'She's Gonna Kill Me' - Build and Existential/Financial Crisis Thread

Thanks. Yeah im mostly creeping around south knoxville. With this covid stuff going on not really anywhere to go right now.

Now that i have the clunks and pops outta my front end i want to hit some trails.

I heard you said its time to do yours.. how many miles do you have?

 

I'm right at 90k. I put on 5100s at about 10k, and haven't touched anything in the front since. I'm chasing a vibration/steering wheel shake and my lbj's are leaking pretty bad, so I figured it would be a good time to replace everything on the lower. Probably will just get a complete new arm once I figure out where/what brand everyone is going with. Already have some jba uca's on the way, as I have been running my factory ones with a half ass alignment this whole time.

 

Well I went with Moogs this time for a couple reasons. 1. they were cheap (just over $100 each on rockauto), and 2. their ball joints are used by Camburg and Dirt King for their $1600 lowers, so that's a pretty good endorsement.

I have no reservations at this point. I plan to rebuild my old ones when it cools off.

 

So my big clunk is gone, and my passenger side creak is gone, but I did a little flexing and found i still got a little clunk, figure it has to be this
Drivers Side


Passenger side looks ok


But I went ahead and ordered the whole set with cab mounts because it was only a couple bucks more. I remember reading something about you can install them upside down and get a little body lift so I will be looking into that as it would be nice to get .5" here. maybe shim it out with washers? No one makes .5 lift that I have seen, only 1".

$109 ENERGY SUSPN Energy Suspension 8.4109G Body Mount Set-Reg, Access & Dbl Cab

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1X9ZA6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Replaced the plugs yesterday. Got them from Toyota, all were gapped correctly at .043.. Weird the passenger side came out a lot harder than drivers side. Maybe the last guy put a little more ass in to those since they are easier to get to.. idk. All were matching Densos, so I imaging they were changed around 30k by a previous owner..

 

Moog was where I was leaning as well. I saw you mention Whiteline lca bushings in a previous post, did you swap the new ones that come on the arms from RockAuto for Whiteline or is that what you plan to use when you rebuild your old ones?

 

Thats what i am using for the rebuild. I also picked up some Mevotech Ball Joints, their ‘extreme terrain’ series which have a green boot. Allegedly they are really good. I bought two sets of whitelines, as my FJ is coming up so i will do a practice run with the Tacoma OEMs first as i am not swapping in different LCAs rather i will rebuild them while the FJ is in jack stands.

Swapping the LCAs wasnt bad at all. My only screw up is I marked with a paint pen where my cam tabs lined up. After I pulled the first lca I had some crud so I hit it with some brake kleen and poof my marks were gone

So I put it back where I thought it was and wasnt even close, so i had to take it to the alignment shop that day.

 

Had a great time last weekend down Coker Creek/ Tellico River way. Rented a cozy little cabin, drove some forest service roads, a little hiking, a little fishing.

 

Installed some Wheelers Superbumps this week..

 

Whoa you went full mountain man with that beard.

 

Lol yeah Erin said she likes it.. now she complains I'm too scratchy..

 

No rest for the wicked..

 

Hey @Newlife do you remember what sealant you used for your snorkel? The instructions call for Sikaflex 227, which is kind of a pain to get.. Its sensor safe urethane I believe. I was thinking of trying a windshield adhesive, a sensor safe RTV(though seems like the silicone does not play well with the LLDPE of the snorkel?) or some construction Polyurethane, but IDK..?

 

I didn’t seal my snorkel. We sealed the air box but not the snorkel

 

Yeah it looks like the sealant is only for the A pillar holes.. I imagine there are plenty of different sealants suitable for this.. I was thinking the joints needed to be sealed but I guess I should read the directions before I ask questions lol..

 

Decided to get out Sunday with the kid, did about 5 miles on the French Broad River. No bites as it was the heat of the day, but it was great to get out. Saw an Otter, several deer, groundhog, and tons of birds.

 

Just saw this thread of yours... awesome! I equally make bad decisions and have poor time management when it comes to the garage/stable.

 

Haha I hear that!

 

So I have been crap at taking pictures lately. I have been too busy doin it I guess?

Recently cut my fenders back and put on after market true bolt on flares, ala @Nimble9 https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-true-bolt-on-cheap-ebay-longbed-flares-on-a-shortbed.662065/

Since I was ripping my fender liners out, I had bought a Dobinson Snorkle in preparation to do at the same time so I also got that done, and since I did all that cutting, I had to celebrate it by stealing the tires off the Pig (305/70R17 Goodyear MT-Rs)and put them on the Taco.

Oh, and I had my local shop 'Rock Your 4x4' weld on Marlin Crawler LCA frame brace gussets. This of course meant I had to chop up my skids a little, which I say 'of course', but what I really mean is 'of course I didnt think about that until I was trying to put my skids back on in the rain'.. also my @BAMFTACO LCA skids no longer fit, so I will have to cut those down now also, but that will require a little more patience so I get it right, so that's still on my too-do list..

 

Aaandd.. I took this girl out for some gnarly trail riding and camping this past weekend. Again didnt take many pictures but had a blast. '2014 Magnetic Gray Mica Double Cab Short Bed Tacoma with Off Road Package' did awesome, and the 305s were just what the Dr ordered as some of the trails up in Daniel Boone NF were ragged. The creek was pretty low which is typical for this time of year. I dont think I ever got deeper than the top of my wheels. Didnt harm the truck at all this trip except scar up the rear diff skid a bit. This was the first time I took my girlfriend on real 'you never know if you will have to hike out' off-roading and she gasped and 'ooh'ed on every major bump lol but had a lot of fun. I took her to one of my favorite spots so I could also do a bit of agate hunting.. Brought my sweet canine Sadie and her little side-kick rat Eli. Eli(Chihuahua) ended up pissing in the RTT the last night which was pretty awesome. Also managed to forget a bag of snacks and the blankets, but it ended up being pretty warm for blankets anyways and we still had plenty of food..

In process camp set-up:

We basically camped on the gravel bar..

Sadie

Eli, aka 'Trashy' looking like a bear cub..

A handful of nodules to be cut. A couple look promising..

Airing out the tent: