What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Keep dropping hints. Lol. The problem is I keep thinking of more ways to spend TW members money, I mean my depleted bank account is partially TW's fault so it's only fair.

4 of them are all new ideas and the remaining 7 are spins off of parts that are currently available but still very different than what is available now. Most are about the size of a hand... or an arm. Lol.

edit: A minimum of 4 different parts within 5 weeks fully ready to get shipped (I have promises to keep).

 

Great photos!! Truck looks Great, but then it is an Access Cab!! (Sometimes I miss the snow and cold weather)

 

Love the Access cabs, Nice photo! sometimes I do miss the snow, but then I get back in the pool and forget the white stuff!

 

Thank you! I love my AC!

 

Im just over 100k miles. Dad kept all the service paperwork and shoes were done about 60k ago. Shop I take it in for the work I can’t do at home showed me the shoes (on the truck) and they are thin. Maybe two months of life left. Drums are rusty as hell. There is a slight lip forming on the drum, so I figure to just do them both. Biggest issue I have is I don’t have all the tools to do the job and my complex is letting us do less and less stuff.

 

Today I used my Tacoma to help a stranded motorist. He ran out of gas in his little Ranger and I was gonna tow him to the gas station just down the road but someone brought him gas. His truck's battery needed a charge though so I finally put my 8ga jumper/booster cables to use. Right now I am using it to staywarm though. I am doing a stake out type job. 12hr in my truck watching a construction crew storage yard, gonna use some gas cause i need heat since it is gonna drop below freezing.

Sam091990

 

Who lol

 

Just put in a new beat

 

Finally got the cb mounted on the truck. Just need to tune it then its all ready to use

 

I was shopping for a 2020 4Runner TRD Offroad for a bit, but decided to keep my 2010 Tacoma and freshen it up a bit.

Toyota made progress this year by adding the Apple Carplay/Android Auto HU AND the safety sense equipment -- but they need to get their game on with regard to a better powerplant / transmission and improve MPGs. The motivation to change is not strong enough to spend $40K.

So - today at 138,000 miles -- changed out the spark plugs, and installed the Total Chaos bed stiffeners. Since I'm going to continue to run the Autohome RTT, figured the stiffeners was a good preventative measure.

The bed bolts with the T-40 torx head was a PITA - broke one tool with the air gun and it took penetrating oil, heat and a tool extension to get those buggers to move. Starting to use a lot of anti-seize.



What's on deck?

• Either the Bilstein 5100 or the 6112/5160 setup with AAL on deck. Fresh tires (maybe 33's) coming after the mild lift. 31's in the photo above.
• Belt, idlers and tensioner kit on order from RockAuto.
• Pioneer DMH-1500NEX HU ordered
• Lights - bar in bumper, fogs and puddles

 

Reached 130k miles. Anything major maintance I should look out for? I did diff and transfer case oils 15k miles ago, I regularly grease my drive shaft, did spark plugs already, anything else?

 

Thanks!

The NOCO GENM1 “mini” 4A is rated for 120Ah or less and AGM.

So for me it's not about speed, just keeping it on a tender that'll keep the battery in good health, either right before a road trip or when I'm away on deployment.

IMHO for what I need, the 4A model is "enough". I mean over a 24 hour period that's 96 Ah back in the battery. Although I think AGMs do better with a high current charge to get them up to a certain threshold. But as far as conditioning and top-off the mini is all I need.




Also, two years ago, when my OEM “Tow Package” alternator went tits-up, I upgraded to a DC Power Engineering 270 Amp XP Series Large Case High Output Alternator AND the “Big 4” upgrade to 1/0 AWG, (yeah, I know don’t bash me over it - all I’m going to say is after a while, EVERYTHING adds-up... LED lights everywhere, 4 amplifiers, 2 DSPs, seat heaters, mirror heaters, HID retrofits, and many more “electrical mods” that did not came stock). So, like I said, there is more that enough for the Northstar to be in tip-top shape, my set-up is just to give me extra piece of mind and to be used as a “battery tender”, and keep the battery topped-off when needed.

Rick.

 

I know, I know... Big faux pas taking pics while driving. But it was clear ahead of me, and had to take a pic of this.

They grow up so fast.

 

So do you plug it into a wall outlet, or does it also charge while the truck is running and that juice is used to top off the AGM battery?

 

You get home or wherever you need to do it, you shut the engine off like you normally would do, you plug and extension cord to a 120VAC outlet, and the other end (the female plug) to to NOCO port, and walk away.

Even after the battery has completely charged, it can remain plugged indefinitely. When you are ready to leave, unplug it from the 120VAC power source, and drive away.

https://no.co/genm1

^^^ For all the specifics.

Rick.

 

I have an AGM battery that I have been running for a while and have not seen any negative impact of using it. Thought this might be one of those "better" things to do, but I'm not going to plug in my truck every night. If this battery dies prematurely, I'll just go back to the older lead acid like the OEM.

 

Again, this is NOT an every night/day thing, is for when I feel the battery needs it (tending/maintenance) and definitely when I am away FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME and the Taco is NOT going to be moving AT ALL.

 

It's definitely not an every night thing, but AGMs require a float voltage of, I think 14.5 or 14.7 volts? Unless you do the 1a diode mod to your voltage sensing wire, forcing your alternator to put out about .5v more than it normally does, you won't ever get your AGM battery where it needs to be for battery health. That's the purpose of that type of charger, if you don't do the mod, then once every week or two, you need to top it off and let it hit the right float voltage.

But the mod is stupid simple, and precludes the need for a charger. The only ones you can't do it in, I think, are the third gens and that's only because alternator output is controlled by the ECU, not the alternator directly.

 

Agree, waiting also for this bad boy to arrive from Down Under.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Alternator-Voltage-Booster-Dual-Battery-Systems-MK2-Micro-Blade-version&_trkparms=5926%3AKEYWORD%7C5079%3A0&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

*** AGAIN, THE CHARGER IS FOR WHEN THE TACO WILL BE PARKED AND NOT MOVING, NOT STARTING AT ALL ANYWHERE FROM 4 TO 9 MONTHS AT THE TIME ***

When I am gone nobody drives the Taco. So I have a HO Alternator, and AGM NorthStar battery, and the diode mod... CHECK! But those will ONLY work if I drive the Taco daily...

Rick.