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

Better Bed lights and my Hi Lift bar went on today. Would not wish that light install on my worst enemy...what a beeyatch, but they do shine bright and are up and out of the way.

Switch placement next to my front ditch light switch

 

Happy Samhain, All Hollows Eve, All Saints Day, Halloween and Dia de los Muertos

 

Here is the link to the product web site
http://www.betterbedlights.com/

Here is the link to the install
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bringing-better-bed-lights-to-the-first-gen.431571/

Highly recommended but took me 5 hours to install. Its tedious, time-consuming and I didn't want to "pull down" my headliner so I took it out, removed the back seat, etc. Worth every bit of my OCD though

 

I've been keeping an eye on my leaking valve covers since I got my double cab back in 2014. Last night I was feeling froggy and checked the bolts and all of them (that were accessible) were practically finger tight. I dont have an in/lb torque wrench and have no idea what 53 in/lbs feels like, so hopefully a gentle snug down with a wrench wont hurt anything.

 

That's exactly what I did when I bought my truck last December. It slowed things down a lot, but they were still leaking. I wound up replacing the valve cover gaskets a couple of months later. It's not that hard of a job, just time-consuming.

 

Yeah, I will most likely be doing that same eventually. It doesnt look terribly difficult, but timing belt/water pump replacement are more pressing issues for me at the moment

 

Do them at the same time. If you're going to replace the camshaft oil seals you have to take the valve covers off anyway to get at the wrench flats on the shafts so you can get the valve sprockets off.

 

It took more than a day. More like 5 months.
From this to this during my free time. Driveable in a week or 2.

 

You guys know if these are any good? Or should I just save my money and buy chaos or camburg

 

i believe those are just the same ones on ebay.

 

The usual response is they're cheap and therefore must be inferior and unsafe.

There's a short thread on here somewhere, and a much more extensive one on T4R, about those Chinese UCAs. Maybe search for eBay UCAs.

The last I read, people were having good luck with them if they first threw away the bushings and uniballs and replaced them with name brand. By the time you do that and spend the time swapping them, I would think just getting name brand would be easier.

 

yup. the bushings that come with it dont fit right and wear out prematurely. see the fj forums. theres guys abusing the hell out of them and theyre holding up fine.

 

Found this today

Is this just a time bomb? Any way to estimate how long I have? I'd really just like to replace it in the spring. Also, I think I saw people JB Welding cracks like this. Anyone have experience doing that?

 

id replace asap.

 

I had a radiator leak that I drove around with for a couple of months while I was lining up the money and time to fix it. I just kept topping up with water. The leak got progressively worse, but it never blew out or anything. Probably not the wisest choice, but it all worked out in the end.

 

Ugh, winter is just around the corner here in MA... I was poking around the engine bay last week and that coolant spray wasn't there, so I know its fairly new.

thanks @devinzz1 @TheSaint

 

I know several loggers that run trucks with leaking water pumps, radiators and such for long periods of time. JB is good stuff and will definitely slow the leak down. Keep a jug of water with you, and watch out for freezing temperatures.

I bought a new OEM radiator from Amazon for $90-100.

Thanks,
Malcolm

 

I bought a Denso off of Ebay for $98. Fit like a glove, no leaks.

 

Give that truck some love. Swap out that radiator for a new one.

Seriously, the hardest step is getting the grill off.

Radiators are really disposable parts. Just like brakes and shocks.