Dynamite Design - Tacoma T-Rex

[MetalCraftSolved]

Sounds like your ready too, huh Joey? lol

 

[Spence]

start your bidding:
http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=7910402&convertTo=USD

 

[MetalCraftSolved]

That takes money, haha

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

Time for a long over due update.

the shop move is for the most part DONE!!!! It was painful at best. we still have some issue to get taken care of. We have to figure out where all the current machines are going to go and what machine we plan to have in the future will go. The they must be wired. The lights…well all but 3 are not working so I am going to spend a day changing ballast and adding more lights. and we still have to build a ramp to get rings in and out of the shop.

AS far as T-rex it was not easy to get it in the shop with out a ramp, with no brakes, the steering not being completely dialed in and the no engine power…pretty mush it was a really big, heavy roller.





















So that was sketchy at best. Hopefully our ramp will be in very very soon. as soon as we got T-rex in (since it was the very last thing we moved in) we started work again. We cut out the tiny temporary axel, cut off all the old bracketry on the rear, and eliminated every bit of the rust . Clean fresh slate. First thing we added was a new crossmember built from .120 wall DOM and 1/8 plate to support the rear of the fuel tank and all the EVAP equipment that is required in these newer trucks.







then the snorkel was modified to hook up to the aluminum air box we built earlier and miss the shock towers completely



we also gave T-rex some teeth. They look cool but they are mainly to reinforce the seem of what left of the original frame and the repair plate and fish plate up front. Two large teeth on the top row, toward the rear, on both sides have been added also but I failed to take a picture after that was done.

162369[/attach]



Next we pulled the front axel out for final welding, assembly and paint. We haven't gotten that far yet but we are heading in that direction. the Trans/TC crossmember was pulled for finial welding, sanding and paint. All of those task are complete. During disassembly of the drive train we found a rattling in the rear case…turns out the "stop foot" on the high low rail had snapped off and was casing sloppy shifting and engagement. the part has been ordered and should be here mid week. We'll up date you on that when we get the part and do the repair.
The rear axel was also se and we have the lower links in place and the up link's brackets mounted. We wanted to have the exact same link measurements in the rear as we had up front for simplicity and while this worked for the lower links it did not for the upper link.





these last two pictures are a little shop tour. though it looks like a bomb went off these were taken about a several days ago and I assure you the shop looks much mooch more organized now. Pay attention to the shop back ground pictures from here on out and you will see some interesting builds. We have the very first East Coast Bomber chassis that will be coming in this week from Bomber Fab. we will be putting together chassis for Randy.
We also have two custom chassis that will be built in house in the very near future. Both designed and built by Dynamite Design. One is a two seater Ultra 4 with plans to be at KOH this coming year. The other is a larger four seat version of out new chassis that will be built for a hard core trail rig.





Next on the list is to finish the rear 3 link. then we are in a little bit of a holding pattern. The next major project is the cantilever set up. the way we designed it, the just a lot of stuff getting framed into a tiny space. So until all the parts get here we have elected to wait on that part. we want to ensure that the link don't interfere with the cantilevers, and that the sway bar doesn't mess with either one of them and the air bump are in the right place as well. needless to say a lot of stuff hitting the axel and running out of real estate really really fast.

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

start your bidding:
http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=7910402&convertTo=USD

dude that was my very first idea for the ramp…Delks has a few I think

 

[MetalCraftSolved]

 

[dkrajcovic]

NICE WORK

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

few little update photos of the progress.


front axel pulled and cleaned up. ready to get the ARB and gears installed and a free coat of paint



Pitman arm version 2.0 this one is built using a Sky chromoly splined slug and 4130 plate. 100% TIG welded goodness. we re built the original prototype due to a slight mis calculation in the length needed.





installed the ram prior to front end tear down. checked the steering and suspension clearances one last time just to make sure it was all correct.

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

I am not putting up much info on the cantilever kit. this is a product that we have built from the start with the intention of making a kit for the tacoma as well as 4runner and FJC. But we did want to share our progress. When checking suspension bind the sway bar was disconnected and we had 14" of travel limited by the floor out of a 8" shock
things we still need to do in the rear include finish up the bracket plate work. finish a tube substructure to help support the cantilever suspension and provide a mounting place for an OBA air tank. and finally mount the king air bumps.

 

[BUCKEYE PERFORMANCE INC.]

Any particular reason for mounting the upper way over on the frame

Buckeye Performance Inc.
offroad fabrication
drivetrain/differential service
828-779-2242

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

it was the best place to put it and allow space for all the other stuff that will be going back there. the biggest reason is this was developed from the start as a kit. while it is being prototyped on a tacoma the bigger picture and market i believe is the 4runner and FJC crowd. it isn't a huge deal to cut the bed on a Taco to fit coil overs in a conventional package. it is just a polymer bed. but doing that on a 4runner or FJC cuts into the cabin. I also wanted to be able to use my bed and didn't want to cut it so the idea was born. in the end mounting the upper link to a crossmember mount would mean building a crosmember to replace a stock crossmember and in this case would mean the forward gas tank mount as well. it is a part that would take a substantial amount of time and material to manufacture and would make the install for the end user more complex.
remember this is a 3 link not a 4 link so the fuel tank and exhaust are being put in the factory locations. the goal is effective, reliable and simple to install. But every customer weighs cost too

 

[ORV design and fab]

Glad to see this rig moving along.

 

[MarsFab]

It'll keep the pinion from pulling down with droop. The panhard pulls the axle to the side as it drops out. If the upper link was straight fore and aft at ride height the pinion would dive towards the ground as it drops out. You can actually make the pinion climb as it drops even with equal length upper and lowers if you get that angle right in relation to the ph bar.

 

[MetalCraftSolved]

Josh has been excelling quickly with his fabrication techniques. I did a little math here and there but, I am proud to say he built all of that himself....

 

[strange1]

Loving the cantilever setup. I wanted that on my truck, but I have no skills.

 

[MetalCraftSolved]

 

[Dynamite Design Josh]

so now here is the long over due update. the cantilever suspension is done and has been tested for bind and clearance. she preforms flawlessly on 40s with around 25" frame height. I measured 18" of travel yesterday and was limited by the floor.


We have a few things taken care of up front as well. the front is tore down and ready for paint. every thing has been finish welded and the air bump cans have been put it. The FOAs we used for mock up were ditched in favor of some better quality equipment



we also had a nice mishap in the shop. our TIG died. this put us in a predicament and we stumbled into a retarded good deal on a Miller Syncerwave 351 with cooler to replace it. this thing is awesome! I think Ray Charles could TIG weld with this thing




and I will leave you all with some shock porn



this is what is currently in house




some nice shinny new 18" ORIs




Shock porn of all Shock porn BABY! a set of 4 brand spanking new 14"x3" 5 tube Fox By-Pass shock for the KOH car we are building for a customer. Custom built to our spec specifically for this customer's car. absolutely beautiful!

 

[frankenyoter]

 

[jeepmedic]

 

[chrishundley138]

So jealous of this build.

 

[ORV design and fab]

So is there any updates on t-rex?

 

[GearHead11]

Last time I was at the shop it was done and that was quite a few months ago.

 

[ORV design and fab]

Done as in driving every day on the street painted and all

 

[dkrajcovic]

pics

 

[Van-go]

Cool build.