What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

It's held up to quite a bit of abuse ON TWO TRUCKS....Cutting it where it would need to be cut to clear the shackle would make it subject to bending at the slightest little bump on that corner. Not to mention being in a spot that would make it look bad cosmetically. The SOS bracket is simply a poor design. The way it's made, it tends to rotate, shearing the bolts when used on a hard pull. Seen that happen.....3 times so far.... They COULD have employed a 3rd bolt hole just inches from the two and made it quite a bit stronger. The stock TRD OR tow point uses a far better angle, pulling from a centerline of the two bolts and not offset of one side. (as is the case with the BPF bracket)

SOS bracket is a waste of money. $50 paperweight.....

 

got most of the seat heaters installed, always fun doing these lol


also finished up the snorkel installed.


also, was never happy with the seat height, wish it was a bit higher, made up some 1" stainless spacers, 2" dia so it has a lot of surface area to give full support. will make up matching one for the front (but a offset system)

 

Took er out with my bike...

 

Was cleaning out the barn yesterday and ran across a half dozen cue ball and 8-ball Mustang shift knobs left over from when I was making them 10 years ago--got a bit whimsical so I made and adapter for the auto-stick shift in my '09. Came out looking like this, not sure if I like it yet:



here's a shot of the bare adapter, it provides M12x1.75 threads for the Mustang knob, fastens to the M8-1.25 thread of the shifter. and sleeves the lower 9mm Ø portion of the stick out to 1/2" to give it a more robust appearance:


for anyone interested here's the whole process of making the shift knob:

upper left: turning the bushing;
upper cent: boring the bushing;
upper right: parting (cutting off) the bushing;

middle left: the raw bushing;
middle cent: a finished bushing;
middle right: boring a cue ball;

lower left; a finished cue ball;
lower right; a finished 8-ball;

 

Be interested in seeing what you come up with for the front--been eyeing that same mod myself...

 

She sounds like a keeper!!

 

Had some time while waiting for the lady to get ready and decided to diddle with the truck. I ended up pulling the fender flares off in preparation for some trimming I was planning. Got all dirty, cleaned myself up again and still had to wait.... Oh well she's worth it.

On a side note, I can't decide if I want to put the flares back on...

Kinda looks mean without..

 

Looks better without the holes

 

I did another thing last night

 

Be forewarned, having a bumper like this will make you want to hit things that get in your way.

The wife had to talk me down from running a Civic down after they cut me off on the highway yesterday.

 

I was hoping somebody would brake check me on the ride home last night so I could test it out a little bit

 

Lol "it all happened so fast, I didn't even have time to hit the brakes."

 

I've found quite the opposite as people see it and more often than not, decline to be part of a live physics demonstration.

 

I wish the people around here had that much common sense.

 

I took some old wood I had laying around and made a fishing rod holder. My 8 foot rods don't like to bend unless it's for a fish. I had a tackle box slide last fall and snap the end off of one of them. It was laying in the bed with my rods and I'm not going to let that happen again. It's primitive but effective.

 

I tried this but to big and ugly. LOL

 

Yesterday I did the CMC






Full set of body mount/radiator mount bushings from Energy Suspension






One piece custom fender liners



And bed reinforcement brackets

 

You have been a busy boy

 

Looks great.

Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get; or better yet from what you already have...

 

Was a good day. Getting prepped for new tires