Taco Sauce

[Snowsk8air2]

Hi, my name is Ryan and I have a Tacoma that my wife and I call Taco Sauce.



A few people here might have seen it in this video from about a year ago.

Ryan Podell on Instagram: "Thanks @jrwats18 for snagging this video and tagging along with us today. #toyotatacoma #tacomaworld #dirtkingfabrication #kingshocks #leafsarefortrees #thedmc #scswheels #milestarpatagonia #garagefab"

2,348 likes, 172 comments - ryanpodell on May 31, 2021: "Thanks @jrwats18 for snagging this video and tagging along with us today. #toyotatacoma #tacomaworld #dirtkingfabrication #kingshocks #leafsarefortrees #thedmc #scswheels #milestarpatagonia #garagefab".

www.instagram.com

I’m an engineer and part time garage shop worker guy. Spend most weekends tinkering on my truck or other peoples. I try to do all of my own work and maintenance on this truck. It has been through many many many changes snd iterations over the years and is a blast to drive. Slowly trying to get used to this forum so I’m sure I’ll add a bunch more over the next few days/ weeks or what not. But the guys running this shin dig are a good group of fellas. Hope to try and be fairly active on here.

Few more pics to get the ball rolling.

 

[The_rattlecan_rattletrap]

I like the Swiss army truck mentality! Look forward to seeing more!

 

[Snowsk8air2]

I guess I should post some specs on the truck while we are at it.

Started out as a 2011 Tacoma

Engine: Stock 4.0L v6 with the trd supercharger, one size smaller pulley, custom intake, and custom engine and trans tune using HP Tuners. Also have DMZ solid motor and trans mounts.

Front Suspension: Dirt King +3.5” long travel kit, king 2.5x8” coil overs, RCV axles, with everything gusseted. Pulls 15” of travel

Rear Suspension: Started as a DMZ 62” spring under kit with their bolt in bed cage and 2.5x16” king triple bypasses. Was dragging and bending the shackle hangers in the rocks and eventually flipped the shackle and did a custom 14.5” shackle setup. New setup pulls 19.5” of travel

Other: Tundra rear axle with 10.5” ring gear, front and rear Harrop E Lockers, engine and cab cage and custom armor front to back.

Wheels/Tires: SCS ray 10’s wrapped in some 37x12.5x17 Milestar Patagonia’s.

I’m sure I’m missing a lot of little things in this list, but that should cover most of what people ask me about the truck.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

honestly, i very rarely see any 4x prerunner type trucks that have a stance/width/tire combo/ all that, that i really like.
but i fucking LOVE HOW THIS ONE LOOKS.
good fucking job man! keep it up and keep the pics coming!

oh and, are you in AZ or just have it registered here?

keep going back and looking and it actually looks like AZ lakes in a few of those pics!

 

[michael_gonzalez]

Pre-crawler! Rad build and cool to see you use the 4x4 and get flexy with it. I used to crawl my 4x4 ranger also. Dual-purpose trucks are rad!

 

[Snowsk8air2]

honestly, i very rarely see any 4x prerunner type trucks that have a stance/width/tire combo/ all that, that i really like.
but i fucking LOVE HOW THIS ONE LOOKS.
good fucking job man! keep it up and keep the pics coming!

oh and, are you in AZ or just have it registered here?

keep going back and looking and it actually looks like AZ lakes in a few of those pics!

Thanks man. Yeah up up in northern AZ in Flagstaff. Backyard is the cinder hills ohv area.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

Thanks man. Yeah up up in northern AZ in Flagstaff. Backyard is the cinder hills ohv area.

lucky fuck

 

[UR_Mawm69]

Pre-crawler! Rad build and cool to see you use the 4x4 and get flexy with it. I used to crawl my 4x4 ranger also. Dual-purpose trucks are rad!

i bet you think dual purpose trucks are cool. especially when you don't have a passport and you're trying to get in the Americas because youre an illegal beandip, senor odalayway delachingatos vatos

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Been on a bit of a hiatus here lately. Had some good fun progress on the truck, got to drive it for about 50 miles and then chopped it in half for a back half.

Just before Memorial Day weekend I made time to get some ADS 2.5x8” triple bypasses mounted up front and revalve the coil overs to accommodate the addition of the bypasses.



Was super stoked on finally getting front bypasses. Did a quick test drive on some local little trails the weekend before Memorial Day and what a difference it made. Straight out of the box with no tuning it was soaking up small chatter 100 times better than before. And where before I ran the coil over compression adjusters almost fully closed all the time, now I was hitting medium-ish terrain with them fully open. So there is definitely a ton of room for dialing things in to handle small stuff way better than before and push the truck through bigger stuff faster and smoother than before. So stoked on the first drive of the truck.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Then Memorial Day weekend was upon us and the wife and I loaded up the truck for a usual camping spot of ours with her family. Nothing too crazy out there but I was still so excited about continuing to test and start tuning the bypasses.

We made it about 5 miles away from camp on the day that we arrived and disaster struck. After a bad afternoon of trying to set up our big tent and it having issues (luckily we always bring our smaller old tent with us), the weekend got a lot worse (at least for taco sauce).

A loud bang and the truck taking a heavy lean and I knew something was wrong.



The shackle hangar had ripped off the frame, taking the frame overlay and frame with it, shoving the shackle up into the bed which was now supporting the weight of the truck.

The camp spot was local-ish to our house so we hitched a ride home to grab the tow rig and trailer after limping the truck back to camp. After getting home and inspecting things it appeared that the cracking had been there for a while and the passenger side was starting to crack as well. I figured it was due to the extra long shackles and notoriously weak toyota frames which I had mediocrely reinforced years ago and since learned a lot about fabrication. Further investigation after deciding to take the extra few hours to pull the bed off to better complete the repairs led to bigger issues being found. The entire rear portion of the frame had been bent at some point likely over the year or so and was kicked to the passenger side a decent amount.

So, decisions were made and I chopped the frame off at the back of the cab.

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Been slowly making progress rebuilding the back half of the frame over the last 5-6weeks. Biggest issue has been lack of motivation to work on it when I get home from work and in the afternoon/evening on weekends due to heat/humidity. But here’s how she sits as of yesterday.



New frame rails are 2x4”x1/4” wall square tubing with 3/16” overlays. I also switched up the frame layout to go with a more traditional style shackle that goes through the frame and straddles it. Frame height is a little taller so I should be able to bump the axle a bit higher as well as raising the pivot point height just a smidge to try and get the truck to sit a touch more level when all said and done. Also tied the rear firewall section there through the cab and into the cab cage which it was not before and I feel is a huge contributor to bending the frame right in that section in the first place.

Next 2 big things are getting the fuel tank mounted and cycling suspension to figure out upper shock mounts. After that and a ton of welding, realistically the truck can be driven and tested out while I sort out the final little details like storage, mounting the bedsides, air compressors and all the little detail work that honestly will probably barely get done by winter and snow season lol.

Haters will say I should have just linked it if I was going through all the work to back half it. But so far none of the haters have been willing to donate new coil overs and bypasses and links. Truth is the truck works so damn good and is so balanced with this leaf geometry paired with the front that linking the rear probably wouldn’t do a ton of benefit because there isn’t much more to do to the front to help it keep up. And all said and done I think I’ll finish it up at about $1500 in materials with todays shitty material prices. Linking would be similar cost in materials plus shocks plus shock lead times.

Goal when I chopped the frame was to have the truck driving again by my bday in a few weeks. I probably have a solid 40-60hrs of work left before that happens so we’ll see. Like I said previously, biggest issue currently has been motivation and the weather keeping my motivation down. But if not then, Labor Day is the backup goal and the truck should be ripping through some whoops and jumps soon enough.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

Looking good bud. Sooo deleting the bed eh?

 

[UR_Mawm69]

Sooo deleting the bed eh?

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Looking good bud. Sooo deleting the bed eh?

Yeah. Spare tire takes up like 80% of it anyways. Gonna throw a trailer tongue storage box in front of the spare to mount the air compressor and store tools in.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

Yeah. Spare tire takes up like 80% of it anyways. Gonna throw a trailer tongue storage box in front of the spare to mount the air compressor and store tools in.

I gotta ya, makes sense

a 33 takes up most of that tiny ass bed on my double cab.... Always have been happy that I've kept the bed on the mouse...for things like the clean up and when you have to take something random you never planned on strapping in your bed.

Like the time I had to run 75 miles of mojave road with a dirt bike in the back haha

my leaf springs liked this....

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Always a way to get creative with things when you need to

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Still cycles 19” of travel so that’s good. Time to tear everything down and do a bunch of welding and add some gussets in a few places. After that she should at least be drivable while sorting out the little details like mounting the jack and compressor and what not

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

sooo I should just move this introduction to the build thread section, eh?

 

[Snowsk8air2]

Yeah I was thinking about asking lol

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

I got you.....