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

The roof is worse. Don’t have the $5k a good body shop wants to paint it properly, and I’m not bringing it to Maaco.

I’m setting up a shop air system in my garage in preparation for a paint booth. I’m going to be painting my 5-lug completely. If that goes well, I’ll do this truck too.

No, I’m not covering the truck in Bedliner. I think it’s ugly as sin.

 

At last, got the new Spicer drive shaft,
Has a spicer double Cardin joint and Spicer ujoints and Spicer driveshaft components.
Both Spicer driveshaft end flanges are much larger and stronger in size than the stock shaft

Cardin center ball joint is sealed so now 2 zerks to grease instead of 3 and now one can replace ujoints or Cardin joint with ease if needed without having to fight
the Toyota setup

 

Fair enough. Black truck syndrome here as well. I had the Hood, Roof and Tailgate done for $1,200 (Couple other small things too) which was money well spent as I'm not a bodywork guy. They did a great job blending the roof to the sides and you really cant tell. I had the whole truck buffed as well.

Bed lining the entire truck is great for the TW rednecks and High schoolers.

 

Interesting, you couldn’t tell it was blended? My paint is mostly fine, it is just the roof and the hood that’s problematic.

 

Frisco is a love hate thing.

Its all about the prep. My first Honda ( ) I did all white. (it was in 2000, give me a break. lol). That shit chipped and flaked so bad. Car was totaled luckily. well not luckily but you know what I mean.

2nd and 3rd Hondas that I did came out really good. did all black with some red accents. I sanded every single piece that was going to be sprayed, cleaned with dish soap, sprayed paint adhesive (I think it was called bulldog?), then did very thin coats.

 

Nice. Where did you get it?

 

You place your order and then they make the drive shaft. All Spicer components as you can see.

If you have any questions the tech support guy will tell you everything you need.
Mine was 470.00 shipped.

https://www.wholesaleimportparts.com/Toyota_Tacoma_Driveshaft_1997.php

 

interesting site. Cool, good to know. I'd probably call up Tom Woods.

 

That’s what I’m going into

 

I consider it but DIDNT like the fact that they say there is a chance of the driveshaft not balancing out correctly. Their quote from the site below,

“The Vibration problems with the Toyota Tacoma are common even on unmodified vehicles and especially so on those with a lift kit. I wish we had a “one size fits all” solution. The truth of the matter is; we have had mixed results with any version we would send out. Should you purchase one of our drive shaft and it does not meet your expectations, you may return within 30 days for a full, product purchase, refund.”

So I went the other route as they already know the exact size and spin the shaft at 3500 rpms for balancing.

 

Only 3500, things going faster on the hwy most of the time

 

That’s the speed of the drive shaft, not the engine)
I have a truck not a Porsche, lol

From googling, it seems like most driveshaft,depending on the rear ratio
turns at around 3000rpms for 90mph

 

In over drive on the highway it should be spinning faster than 1:1 with RPM which in my case at 80mph the RPM is already at 3k. So the .81 multiplication speeds up that shaft even more than engine RPM (3000/.81=~3704 driveshaft rpm) and I have wimpy 4.10 gears imagine what the 4.88 and 5.29 guys are turning.

 

Well for 5.29 and 4.88 might not be enough but at least this site tells you the speed and toms site says nothing about rpms balancing speed,
I will give you an update when I tip 90 mph on my truck

 

Man, are driveshaft vibes that common on 1st gens? I didn't have any vibes stock or after I lifted it. I got a carrier drop bracket a long time ago even though I didn't have vibe issues. Currently the rubber on my carrier bearing is cracked & I've got 4:88, still don't have vibes. And if I do have it I sure as heck can't feel it. Is it very noticeable?

 

I’d imagine not unless you fuck something up

 

I’ve never had any issues till my drive shaft wore out, ujoints and Cardin joint and slip shaft All had play with a ping noise when I let the clutch out.

 

Never had issues on mine either unless the carrier bearing was bad. Lifted 4-5'' too.

My single cab is doing this too. It has high miles like yours and is a SX too. Im not sure on mileage as the speedo cable was broke when I bought it so no idea how long thats been going. Easily over 300k though.

 

The ping sound I’m pretty sure is the slip yoke spindles wearing out,
Can’t rebuild the spindles slip yoke

 

Correct, you can but you really have to look for it. More like the clearcoat mismatch but even 5 feet away you cant tell.

Buff the rest of the truck and paint the hood and roof. I had a new tailgate replacement put on which needed paint as well.