What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

i must know how you did that.

 

Thanks @jberry813 ...

So, I may not be in the "cool crowd" on TW.com, but I have a mild suspension upgrade, with Billie's.

 

somehow i knew you were going to do that

 

More prep for sale. The new AF sensor smoothed it out a bit, I hope I get an uptick in mileage.

I had spark plugs for it and they won't work in the 1GR, so I popped those in and did some general engine bay cleanup and vacuumed/wiped down the interior and scrubbed the Weathertechs for the first time in...a while. Running lik the dickens now.

These are the pass side @ 30k mile change (coil side). Driver side eletrodes consistently showed a bit more wear that these, but forgot to take a pic

I also dug out all the old stock parts (shackles and crap) and need to box those up for the next owner.

I guess I should make an FS thread soon...

And sell the Homeroshi, if the next truck buyer passes on it. Still in the box, unused, never got it on the truck. The badge is not attached.

 

Parked it next to my stepdads 2015 tundra...

 

Bet there is a bunch of people on here who would pay premium for the grill.

 

Well they are going to have to pay at least as much as I did. But I'm completely open to a bidding war.

 

Looking at more mods but realized can't install them with a broken hand 4 more weeks

 

It was ten months ago, on the 15th day of the month of September in the year 2014, that I ventured to the Huerfano River Valley for a 3 night back packing trip. In order to get to the trailhead one must drive an hour or so along an unimproved road that gets bumpy and slow at times. When I was driving out to head home I heard a distinct "pa-tink-dink" sound of metal. Without much thought I said, "eh... doesn't sound serious" and I kept on driving.

At the first stop I knew exactly what that sound was. It was the sound of Ol' Red's driver's side bumper filler jettisoning itself off somewhere along CR 580. It's as if a piece of me was lost forever.

Here is the last pic of Ol' Red in his full glory, on CR 580 three days before:



Here's how he's looked for nearly a year since



Flash forward to this past Sunday, July 12th of the year 2015.

I went back to hike/camp the Huerfano River Valley once again. For months I've been thinking about finding the missing piece of Ol' Red but the chances of doing so were slim to none. Not knowing exactly where the filler piece fell off on the hour long dirt road, heavy snow, rain, runoff, wash outs, etc... But I, like many here, have a special connection to the Tacoma. I would not give up hope. I would not let a piece of me die with a piece of Ol' Red.

As I'm approaching the trailhead via CR 580, I pass a sign that reads, "road closed ahead, thru traffic only, park here." This is 5.2 miles away from the trailhead. Now hope is all but lost.

I, and the rest of my crew, throw on the packs and venture out along CR 580 in hopes of even reaching the trailhead. See, a very large landslide had descended one of the ridges and covered the road in about 40 feet of soil, boulders and trees - all the way down to the river. We walked the 3 miles to the landslide and decide that we cannot go on any further with the packs (my daughter of 8 and her friend, 6, were not going to navigate it safely).

Three days and two nights later we pack up camp and start hoofing it back down to the vehicles. Jokingly my friends were consoling me for not finding Ol' Red's missing piece. But they thought it was a good story and way to kill time while burning some miles on the trail/road.

About 100 yards from where the gate was closing the road, and the end of our backpacking journey, I see a glimmer out of the corner of my eye. Reminiscent of a stranded person on an island giving one last reflection off the mirror towards the plane in the sky... like a lost puppy too weak to yelp for its searching passing-by owner. I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but I knew my heart wasn't. There, mostly buried in dirt and covered with the thick/lush growth... nestled under tall grass and wildflowers, I saw about 1" of Sunfire Red Pearl.

I cleared my eyes of the involuntary swell of tears... battered, beaten, weathered, driven over, plowed over, and nearly broken....there it was looking back at me with the same mixture of disbelief and confidence that we would be reunited.







The moral of the story:

Never give up hope

and

Sherwin Williams' auto base coat and two-part clear coat are pretty amazing stuff.

 

Mine fell off ages ago.. I have LED strips there now as added turn signals.

 

So I bought and installed a steering rack from Rack Dr. And less than a month later it failed! I didn't even get to go wheeling! Same fail as the last. Drivers side extremely loose and causes a loud knock over bumps! Trying to get them to send me a new one since it's got a warranty. What a hassle!

 

What an inspiring made for TV story about hardship and in the end triumph! Naw but really cool that you found it!

 

That's extremely weird hearing that. They guy is super cool, Im sure he'll help u out. I've had mine for 2 years and wheeled hard with no issues?

 

When your hood pops up going down the road, stop and re slam that fucker down! Do not rely on the secondary latch. The gravel train wall of air had no problem lifting the hood past that safety latch.

Oddly enough, the only damage was the hood. It needed repainted anyways.

 

Yeah I understand they are rebuilt racks, what's weird is that the original and the one for Rack Dr had the same issue.. Popped off the bellows boot to make sure it wasn't just an inner tie rod end.

 

Had that happen when I went into the ER on a day I carpooled to work.. my friend popped the hood thinking it was the e brake then halfway home the hood flew up like that and broke the windshield as well. he almost crashed cause he was in the middle freeway lanes.. Awesome to hear such news as im in the hospital...