The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Bearing appears to be fine, it's the rubber isolator that's worn out, too much play in it and was beginning to sag. I'm really not all that impressed with it.

Before doing any drive line work I carefully measured and calculated my operating angles and only one u-joint was out of spec, the first one, which was 5.05°. Spicer says 3° or less is spec for optimal u-joint life in our trucks... I think they even stated that u-joints should last the life of the truck...

When my DS goes back in, I'll see if I can get the operating angles within spec.

@Gaunt596

I sold my IEDLS bearing and it's been shipped away already. I decided to stay stock bearing because of a conversation I had with the drive line specialist. He's been working with drive shafts for 40 years. In a nutshell he told me what I was doing was dangerous and to not fuck with it. He said to have IEDLS design the bearing bracket to be Tacoma specific.

There is also a guiding principal with my build I had forgoton as of late, and that's for an over-landing vehicle, try to remain close to stock as possible. And for me that means leave the engine, trans and drive line alone.

 

Tire update 69,551 mi

Over the weekend I had Discount tire transfer the spare rubber over to the reconditioned 4Runner wheel I recently bought.

Everything went smoothly and I was able to work with the manager and the tire tech to make sure none of the balancing beads were spilled during the process. Tire tech did a good job and I gave him a tip for his work.

At this time I decided to move to a 5-tire rotation.

I made this pattern because I wanted to take my right rear tire out of service.



All tires measured 12.5/32" of tread depth.



Toyo MTS 255/85/R16 Tires brand new have 18.9/32" tread depth. Mileage for (1) year of ownership was 9,384 and with a 3% ODO adjustment for the larger tires, 281.52 unregistered miles, so actual miles driven in one year is a calculated at 9,665.52.

Tires have worn 6.4/32" in about 9,666 miles. If tires wore at same rate I'd get another two years out of them. Good thing I'm not daily driving it!

Moving the spare to the 4Runner wheel has cleared me for TC spindle gussets. That will probably happen next month.

 

Sounds good, I've learned that the guys that are on the business usually know what they are talking about. Same reason why I'm not going nuts with mine, DD/Tow rig means I need to be able to use off the shelf parts when I inevitably break something.

 

The spare rim did not have enough clearance for the gussets?

 

That's right. TRD off road wheel has 5.25" BS. The 4Runner have 4.50" BS. So switching to them pushed the wheel away from the truck by .75". It solved a lot of rubbing problems for me and saved me from running wheel spacers.

 

Nice , I've been eyeballing a set of 4runner trail edition wheels for my upgrade I, like you, think sticking with Toyota OEM is wise..

 

I've been thinking about painting my wheels black for a change. Thoughts? Opinions?

I'm quite tempted, but part of me is thinking it's going to be like Pandora's box of wheel appearance maintenance.

 

Powdercoat. Paint will require a ton of maintenance to not look like crap, powdercoat will last a lot longer

 

I personally wouldn't. Maybe take the spare and experiment with it before doing all 4. Here's a picture of that wheel wth 33's and black center caps. I

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/photoshop-request-thread.17542/

I know you didn't mention apperance, but>>>
Not sure if you have seen this thread, but if you could get an idea of what it would look like.

 

I would just do the caps to match the body color, less maintenance,and look real custom.I do like those wheels,truck looks good.

 

They are a classic wheel, and the light color shows off the classic design better. The also contrast with your MGM nicely.

As a former owner of a set, you must listen to me.

If you can't help yourself (gulp), Plastidip one to see what it looks like. But don't fuck up a nice clean set of these classics.

I have seen them look pretty sharp painted MGM on a silver truck, and that I would consider. But that ain't your truck.

Edit:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/powder-coated-4-runner-5-star-wheels.179266/

 

Yes

No

 

Okay. I listen to you guys. I leave them the hell alone!

I hear you @scocar

I do like the idea of maybe doing the caps. That's easy and reversible too.

On my last outing, one of my wheels got some rock rash...

I felt nothing when my TRD Off-road wheels got it, but for some reason, I feel bad for my 4runner wheel. haha





Here is the new reconditioned wheel. I still can't believe how amazing it looks. I mean zero blemishes.

 

that's a clean looking 4runner wheel. 3rd gen 4runner wheel I presume?

 

Thanks. Yes. The first four I bought came off a 2001 4runner I think. I was so lucky. I bought (4) of those plus (1) steel spare for $160. I sold the steel spare a week later on craigslist for $40. Net cost for the four was $120. I then looked forever locally and could not find a fifth one to use for my spare. I haggled with ebay sellers and what not. Finally decided to purchase online from an auto parts part-out-place. Wheel was drop shipped from third party called Transwheel. I was blown away by the condition.

 

ahhh so you wanted a matching 5th as a spare?

Man, I don't know if I want to match or not lol.. 1 st world problems.

my 4runner has the sequoia wheels

 

I find replicas here and there, but the OEM ones are hard to negotiate prices

 

wait - this transwheel place sent you an OEM wheel?

 

Ramon, Those sequoia wheels look good. Yes. It's a fully reconditioned OEM wheel. I even called before I placed my order to confirm. My total cost was $132 delivered. Very hard to find wheels!

My purchase was about proper backspacing to clear, rather than appearance, but also allows me to do 5-tire rotations as well. So it's a win.