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

yeah, i checked on the reviews and they're pretty much all over the map. some are great... some are pretty abhorrent. i had a couple of friends buy from this place and they had excellent experiences, plus the customer service was top notch when it came to asking them to order them, they told me they'd be in "next week" when i ordered them and I ordered them the 28th of may... a bit longer than a week. that's when everything went downhill. tbh i'd love a new canopy but i also don't want to spend that much atm. even if i can get some money back from consigning or trading in the old one, still makes me frustrated. the primary issue is that i hate crawling all the way into the bed to grab shit/ I know, doesn't sound like much... but it really wears on you after you keep having to do it. fixing mine was more of a cost saving measure than anything else, plus it's already color matched and still in good shape but given the choice i would rather have a new canopy. we'll see, i just ordered a quote on a new ARE topper so we'll see what the damage is. i also might look into Snugtop, Leer, and some other canopy brands.

 

This....

@razhick4x4 - get the new one and move on.

 

They are 1.5 years young

 

TIG?

 

That definitely MIG

 

Those are nice MIG dimes!

 

Those, are some good lookn books if I don't say so myself. Now could ya be a gentleman and scan that entire series of literature for me? I thank you kindly. I'll message you my one drive info.

 

Sounds like a business opportunity

 

10$ a copy make yo money back. That’s a lot of scanning. I copy books all the time it can take a minute.

 

I'm not sure if Id even do that for the price of those books. That's a lot of work. Been thinking about getting a set though.

 

Yeah I wouldn't either. I was being funny, but some have had great luck using the digital FSMs. I'm not super up to speed on how to change the files and formats and group them and all that stuff.
But some get it set up to be very convenient and easy to use and navigate apparently

 

I have no clue what you just said. Lol.

 

That's what I've always fell back on. Just something nice about having a hard copy, right there while you're wrenching on your truck. Not have to stop, go to the laptop. takeoff screen saver. Maybe clean your fingers.

 

I don't know, they look kinda cold.

Not so sure he wasn't stacking tacks.

 

deleted the abs and cruise control system. its filthy in there.

 

Honestly not too bad for joining mild steel to forged steel. It could be prettier for sure but it does seem like it was hot enough. I think forged steel requires a 300° preheat though, maybe that's only T1 steel.... I'm gonna preheat mine at least

 

Exactly.

After a few years of good use the rolling paper they use started tearing and falling out. I now have them in plastic sleeves, fills up 2 3in binders and 1 2in. But no tearing and grease comes right off

 

I'm far from an expert welder, mostly just giving Monte a hard time really, just figured you'd see more heat put into that 1/8" plate gusset.

 

I just figured he wire wheeled the colors off. If you're right and there were never any colors to begin with then yeah that's incredibly cold. I'm no expert welder either, though I guess I do weld for work pretty darn often... I'll call myself an amateur professional lol

That said I'm all for giving Monte a hard time

 

well i just cancelled the order of the windoors. I spoke with a rep from the company up in Kelowna and he said that they don't even make vented windoors (what i ordered) and never have(said he's worked there 30 years). he even knew exactly the order that had my stuff in it because he'd been going back and fourth with the salesperson at the dealership who kept insisting that they had them. what a PITA! i think i'm going to heed the words of @Yetimetchkangmi and @2002Tacoma4x4 and get a new one. i'm still not sure whether i'll trade in my old cap or sell it but that'll depend on what the place i order from will give me for it. with lead times being what they are, i'm going to wait until the end of July to order. then i'll pick the cap up in Montana and kill two birds with one stone: save 10% and not have to worry about lead times. so far what i'm thinking as far as options on a new one are:

Vented Windoors
Sliding front window
carpet headliner

what i'm still not sure about it whether i want to go with the dual T-locks in the rear or just the single one, and whether to order a roof rack right off the bat or wait until i have a bit more money and install it after the fact. also not sure whether i want to get a set of interior lights or not. Any input here is greatly appreciated. i want to save some money on this where i can, but i also don't want to screw myself over on getting one that's too barebones.