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

10 gauge. It weighs 60 lbs. I got a little bit of sag in the front from the weight, but not enough for me to run out and get taller coils.

 

That's it? Crazy. I believe the ARB equivalent is about 120 pounds.

 

Well, they do have to add those crush canisters to make the bumper air bag compliant. I don't have to follow those rules. I'm not using the features as advertisement.

 

Isn't the airbag system on our trucks accelerometer based?

 

We have crash sensors as well as an inertia sensor in the ECU.

With that said, I'm not going to assume that a 14 year old car has the most advanced air bag system.

Seat belts save lives. Air bags help save lives.

 

Didn't know we had crash sensors too. Was that a feature introduced later in the generation? I know Toyota added the explosive pretensioners in the seatbelts sometime in 2000-2001.

 

Going to be doing my greasable shackles, eyebolts, & new bushings next week. Can't wait, last I looked my bushings didn't look too good.

What issues were you having when installing the ball joints? Pressed mine out to install UCAs a couple of months ago. With the BJ press kit I have I had to mill down one of the attchments, went smoothly after that & I have no cv joints to worry about.

 

My one big mistake is I did them while they were off the truck. I changed the UBJ's while I was rebuilding my manual hub steering knuckles for my 4x4 swap. My Manual Hubs got powdercoated, new o-rings, snap rings, and pawl & clutch. My only regret is not changing the wheel bearings.

It took me three days to press them out. AND I had a proper ball joint press kit. I just couldn't get any leverage. I made a wooden frame to mount the knuckle to made of railroad ties, but it didn't help much. I would put all my weight on one end of the mount, and put the other end against the garage door and pull on the pipe wrench will all my might.

It was a nightmare. I should have invested in a hydraulic press.

However, I am sure with the knuckles on the truck it will be much much easier.

 

No bench vise? I think holding the knuckle in a vise would have been easier than on the truck. I did mine with only the lower ball joint attached to the knuckle. I only used a combo wrench to break them free & on their way out, then just used a ratchet to press them the rest of the way out.

Installing the adapters for the uniballs took longer but wasn't harder, just sitting there with the trigger pulled on the impact gun.

 

I had to drop by my father’s shop to use his vice. However, it didn’t help much. There’s no good way to clamp these down. I was clamping it by the brake shield and warping it, but that’s the best leverage I could get on it.

 

I was thinking to clamp it on the knuckle arm if I wasn't successful with them on the truck.

 

Tried that too. It’s not flat so it keeps falling out of the vice no matter how tight you clamp it or position it.

 

Get your gussets welded in and you will have a flat surface to clamp to.

 

That’s a good solution.

 

Drill the lug pattern in some wood or sheet metal, bolt on the hub, then screw that bitch into the wall!

 

Is anyone here running SPC UCA’s?

I have a set and I’m wondering how they stack up against TC or AllPro Uniball UCA’s.

 

It seems

Like the older 1st gens are a bit taller. My 95 was almost 2 inches taller than my 02 when they were both stock

 

Good

Good advice, I have a matco seal driver set. I drilled a small hole in the seal and slide hammered that bitch out. Came out second pop

 

I run SPC Light Racing UCAs. But I have no way to compare them to anything but the stock ones I replaced... So far I've had no complaints.

 

I was looking at those shackles a couple days ago, are you sure the OME will work with the All Pro springs? Description from Wheelers website:

A premium greaseable shackle set. Requires a greasable bushing set, available separately. Provides no additional lift. **Only for OME Tacoma Rear Springs.**