worked with us on a few issues we found. Some of the pulleys are different on USDM 1UZ's and they were super helpful with redesigning and remachining a pulley bracket when we brought it up. They sent the new ones to us for free which was super awesome.

If you want to go that route hit me up! I have a dealer account with them.

Tell me about it... I broke my kneecap a few months ago which put me out for the whole summer. I was hoping to get much further along before the snow and cold weather came.