Tampa Bay Area Tacomas BS Thread

Awesome. Been wanting to do that for a while now. Unfortunately, other things come first...like getting all the current defects repaired.

 

Getting the old bushings out is cake, but getting the new ones in and lined up to put the bolts back in was a major pain on my tundra. I forget how it went, but I had to put the bolts back in a certain order to get them all in. It may be different for your truck, though.

 

I have grease and a ball joint press for getting the new ones in. As for getting things lined back up, I'm hoping for the best, but I think all it will take is a little patience, a big ass pry bar, and a little gentle persuasion with a BFH.

 

Update. I finished installing the steering rack bushings yesterday. I have to say this job didn't live up to the hype. It didn't put up much of a struggle at all. Changing the rear brake shoes was a bigger PITA by far. I was able to get the bushings in by hand. They were tight but after I polished the bushing holes in the rack with scotch-brite to get all the concrete-like dirt out of them and greased everything up, they slid right in.

Later today, I'm going to start on the inner tie rod ends. Since I don't expect much trouble here, it'll probably turn into a nightmare.

 

looks like ogt will be 100% in no time!

 

Haha, well, there's still a LOT of work left to do and a lot of parts left to buy before the work can be done, but I'm not feeling quite as overwhelmed as I was a couple days ago.

 

Thanks, but no. It'd still be like going out to celebrate your anniversary without your wife.

 

lol

 

Hey everyone, sorry for disappearing. Had some family issues going on and ended up spending 2 months out of the country. But I'm back. Planning on attending the tamlando meet to see everyone.

 

Ayup, it's already begun. The stupid tie rod jam nuts are kicking my ass and they're the first thing I started with outside of pulling the tires.

 

well shit

 

Holy moley! It this isn't proof, I don't know what is. That nut was so tight I was starting to round the corners of it off with an 1 1/16 wrench and it didn't move at all. I mixed up a batch of Acetone/AFT and splooged the nuts down. I left it sit for about 45 minutes. I broke out the pipe wrench, figuring if I was going to mangle the nut anyway, the pipe wrench was slightly longer so I'd get more torque on it. I put the pipe wrench on and barely put any effort on it and the nut turned like it was already loose. Damn, that's some miraculous stuff.

 

Okay, jobs done and everything is cleaned up. The OGT still isn't roadworthy, but at least she's mobile again. And this job fought me a hell of a lot harder than the steering rack bushings.

I found the next failure point though. My steering rack is going to go next. The left end of the piston had a bit of up and down play to it. It's not leaking or anything yet, but it's enough to see my future.

 

My truck next. Poly bushings on the rack and the lower arms

 

So I've decided to go with Dakar leaf springs but haven't decided what shocks. Should I get something with a reservoir like fox icon or the bilsteins 5160 or the 5100 extended and spend the difference on something else? I have a maxtrac lift that came with blocks for the rear and I sit a little low In the back. Want to level it out and get rid of the blocks. Any suggestions?

 

What about all pro standard leaf springs? They give you 3" of lift. If you're not gonna off road a lot I'd just get a set of 5100's, unless you want the cool factor of resi's. In that case I understand. Haha
I have the extended 5100's it rides good & when I'm off road they do good.

 

Is the cool factor worth the $? Lol. Do they ride that much different that the 5100? I haven't even been off-road yet but plan to change that.

 

Couldn't tell ya, never owned any. I always thought resi's were for more of a high speed environment & the resi helps keep the fluid cool which means less fade.

 

Do you know how much lower does the rear sit with just the 2inch blocks?

 

I'm not sure I know what you're asking. You have 2" blocks, don't you?