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

I just don't want an oil pump leak to happen like it did on my Camry than need to take the diff out

 

It's an annoying job to reseal the pump cover deal, and since everything under the timing cover is sealed to the block it probably isn't a concern. But you could always clean the engine real good and dump in some UV dye and see if she's leaking.

 

added redline hood lifts today, work well .

 

didn't know this was a common problem. mines cracked there too.

 

37s! On the left. Unfortunately it wont happen. I would need to tub again and regear. Fuck all that. Lol.

Thanks @StevenP. For letting me try on your shoes!

 

Oh ya. I have a makita grinder and a Bosch grinder. The Bosch has variable speed an I love it, but the makita is a god damn work horse.

 

Finally got around to installing my Energy Suspension steering rack bushings I've had sitting in my room for 2 years. Rack was moving around when the wheel turned so it was time.

Had to grind the flange down on the long driver's side bushing bolt so it would clear the front diff...diff drop puts it just slightly in the way.



Flange grinded down to clear



Old bushings out





Old ones didn't look too bad but the rack moving around said otherwise



New bushings in...pain in the ass to press in with the sticky ES grease, using a c-clamp to press them in together made it easy.



The middle one is probably the biggest pain only because that bolt isn't easy to get to. I never had to disconnect the tie rod like some write ups suggest...but I can see how that would have made it easier to move the rack around.

Followed this guy's video on how-to

https://youtu.be/iQ7i7QVx-lA

 

Wait, why did you grind the bolt down? You didn’t need to take it that far out

 

Diff drop

 

I didn't take it out all the way but for it to come out enough to clear the bushing, it had to go past that part of the diff.

Normally you wouldn't have to grind it but the diff drop lowers it enough that it's slightly in the way.

Was tempted to just remove the useless diff drop but I couldn't find the old (shorter) bolts for it

 

Hmm. Interesting. When I did mine the diff drop didn’t cause an issue. But I also was on a lift and took the tie rod loose of the ball joint to move the rack back a fair bit

 

Maybe taking the tie rod off made the difference, I could see how that would have given me a lot more room to move the rack around. With them connected it took some fighting with the rack to get it back into place to line the bolts up

Of course the video I followed made it look way easier edited down than it was in reality lol.

 

Did the exact same thing this weekend. I disconnected the drivers side tie rod and it did make it super easy to maneuver the rack around, but it was a pain when trying to put the long bolt back in as I had trouble getting it lined up. Took me a good 30 minutes but finally got it.

Took a few hours start to finish, but as I was about to button everything up I realized my tie rod the I popped loose had chewed up threads and wouldn't tighten down any more. The ones that were on the truck were some parts store special that just had nylock nuts holding them on. Luckily, I had a set of OEM ones on hand and just swapped them out, took a little longer cause they had rust-welded to the inner tie rod. Little PB blaster, crescent wrench on the inner and vice grips on the outer and I was able to break them free. Put some anti-seize on the new ones to avoid that pain in the future.

Happy to be done with everything, just need an alignment now after messing with the otes. Even after matching the previous ones thread count I'm still looking a little toed in on the drivers side. I have a firestone less than a 1/2 mile from my house so I' use my lifetime to at least get it drivable.

Surprise jobs really suck, but suck less when you have the parts on hand...

 

The Honda ones I did install and they are adjustable up, down, left, right,

 

I just did this. Had to make my own press out of a bolt washer and nut to removed the little bushings. Lol

 

The wrap continues. The right front is the beat one by far. It’s been quite the process to do and learn at the same time. I’ll be luck if I have enough left over to redo a couple panels that could be better. The crappy wrap is still WAY better than my shitty paint from 2004.

 

Looks good. Don’t think that I’d attempt it

 

Same thing kind of happened to me. I had to disconnect the tie rod. But couldn’t get the castle but back on the joints was shot so I replace both outer and messed up my steering wheel even though I measured and remeasured a dozen times. Ended up just pulling the trigger on new front and rear shocks, ball joins and the 2” lift lol. All in I was less than $600 I think. Then the alignment was $150 (3 year unlimited re-alignment)

 

Took the truck out wheeling this weekend! Had a blast.

 

Defiantly a learning curve here. Wind and dust play a major roll, plus the dents and dings and the curves. The flat parts are super easy and I’ve figured out a lot of little tricks here and there. I happy with the way it turned out but know I could do better. The first panel took a few hours hahaha the last few 20min each.