2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner - Project Venture Toy IV - Tech

We're running a set of 5-inch lift All-Pro leaf springs and shackles. We complimented those with a set of Bilstein 7100 shocks with remote reservoirs. We chose to use the 14-inch travel short body shocks they offer. These fit long travel in a body length 2 inches shorter than most other 14-inch travel shocks. This makes it a bit easier to fit these under a truck bed.

We welded in a frame crossmember and tabbed it to support the upper spherical eyes on the Bilsteins. Note the reworked cat-back exhaust that was on the truck. We shortened and raised the tailpipe so that it exits over the leaf spring behind the rear passenger tire. This will reduce the chance of it being damaged on the trail.

Here you can see the simple lower shock mounts we installed on the rear axle tube. The spherical rod ends in the Bilstein eyes will allow for the articulation movement at the axle mounts.

We've been pleased in the past with the performance of the Bilstein 7100 series shocks and like the fact that they're both user rebuildable and tuneable. We chose to start with their 255/70 compression/rebound rated shocks. Until we flex the truck we won't add any kind of axle bumpstop. However, in the meantime, we installed a pair of Daystar EVS (Enhanced Vehicle Suspension) foam bumpstops onto the shock shafts to soften the shock compression over the final few inches of travel.

When it came time to hook our Atlas up to our axles, we turned to J.E. Reel Drive Line Specialists for a set of their performance driveshafts. We recorded all our transfer case and pinion height and distance measurements along with our drivetrain angles, and forwarded the information over to Jim Reel. He crunched the numbers and came up with a set of `shafts to meet our articulation and spline travel needs.

Our Atlas 2-Speed had come equipped with 1350 CV yokes and the one in the rear was retained for our project. However, our front driveshaft length was shorter and had a greater working angle. To accommodate the more severe angle, Jim recommended we swap the CV yoke up front for a CV flange to allow the use of a joint with greater working angle. The standard yoke style could work up to about 26 degrees, the CV flange style to about 32 degrees, and J. E. Reel can provide a Toyota based CV joint that can accommodate a 38-degree working angle.

With CV joints used at the transfer case end of both driveshafts, a 1350 U-joint was used at each axle pinion. Our front driveshaft was constructed from heavy wall 2.125-inch OD tubing while the longer rear required a fatter 3.5-inch OD tubing due to its 52-inch length. With our linked front axle and relatively low rear driveshaft angle, both shafts could easily use standard length spline sets as opposed to the heavier, long slip-spline sets.

As we mentioned above, we wanted to provide our rocker panels with some protection from dents from contacting terrain. We found ourselves impressed with a set of sliders made by Stubbs Welding in Susanville, California. They offer five different slider designs to suit the needs of light duty wheelers up to hard core rock bouncers. We'll be using a set of their newest design, the HD-SKO model. These are their heavy duty sliders with a single kick-out at the tail of the slider. The sliders arrived via UPS and were snuggly bundled together for transport.

The slider tubes are constructed from 1.75x 0.120-inch wall tubing, which provides adequate size for good strength and should withstand a decent beating on rocks without significant damage. One cool feature is that the ends are reinforced with a second tube slipped inside to make the ends -inch wall thickness before they're capped with a round plate.

A small, but appreciated trait found on the Stubbs -inch mounting plates is that the top edge of each plate is cut at an anglein two places. This thoughtful idea allows the installer to more easily weld the top edges of each mounting plate in an area of the frame rail under the body that has poor accessibility. Thumbs up from us on this idea.

The bars arrived in near paint-ready condition. We wiped them down with some acetone and they were ready for paint. With a coat of black shot on the new sliders (except on the frame plates) we supported them in place on each framerail with a couple of jackstands and some C-clamps. The plates all lined up well with the sides of the frame, so we tacked them in place and were ready to weld them on.

We ran full weld beads around all four mounting plates to provide a strong attachment base for each slider. These stand out from the body just enough to provide good side protection without protruding excessively in a way that would negatively affect trail clearance.