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

Nothing compares to having dogs! True blessings

 

Do these look ok?
There was a medium amount of grease/brake dust caked on

 

Gonna have to order another tensioner, broke that crap.

 

Very hard to tell visually, other than that all the bolts are there. How many miles on them? Are they OEM?

 

Will need a tensioner and the hydraulic part, gonna need the timing belt because I have my suspicions that this is the wrong v6 belt.

02 v6

I also need this vacuum hose seen in the picture, it leads to the resonator box off of the intake arm and under the intake manifold swirly S runners. Gonna shower and call it a night.

 

Any idea when they were last replaced, if at all? Mine looked like that before replacing them. Once I took the boot cover off, I saw the boots completely cracked and split open and most of the grease had come out. Didn't check movement on the ball since they already looked pretty bad and just put some new oem ones on.

 

What's the most effective way to "rip" a steel plate, as in cut it length wise. I have 2"x10' 3/16" plate that I need slightly thinner so I can weld it onto a 2" square tube.

 

Plasma cutter.

Be easier to just buy some 2" tube, though.

 

Mine looked similar, check for play by prying between the control arm and ball joint with a large screwdriver or prybar. If there is any play at all replace them, mine had no play but they looked to be on their way out so I replaced them with OEM

 

While on the topic-My 1998 did not have the rubber shrouds. My 2004 had the rubber shroud. What is the advantage?
I chose to leave the shroud off for ease of inspection when I replaced the BJ's.

 

Here is what I have:
2" tube and 2" plate

I figured it needs to be cut down about 1/4" to leave space for weld:

This is my first time fabricating something really

 

I guess I still stand by my plasma cutter suggestion. With that said, you will still be further ahead buying the tube you actually need. The money spent on welding material will offset the cost of the pre made tube. In addition, you would never be able to keep the tube straight. It would "pull" all over the place.

I would keep that material around for fabricating bracket, though. It has lots of uses.

 

I'm not actually like constructing my own tube or anything, I'm just plating a side that was cut. I overcomplicated my design and I'm not sure it's worth starting over so I'm running with it, it's essentially a 2"x6"x3/16" rectangular tube that I cut shallow angles off of. I need to plate the parts I cut off and the ends and then I'm just gonna run 1/4" plate onto the frame with 1/4" gussets on the inside, though looking at other people's designs I might just get 1/4" angle iron instead. I'm in no rush to finish it, just learning how to do this as I go.


Edit: but I'll look into a plasma cutter thanks lol, can't imagine they are very cheap though

 

That's how I learned. Just do it. If it works, great. If not cut it apart and try a different way.

You will figure it out. Keep at it.

 

Is that tube or channel, it looks like it only has 3 sides?
Tube is going to have a radius edge, so the 2in flat bar will over hang the radius. If you were going for a seamless look. If you just need 2x3 the material or something close, like say for a bumper. http://www.onlinemetals.com/
Has several locations decent price and avalability.

 

Actually, I'm not even sure what you are making. Bumper? I am a fabricator, but not good at describing what way would be best.

 

Dont forget about having to do a double or single bevel if you are grinding it flush. Other wise you grind all your weld away.

 

Weld 2 on the inside and the sides that aren't seen, weld 2 joints on the outside. Grind the outside of the joints you welded on the inside, smooth. Much easier to weld the inside of a right angle than the outside.

 

I believe they are original with 150K on them.

Worth spending the $200 to get new ones. Seems like a pretty east swap no? Will I need an alignment after?

 

I get ya, melt through wouldnt be a good route imho unless it had a 1/8 gap to fill. The plate would distort then. I have always found a good single bevel for a root pass to work out better. Then you can keep tight joints and limit distortion, by heat distribution in material and stich welds. 3 very great approches from 3 different people. @koditten @Silver02Taco.