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

Drive it to and from Massachusetts this week. Longest drive I've done on the truck. Did just fine. Really glad I opted to take care of all those sway bar parts. There were some times, I could tell a huge difference from before.

Also, I lost both halves of my cat's heat shield on the streets of Boston
Is it possible to buy a shield somewhere?

 

After a three week stint on jack stands I'm back in baby's arms. The front end refresh from hell included:

Koyo bearings
New backing plates (old ones were rusty)
New spindles (so many bolts broke off in the old ones that it would have been a cluster trying to remove them)
ABS sensors (ouch $$ I guess after 13 years they bonded in place)
Rotors
Pads
Brake hardware kit pins and springs
Upper balljoints
Lower ball joints
Energy steering rack bushings
Good ridge stainless brake lines
Tie rods ends
Bilstein shocks
A metric tonne of hardware to attach all said parts. I'm sure the parts counter guy thought i was nuts.

With the exception of the pads, rotors and bearings everything was OEM Toyota

Check those lower ball joints guys mine felt tight on the truck and had a notchy feeling off the truck.

 

That's one hell of a refresher. Don't want to imagine the cost, especially with so many OEM parts.

 

The spindles and the ABS sensors stung pretty bad. One expects the spindles to be $$ the ABS sensors not so much, they're over $200 a side and aftermarket ones are just a huge nope.

 

Hey guys I need some 4 gauge wire for my aux fuse box. Could I get some at lowes, or better to order off of Amazon?

 

Are LCA skids really worth it?

Seen them around but don't think I've ever hit them... have hit everything else though

 

I got some from a local audio shop. You might have some luck there.

 

Thank you great idea

 

should of just deleted the abs. Its not very good on these trucks anyways.

 

When shopping for the wire make sure you get all copper strand - some cheap wires are aluminum with copper surface. Lowes wires are very stiff, very thick and low number of strands. Look for something with thin strands. Some welding cables are good too.

 

Your old LBJ were OEM, right?

 

I have zero interest in dealing with dash lights or if I pass this truck on explaining how the ABS was deleted.

The old ball joints were OEM I don't know if they were original.

 

Please do NOT go to MAACO!!! They chemically etch the surface and do NOT use the proper method of sanding to repaint the surface and then clear coat it. The paint does not last or stick properly. There is a reason they are cheap. They cut corners and do NOT use the proper process. They also do NOT remove the glass and rubber like they should. If your going to do it, do it right!

 

Changed out winter tires.


Aligned lights.

 

That's a sexy truck

 

Finally finished the table on my swing out.

 

Very nice. What kind of extra support did you do for the frame ends? Any pics?

 

For the most part wrapped up my vinyl install. What a pain in the dick. Still have some other shit to wrap up before I put the back wall/drivers side panel fully back.




Also mocked up my second paranoid panel.

 

That looks really good, Mike!

 

Thanks man! I still need to wrap the cubby covers in vinyl too. I kinda hate the bulges at the corners going up the cubby wall but I am hoping it will settle eventually. Cutting all the holes for the seat belts/seat bolts and reconfiguring the center console to sit lower were also huge obstacles.