I have a toyota pickup that was my first car, I've had it for almost 20 years. I'm paying homage to it by building the ever loving e36m3 out of it. It's getting a total chaos long travel kit in the front (13" of travel) with king coilovers with remote resecoirs and air bumps. I've done the majority of an ls swap. It's got recaro seats, a fiberglass widebody front fenders, hood and rear bedsides from fiberwerx is coming. To support the glass body I'm fabricating a tube structure front and rear, and it'll be attached via dzus buttons. It's looking like it'll get a 6.0l gm truck motor with a cam pushing through a r154 toyota tranny.
So here's where it gets a little crazy....
I want to back half it to get rid of the straight axle, and crazier still is how I want to do it, I want to weld in a front frame and suspension from another one of these trucks with a second total chaos kit. I want to use an lsd rear diff from a supra or and is300. The way I see it, the geometry should be pretty well figured out, it'll already have a swaybar mount back there (which I have stock and aftermarket bars for so I'll be able to play around with it). It'll be modular so I can have spares that'll work for more potential problems.
I want to know if the geometry that works in the front will also work in the back and if I'm mentally ill for considering doing this.
I want to nominate you for governor.
Not crazy. berkeleying brilliant!
I have no idea about the suspension, but holy E36 M3 this is cool. Where's the build thread?
Thanks for the support! Once things heat up a bit more there certainly will be a build thread.
As far as toe control for the rear, I could mount the tierods at a fixed point where it minimizes bumpsteer. Or, I could do a hydraulic ram that locks somehow on center 
probably not though.
What will it be used for?
In reply to sesto elemento:
Any state in the union. North Carolina would be my vote, or Kentucky. That truck would be great in the mountains.
IRS in a pickup makes me smile.
Vigo
PowerDork
6/6/16 10:03 a.m.
I dont understand what you're expecting to get out of the IRS but it sounds like you're building a pretty sweet truck.
Not crazy, in fact it sounds like a common tactic in the design of Ultra4 Unlimited trucks. This sounds like a great opportunity to get 4WS...
Maybe cheaper to buy an old used one of these?
It's reaching an odd slope though... why build with your truck? sounds like all you'll have left is a cab.
wouldn't you be better off keeping your presumably running/driving truck in tact and just starting with (not even) a roller?
You're changing the frame/bodywork/engine/suspension/etc. I mean you already have a truck as a base, but I wonder if it's really "paying homage to it" at this level of build.
Is your truck the actual picture at the top? Seems almost a shame to cut it up.
Yes it's still an awesome idea. 
xflowgolf wrote:
It's reaching an odd slope though... why build with your truck? sounds like all you'll have left is a cab.
wouldn't you be better off keeping your presumably running/driving truck in tact and just starting with (not even) a roller?
You're changing the frame/bodywork/engine/suspension/etc. I mean you already have a truck as a base, but I wonder if it's really "paying homage to it" at this level of build.
Is your truck the actual picture at the top? Seems almost a shame to cut it up.
Yes it's still an awesome idea.
Some 16 y/o idiot girl hit it in the front with her mom's sequoia. Frame is perfect, radiator support is berkleyed. Seems to me to be an opportunity for an upgrade.
So I was thinking that if I'm going to cut the back off anyway, I will have a bed, frame, leafs, rear axle, etc. so that means I can very easily make the old stuff into a trailer. 
sesto elemento wrote:
So I was thinking that if I'm going to cut the back off anyway, I will have a bed, frame, leafs, rear axle, etc. so that means I can very easily make the old stuff into a trailer.
That would work.
As for doing a front end to rear end conversion. Not so sure. By the time you have to figure out the tire mounting above it and all the chassis work its way way easier just to pull the bed and move the shock mounts up and do a bit of frame clearance work. Plus a ton cheaper.
Something liek this would be pretty easy to fab up. Its not like you are going to be running the Baja 1000
sesto elemento wrote:
icaneat50eggs wrote:
What will it be used for?
Causing trouble.
Well E36 M3, why didn't you say so! Bring it on over I'll show you how to do that stock.
sesto elemento wrote:
That looks like too much math to me
There's calculator spreadsheets floating around online to help figure out what goes where in a setup like that. It's not too tough to figure out.
A triangulated 4-link isn't that hard, and if you want to get serious about offroading, is much better than a leaf spring setup. But the leaf spring setup is cheap and bulletproof if you don't need crazy articulation and travel.
I would keep the solid rear end IMO. Much stronger axle. Many of the baja style race trucks run solid axles and make them preform just fine.
Pirate4x4.com and racedezert.com forums will be your friends.... A 4 link is pretty simple really.
I've got a restomodded fj40 that's for being all straight axley. Honestly most of the usage will be occasional commute with some fire road blasts, maybe jamming down local powerlines, I'm looking forward to not skittering through bumpy corners and cushy ride irrespective of conditions. Realistically, how much off road do most raptors see? I'm tired of dodging potholes in street driven racecars with no ground clearance and rock hard suspension. I want the pickup truck ktm would build.
With tall sidewalled tires to soak up some of the roughness, you can actually make a solid axle stick pretty well without being skittish on rough dirt roads. Having good shocks helps a lot.
mndsm
MegaDork
6/6/16 3:08 p.m.
I always thought prerunners ran swimgarms with lt shocks and a solid rear end. I like the concept though
