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

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I think there's going to be a difference in opinion. Your shock is the travel limit so that's what you risk damaging. FWIW I top out my ome coilovers all the time and haven't killed them yet. It's not the most pleasant feeling or sound but it hasn't damaged anything yet.

 

Passenger side burned in now. It's much better but still has a curve in it and the bolts still go in crooked. I'll feel better about bolting the bumper to it and having recovery points there though. Not putting the stock tow hook back on but I will use the tie down brackets since they work well with shackles.

Yes, my welding still sucks but it's improved significantly from when I started with the cross piece between the horns! I actually went over a few of those welds while I was there.

 

What? you got 700s with you ADS? And no preload gave you 3'' of lift? something isn't right there...How long of a coil are you running?

A lot of factors there.

Sometimes the UCA can actually be the limiting factor, the uniball ones will allow enough travel with the right coil over that the bolt will start to damage the cup. Limit straps needed.

Some combinations will make the CVs bind up before anything else. Limit strap needed.

And some will have the shock top out before anything else. Limit strap needed..


So really. A lot of factors at play.

Considering he has 5100s I don't think saving the internals of the shock are a super high priority. So let it ride. Unless the UCA is getting tweaked..which I doubt as 5100s don't have enough travel.

 

Sorry. They came with 650s and yes the standard 14”... IIRC it was just over 24” hub to fender. It rode like complete garbage too. Way too much for a stock front end. I was rubbing the reservoirs pretty bad too, which was probably the 1.25” spacers on stock 4Runner wheels.

By the way the new ADS C/O use a top cap that’s threaded over the body of the sock where the older ones use a top cap that’s threaded into the shock body. I believe this increase the amount of preload even with zero threads showing between the top-cap and the thing that keeps preload on the coil. ADS advertises them form 2.5-3” now.

The version I have has a minimum of 1” preload. To be clear with the struts off the truck the strut measures 13” (1” of actual preload) That nets me 1.75” of lift over stock hub to fender.

ADS was involved in everything, they sent me the 550s and I sent the 650s back.

So I changed the angle of the reservoir, removed the spacers and used 550lb springs. Much better. But I’m adding .75” spacers today to see if it helps rubbing. Problem is I rub on the rear of the fender. Not the pinch weld. If I want that fixed I’m going to cut the actual factory fender by an inch or so. And the spacers will probably make that worse. But I’m just doing this to see what actually happens.

 

Love it!

Hells yes

 

ah gotcha. Interesting yours had that much built in preload. But would explain why it road like bricks haha

 

Supposedly the new topcap design allows for more compression. I guess the downside is at a minimum it’s 1” of preload. They should all be coming like that now though.

 

hm good to know. Kind of a bummer though if you ask me.

 

Been tracking down a popping sound for awhile so I decided to use this ditch at my wife’s work in an attempt to find it. Ended up being the fuel filler neck.
Temp fix.

Also got a little flexy while looking for the pop

 

Anyone have any experience replacing their fender with one of those cheaper 'OE' ones that you get on Rockauto or eBay or places like that?

I smashed mine today on a trail...rutted out and off camber and sent me sideways into a wall of dirt.

Really don't want to pay $400+ for an OEM fender but I also don't want to end up with one that doesn't line up well. Anyone use those cheaper ones? I assume they all come from the same factory in Taiwan or wherever they get made and just get rebranded with different names. Looking at one on Amazon by a company called 'Diften' for $100 + free shipping. Unpainted of course...I'll worry about color matching it later.

Any input would be great...feeling like an idiot right about now lol. Also need to replace my driver's side mirror and turn signal housing but those I can get aftermarket for pretty cheap.

 

Never for my Tacoma but I baught one from rockauto for my car and they are very thin and don’t line up very good either.

 

That's what I'm afraid of, ugh. I've read mixed reviews, some say they look fine and others say they don't line up well. I'm not looking for it to be 100% OEM quality of course but if it's going to not match the lines of the truck, that will bug me.

Called my local Toyota parts dept and they told me they can get me one by Wednesday for a whopping $450. Not quite ready to pull the trigger on that if I can someone find a deal on a good aftermarket one or a used one somewhere.

 

And I'm done. Everything has a good coat of paint on it now. Painted the exposed part of the rad support oo so it will blend in nicely with the new bumper. Just have to bolt the tie down points back on tomorrow.

 

Whats this about using a shackling in the tie down bracket?

So why wouldn't a performance shock be able to handle topping out if the cheapos do? Internal bumps?

Id try getting on car-part.com and see if you can find a used one in your color.

 

At this point I would recommend finding a local member with some experience to help you out.

 

Started the valve cover gasket replacement.






Taking a break for a bit.

Not really done to the Tacoma yet, but made a purchase as well...

 

ouch....



it's really not as awful as it looks, just need a fender, a mirror and the turn signal housing. And touch up paint. A lot of touch paint lol.

 

Not ideal but better than no recovery point at all. It's what I have until my bumpers come in.

 

Time for some fiberglass fenders. Then once you have them you can upgrade to long travel!

 

Nicely done. Why not hit up some junk yards to see if you can find one?