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

Yes, hand tight then lower the truck then torque. I was also unable to do that so I used my best guess doing it by hand.

 

I look forward to some review! I really think the clicker will be an awesome feature

 

Power windows! Yay!

 

I might have that athome. Never used it

 

Installed the brand spankin' new diff lock actuator today. After a couple of weeks of rewiring, testing, replacing the ECU and general hassle with this thing, I fired it up with great trepidation, realizing that I now expect it NOT to work...
but it WORKED! Oh yaaay! - Now I can finally file all those wiring diagrams, button it up and go get stuck somewhere to really test it out...

Of note was that the new actuator had a tube of thread locker included, and the install instructions said to make sure and use that.
My first reaction was, "are you kidding?" - I never use thread lockers on the Tacoma - the rust will have 'er locked in a couple of days anyway.

 

truck has a little spot here on the tit of the tail
put some touchup toyota stick paint on it and maybe help or not.. idk
no body rot after nearly 1/4 century please, i have toiled so hard at it lol
before pic


also found a couple of other stray spots in the tail that the pressurized air gun i used to spray anti corrosion stuff in the tailgate area blew off at the edges/hinge at 100psi

 

Did you get the actuator from Rock Auto?

 

No, I already had the Amazon order in before I heard about theirs. Probably got it faster that way anyhow, and free shipping vs. $24 w/Rockauto pretty much evens it out - Thanks!

 

I would get some

 

I may have some tail light assemblies I can sell to you of which I took off my 97. I have 01/04 taillights on it now so I have no need for them. The lenses are blacked out though don’t know if you care or mind. I think they’re a little cracked too. If you want I could just sell you the housings and not the covers. You can buy the covers online

 

Finished installing the coilovers. No more stink bug for me!




About 1 inch higher in the rear, but may settle a little more. Only had the rear suspension installed about 2 weeks. I hear people talking about cycling their suspension after they install it. I don't have anywhere nearby to do that. Could I just drive each corner of the vehicle onto a rhino ramp individually to help it settle in? Other suggestions for how to do this? Thanks to everyone here on TW who answers my questions and/or posts videos and tutorials on DIY'ing the 1st gen. I couldn't do it without you!

 

What suspension set up?

 

OME Nitrochargers and Dakar leaf packs with add a leaf in the rear. OME coilovers with 881 springs in the front. Everything suspension wise on the truck was original equipment. With 270k miles on it.

 

I have the same set up on my 98 without the AAL. Interesting that you have little, to no, rake with the AAL in the rear. With seemingly stock weight back there.

 

Guessing it’s just a double cab thing. They had to start making new short beds for 01 whereas they could reuse the long beds from 95-00 productions.

 

It has settled about 3/4 of an inch since I installed the rear. I do have an 80 pound floor jack in the bed plus the topper.

 

So apparently you’re not supposed to reuse u-bolts. Is this news to just me?

 

yeah.

They strech a lot and can also get worth down.

Depending on how often you take them off and on though. I'll reuse mine for a few years but after that if im doing new leaf spring or bushing, I get new ones.

 

You can and get away with it, but if you're replacing the leaf pack I would definitely put new ones in there.
Otherwise if you're just changing bumpstops or something, it's fine to take them off and put them back on.

edit: Monte beat me to it

 

Well damn. I’ll have to make sure they’re torqued and put some new ones on order. I can’t remember if the ones I have in now are OEM or some aftermarket ones I’ve had.