Project Off-Road Part III

Welding in our Long Travel Suspension Kit

Aug. 01, 2006 By Dean Waters

With Part III, our Project Toyota front suspension is really starting to come together. Since we personally lack talent in the welding department, we enlisted help for this part. Cody Granning of Joseph OR to the rescue. And the best part is that Cody brought a professional-quality welder along for the ride, a Millermatic 251. If you can't find a friend with welding expertise to help then you should be able to find and hire a local pro with a mobile welding outfit. As long as you have done all your prep ahead of time, 4-5 hrs of their time should be all you need.

Start by welding the overlay plates to the frame on each side. The shock hoops will weld to these overlay plates. And while you're at it check all the factory welds. Re-weld any spots that look small or are not penetrated well.

Next we sent our welder under the truck while we bolted on the lower a-arms and King coil-overs. This would allow us to make sure we get the towers, shock tabs, and hoops in the correct place.We removed the coil springs so that the coil overs were a little lighter and easier to work with.

Under the truck we had our welder put in our Weld-On Truss. This is not included in Total Chaos Gen 2 kit but for $35 we highly recomend putting one on. This truss will prevent the front frame section from spreading apart during off-road abuse.Of course if you never plan on hitting anything besides black top, then there's no need for this. The Total Chaos truss is designed so that you can still remove your front differential after it's welded in place.

Make sure you always have a fire extinguisher handy when welding. This picture shows the new truss from the rear looking forward.

With the lower a-arms in place and King coil-overs bolted to the lower a-arms, we had to hold everthing in place so we could tack things together. We temporaily bolted the cross shaft and cross shaft plate in place. Then with the upper shock tabs and shock towers bolted to the coil over we could hold things in place for tack welding.

At this point we had to do a little sheet metal trimming and forming to make room for our shock hoop and shock towers. On the driver's side you also need to make sure you have clearance for the steering column. We had to grind the back of the shock tower a little to allow enough clearance around the column.

First we tacked the towers and tower gussets in place then removed them from the truck for welding. After the towers were welded we put everything back in place again. This would allow us to check fit and move to the next item.

We tacked the shock tabs in place next, removed the hoop and welded them and then finally welded our shock hoop in place. Looking at it after the fact, I believe we should have shortened the ends of the hoop slightly so that it was closer to the center of the frame and overlay gussett.

Next up was to weld the strut in place between the shock hoop and frame. The strut needed cut and fit to length before welding. With the strut in place we welded the resevoir supports to the shock hoop.

Last on our list was to weld the brake line tabs in position on each side of the truck.

Now you can send your welder home. You will need him one more time to weld on the new droop stops assuming you're keeping 4WD, but to determine the position you need to have everything bolted in place including the front differential and axles. This will allow you to check for axle binding and find the right spot for the droops.

In Part IV we will paint everything, bolt our suspension in place, add our brake lines, and fit our new Hanneman Fiberglass front end. In the mean time we have also ordered two new Detroit True Trac units to place in our differentials.

Enjoy!

Product Contact Information  
Long Travel Suspension
  • Gen 2 Caddy Kit
  • Heim Steering Upgrade
  • Toyota Idler Kit
  • Frame Truss
Total Chaos Fabrication
159 North Maple Street #J
Corona, CA 92880
ph: (951) 737-9682
fax: (951) 737-9006

www,chaosfab.com


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