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

Sure it's the UCA bushings and not the lower bearings on the coilovers? Reason I ask is because I thought for sure my squeaking was coming from my UCAs but turns out it was the lower shock mount bearings...the sound echoes up and makes it seem like it was coming from the top

Mine was more of a deep groany/creaking sound though

 

do you know what diode I should use?

 

Mine sounds like and old door hinge when the lower squeaks and I can make it happen by trying to turn without moving.

 

yeah mine mostly happened when turning, or driving straight and going over any small bumps in the road...but mostly noticeable when I would accelerate from a stop, along with a couple little clunks. The description for the bearings on the Wheeler's website says that the clunking is another indicator that the bearings are toast so I guess it makes sense, worried me at first that something else might be going on.

Oddly enough, the sound and clunking has disappeared entirely over the weekend. I've been religiously spraying Tri Flow on the bearings and it just went away and sounds normal. I have the new ones ordered and on the way though, figure I should replace them since it will likely come back.

 

It's a Spicer product. I bet you beer you're NOT going to have trouble with it. Spicer has been at this a while, and they are OEM to several manufacturers. It's good stuff.

 

I got mine the other day. Just need to put them on.

 

The outer ring of the center bore is slightly different between the two but the new one fit fine.

 

Obviously the voltage is going to be 12VDC nominal- what kind of current are the lights pulling?

 

What is Tri-Flo? I need to find something that will last longer than white lithium grease on squeaky leaf springs. Re spraying every other week is getting annoying. Im thinking of just dousing them with copious amounts of fluid film and hoping it will stay greasy for a long time.

 

Tri-Flow won't and it is expensive, for leafs find something with molybdenum in it

 

They are probably around 1 or 2 amps. I was thinking about a 5amp diode.

 

Don't use the spray can white lithium grease on leaf springs, bushings, etc....that stuff attracts dirt like no other and makes the squeaking 10x worse in my experience. I used to use that stuff a lot.

Tri Flow



I also use any kind of greaseless aerosol lubricant spray... a lot of companies make them, WD40 makes one (not the typical WD40, it's a special variant)..but make sure it says 'greaseless' lubricant on it. It won't attract dirt like lithium grease or silicone will

 

I use that to spray between the leaves sometimes but I find that hitting the leafs with a high powered hose does the best job of quieting them down.

 

Wonder if a spray moly dry lube would help? Id rather not take them off again. If Im going to do that, Im installing greaseable bushings and shackles and extra dampening material on the ends of the leafs.

 

oh yeah if you have greaseable zerk fittings on the leaf bushings then you can use the lithium grease that you pump into them. I would avoid the aerosol white lithium grease though since it sticks everywhere and dirt gets stuck to it real easy

 

Should be fine, depending on the voltage drop of said diode, and the "on" voltage of the LED in question. Bottom line, I'd try it and bet it'll work fine.

I was thinking a 1N4001-4007 series diode, but they're only rated for 1 amp. If I had three of them laying around, I'd be tempted to put them in parallel and give that a go.

It has been quite a while since I worked with them in this sort of application. I have some laying around, might try experimenting with them for my own edumacation.

 

Have you thought about installing teflon spring liners? Also, for lubricant, how about a synthetic marine grease?

 

Yeah positive. The TC gussets take place of the outer UCA washers. When you pump grease into the UCAs you are supposed to loosen the UCA bolt so grease can flow through everything and out between the washers.

With the gussets, well the gussets don't move, grease doesn't get forced between the bushing face & the gusset very well. But they do now after modding my bushings.

Never had a squeaking problem until I got the gussets put on. Plus my coilovers are only 3 months old. Weird cause my old Donahoes never squeaked, the bearings got loose as hell though.

 

@eon_blue or anyone that knows.

Speaking of coilovers I know the bottom bearing is replaceable but what about the top? The top hats on my DRs flop around easily. I need to get by DRs rebuilt but hoping all those issues can be fixed too.

 

@Squeaky Penguin or @Speedytech7 had mentioned to me about the top bearings earlier, they should have some good info for ya. I know they said they were a bigger pain to do than the lowers but shouldn't go bad as easily