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

Your still using the strawberry koolaid? Fwiw I used about 2.5 gallons when I did mine last year.

 

Diff drops are like $30. That said I have one and my boots still ripped. Most say they are useless. Your boots are ripped because of your new lift in the front.

 

My shocks have been in for almost 6 months . My cvs look like they were replaced before I got the truck, which is good. Ripping a boot isn't a big deal, isn't a big deal yet I should say.

 

Yeah, it was changed when the water pump/timimg belt was replaced, about 80K ago. Toyota did it so I don't know how much was used.

2.5 gal eh? Just the coolant right? With a 50/50 mix that means capacity for your 2.7L was about 5 gal?

 

Ok...newish lift . Same outcome. And yes not a big deal at all if you fix it in a timely manner.

 

I used premix generic crap cause I didn't have a source of distilled water on hand. That's 2.5 gallons of premix. If the Toyota stuff is concentrate you'll probably only need two bottles and you'll have leftovers. Feel free to gimme a holler if you want company for changing it out.

 

I put my lift on about 6 months ago too, about 2.5" in the front no diff drop and they just ripped a few weeks ago on my way back from Pennsylvania, about a 4 hour drive. I always thought the only way to rip those things is if the fins are touching. I can't imagine 1" in the front would make a huge difference but I guess on turns they rubbed pretty good and tore.

I always thought the argument that you didn't need a diff drop was with the 2nd gens?

 

Next week

I think was at full lock and pretty good flex, I dunno if being in four low would affect it at all but it didn't really seem like it wanted to turn....

 

That would be cool. I was looking at how it was mounted. Looks like 2 torx type bolts at the top sides. Is that the way yours was? Radiator wont be here until tues or wed. So looking like next weekend for that probably.

Gonna do the alt swap this weekend. I would certainly welcome the company any time. Are you still working at HD?

 

Nope unfortunately its for us guys too. It just rotates the diff. Does not really help with cv angles.

 

Should I even bother putting it in then? Would the boot slide mod do more than a diff drop?

 

Yeah the skids did hurt the wallet but was the last thing to replace. Camelback saved me a bunch of $ on oem parts. I'm going to have Krown rustproof the truck. They started in Canada and came to the states. I found them on the net and talked to folks who swear by them so I'm gonna give them a go. They inject in the body panels and inside frame also. It's a once a year thing but if it preserves my newer frame and parts I'm gonna try it. My truck has 98,000 miles so should have a lot of life left in her.

 

I have definitely seen more luck with that then the diff drops. Forget who but some vendor also sells high angle cv boots that I have heard good things about.

 

I think you should just sas... No boots no problems.

 

So the rad is sorta deceptive in its design. The rad does bolt to those brackets and in turn those brackets attach to the core support but heres the weird part. The rad actually will come to you with those brackets already on and it is much easier to just unbolt the rad/bracket assembly from the core support and then bolt the new rad/bracket assembly in. So it's easier to just unclip the grille and unbolt the rad, if it's the OEM Toyota rad then it will be held in with 4 bolts and two little hooks (the hooks keep it in place while you line up the first bolts). The new rad may not have the hooks on its bracket, mine didn't.

Comes with the outlined red parts...


Still working at HD and I have Thursdays and Fridays off for the foreseeable future, or perhaps we could do it after I get off work on the weekend.

 

That's actually not true...
It DOES help 1st gens

 

Well from what I have seen on here it is definitely a debatable topic. I tend to take the word of some of the veteran 1st Gen owners who wheel there rigs and tend to know there stuff and almost everyone has stated it does nothing more then put your diff in more danger to be smacked offroad. And the fact I have one installed and both my boots still failed. No offense by the way just stating the majority of opinions I have came across

 

Interesting. I am a bit concerned about how much room there is to work. Between the aftermarket trans cooler and its hoses and the Elite bumper, the space is jammed. Sounds like your experience would help a lot. What's in there now is OEM, the replacement is not.

PM incomming.

 

Lol I don't wheel hard enough or have that kinda money

 

When I did my first lift, I had a high speed (55-60 mph) vibration. It turns out the fins on the inner boot were touching slightly. I had only gone about 20 miles but a groove had formed where they were touching. I initially lowered the lift (adjustable COs) but the fins were still touching slightly so I installed the 1" diff drop kit I had and the vib went away entirely.

I never ended up tearing a boot and the diff drop kit is still there. It certainly hasn't been harmful to have it and in my case it did serve a good purpose and solved a problem.