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

Holy smokes. 5 hours today to do the drivers side, including 2 new sway bar links, and it took me about 14 yesterday to do the passenger side. At least I'm a quick learner. I got that going for me

 

Ended up buying a set of Gorilla Lugs from Wheeler's Off-Road, the reviews from those ones on Amazon were a bit scary with them some of them stripping out below 80lbs, thread like that should be able to crank right to 100lb without issues (although we only need 85lbs).

 

Well, it's not too bad for adding a leveling kit and inner and outer tie rods lol. Almost don't need an alignment hahah

 

Uuuummmmmm What happened here???? Do I have to readjust the new shackles or something???

 

I want to keep my 04 as stock as possible but I couldn’t resist new wheels and tires.

 

Gonna have to wait a wee bit for your front to settle, drive it a bit and get your alignment done. The rear won't get taller but the front should come down a bit.

 

I'm not convinced that is a good method for all trucks. I had mine near the max and I had too much rear braking. I had to lower it a bit to get the braking back in balance to be even from front to back.

I had the old ones I was using sitting in a bag. I would have given them to ya. They were not chrome tho. Used to be black but more like a reddish rust color now.

 

Ah no worries, the oem alloy ones have a conical bottom for seating the spare tire so I'm using those temporarily while I wait for new ones to arrive.

 

Wheelers Offroad .com

 

what front coils and what shocks?

If they are 882s or 883s..not surprised. Those coils are made for heavier front setups with bumpers/winchs/skids/second battery.

You..don't have any of that.

 

So, the new ball joints settled as I "slipped" my way down the gravel driveway due to how terribly I re-aligned my tie rods post install.




While trying to think of a solution to get the truck aligned well enough to make the 50 mile drive home (I won't be able to get an alignment until Monday) we came up with the solution of stringing up a line mid hub from the back of the truck, around to the front. Has anybody ever thought of this before? It might be write up worthy if no one has ever thought of it before.

Before -



After -



I mean, I'm sure it's not perfectly aligned, but I'm not sure you could get any closer without actually getting an alignment lol. Although I haven't driven yet. I'll have to let you know!

 

And the truck is damn near perfectly level now after it settled.

 

Dont know if you posted earlier but what suspension setup did you end up going with?

 

I think I have a set of 24 I was using when I ran steelies.

...yep, I do.

Pretty sure I could get them in a flat rate box tomorrow if you're interested.

 

Ah damn, ordered some earlier. Thanks though

 

Just stock pretty much. Bought new springs and already had an aal because I thought it might fix my old springs. Decided to do it right and just buy new ones eventually. And begrudgingly. Then I read that the daystar leveling kit (above the strut) would level the truck with the aal. So, since i knew i was gonna be getting into the front struts (a month or so after I installed the new leaf springs) I decided; why not install that lower front end kit I bought 4 months ago? And there it all went!!

 

Damn nice days when I'm out for a hike . Let me know if you want to/can cancel your order and have me ship these.

 

Time for 3 core?

The stock lugs? Like the ones that are used for stock 5 star rims? If so anyone got a spare set for just like a wheel? I'd be down to pay shipping. Also if anyone has the 5 star wheel covers, chipped paint doesn't matter, looking for some of those.

IMG_0287 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I lost one at some point and am looking for some spares.

 

Got my Lo-Tek pod, haven't drilled and screwed it in tho. Not sure why they color matched the roof and not the plastic trim but whatever looks fine for a wheeling rig.



Also got some piping for a more direct intake

 

I got stock wheel lug nuts, I'll send you some in like a week when I'm done with em