Before: What we started with...
Before:
What we started with this Saturday.
Well, like usual, life has a way of messing up our plans. We wanted to work on this little project every free weekend, but those "free" weekends are few and far between. It took more than a month later to get some more progress going on our "Weekend Beater." But hey, that's exactly what this project is for. This gives us the chance to learn how to slowly but surely work on a truck one weekend at a time. So, to pick up where we left off, we had the truck completely torn down and back-halved the last weekend, so now it's time to get going on the rear suspension.
After: What we ended up with...
After:
What we ended up with Sunday.
Follow along and we'll show you how we set up our rear suspension in the comfort of our own driveway. What we learned from spending an entire weekend building everything from scratch was that, depending on your application, it's definitely worth it to buy pre-fabbed four-links and tabs! For more information, contact the companies listed in the source box.
One of our pet peeves is making...
One of our pet peeves is making sure the wheels are centered in the wheelwells. So before we set up our rearend on just wheel-base measurements, we decided to measure the bed and set up our rearend to assure the wheel will be centered in the well opening.
After we measured and marked...
After we measured and marked where we wanted to set the rearend at, we made sure it was centered in the framerails and then welded it in so we could set up the links.
With the rearend in place,...
With the rearend in place, we measured all the way to the back of the cab wall because we wanted our link bars to be as long as possible. The factory pieces that were in the way had to be cut off. (And of course, we never hesitate to give our trusty Sawzall a workout!)
Lucky for us, Bobby is a Toyota...
Lucky for us, Bobby is a Toyota specialist, so he already had tabs that we could trace for our link bar mounts.
With everything cut out, we...
With everything cut out, we marked and drilled our holes in all the link mounts.
Another thing that we try...
Another thing that we try to do is keep everything super-clean, so all the tabs are rounded and smoothed out on the grinder.
Here's a look at our link...
Here's a look at our link mount setup. So far, so good.
Instead of just welding the...
Instead of just welding the tubing directly to the frame, we made sure to use another plate to strengthen the link mounts. That plate will be completely welded to the frame, and the tubing will be gusseted to ensure the link mounts are super-strong and can withstand the abuse.
Next, the link ends were measured...
Next, the link ends were measured and set up in the mounts...
so that we could assemble...
so that we could assemble the actual mount and weld it together.
After the mount was built,...
After the mount was built, it was measured out and tacked into place. To ensure that both mounts were equal, everything was triple-checked before being fully welded.
We decided to mount the bags...
We decided to mount the bags on the link bars, so we went with square tubing for the links.
We measured out the length...
We measured out the length of the bottom bars and got to cutting.
With bars in hand we measured...
With bars in hand we measured and notched each end for the end links.
Next, we welded up the link...
Next, we welded up the link bars and mocked them up to the rearend.
Each side was measured and...
Each side was measured and then tacked into place.
With the bottom links in place...
With the bottom links in place it was time to get busy on the top bars.
The angle was measured and...
The angle was measured and each bar was cut to length and welded to the endlinks.
The hardest part about the...
The hardest part about the top is keeping everything parallel and level, so we used a single bolt and level to set up our top mounts.
Once the top mounts were tacked...
Once the top mounts were tacked into place and set, the link bars were removed and the mounts were fully welded. As you can see, the sun decided to quit on us, and with night came dinner and drinks, so we called it quits for day 1 and decided to leave the tubing for day 2.
We mocked up our "compressed"...
We mocked up our "compressed" bag and marked out our bag placement, making sure that there is plenty of clearance so the bag won't rub on anything.
Then, for the entire rest...
Then, for the entire rest of the day we became real close friends with our bender and bandsaw as "trial and error" took its toll on a newcomer learning how to notch at every which angle.
Trust us! It wasn't pretty...
Trust us! It wasn't pretty at first, but we got the hang of it.
At first, everything was just...
At first, everything was just tacked in place in case something was out of order.
Well, after a challenging...
Well, after a challenging weekend, here's how far we got. We'll still need some more tubing for support, but not bad for beginners. Stay tuned as we try our hand at the front suspension. Wish us luck!