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

TRD trailer hitch

TRD oil cap to match the TRO intake

 

I went with Gates pulleys from @RockAuto and was pleased with the quality. The parts were made in Canada and had good name brand dual-shielded bearings in them. I used

• 2 ea.
  $37 GATES 36173 DriveAlign Belt Drive Idler/Tensioner Pulley
  GATES 36173
• 2 ea.
  $42 GATES 36174 Idler Pulley
  GATES 36174
• 1 ea. OEM belt

If you're replacing one, might as well replace them all, and as far as the tension arm being bad, it's relatively rare for the actual arm to go bad as opposed to just the pulley.

In my case, I checked before ordering by getting under the truck with a 14mm socket on a short breaker bar and torqueing counter-clockwise on the idler pulley bolt to check the strength of the arm, and it was fine. It took two hands (at an awkward angle) to fully exercise the tensioner. I have no idea what the scientific numbers are for that, but I was satisfied that the actual arm was A-OK.

Beware that the tension arm idler pulley goes on with reverse threads, and also that the GATES 36174 has slightly different dimensions that the OEM tension arm idler pulley. You can source a longer reverse thread bolt if you want, but I (and many others) simply ended up taking the bushing that comes with the GATES 36174 and putting it into the front of the pulley, then re-using the factory bolt. This will center the bolt in the pulley bore correctly, and the factory tension arm mount point has a mating surface that meets the rear face of the bearing correctly for a mechanically sound mount.

Since the bearing is shielded on the back, it is not of serious concern to not use the supplied dust shield. If you do try to use it, or to put the bore spacer on the back, it moves the pulley farther forward than the OEM part relative to the path of the belt, which may cause issues with the edge of the belt running off the back of the pulley.

Torqueing it to the correct value was a bit of a pain since my torque wrench wouldn't fit in order to tighten to spec (since the threads are reversed and the tensioner moves clockwise, you're fighting against the travel of the tensioner while tightening), so I tightened with a socket just until the tensioner started moving CCW and then checked in "reverse" (CW) with the torque wrench. It took two tries to get it within 1 lb of spec, and I called that good.

 

Dude that welder is fye I have the same one you’re gonna like messing around with that thing I’ve built all my armor on my truck with it

 

https://alpharexusa.com/product/05-...jector-headlights-alpha-black/?v=f24485ae434a

 

Are they sold individually or in pairs?

 

After a long weekend, here she is.

 

Broke up with gf, moved out of the house, and decided to take "working remotely" more serious and live in the truck for a few months hunting and fishing everyday. Time to reset myself. Solar keeps my batteries topped and allows me to work during the day, and hunt/fish in the evenings and live indefinitely. Motorcycle allows me to make runs to nearest town if I need to.

 

I got them as a pair, however I got them from Tacomabeast on a Black Friday sale for $350 lol the normal price is too steep for me.

 

Another day shot for those of you wondering about them

 

Just gotta learn to use it and i'll be on my way lol

 

This is possibly the greatest ending to 2020 i can think of, all you need is a dog

 

This is the perfect life

 

What’s up with the AT sticker on a FlipPac?

 

Hell. Yes.

Wish I would have had the balls to do that earlier in life.

 

Found out why my clutch stopped working this weekend

 

Anyone have any nice pics of the pinch weld beat down? It goes out towards the fender correct?

 

Thanks. Looks like Toyota didn’t offer that option in the RC. I did find one on Rock Auto, so I may go that route. Price was really reasonable as well, though I’m not sure it had a backing included.

 

towards the outer looks cleaner but is harder

 

If I was willing to be seen in a DC, this would be it. Beautiful.

Done right.

wondering if there's a correlation between this awesome build and the break up... (not to make light of it man. been there...just, well, making light of it.)

 

Good on you! Sounds like it is something that needed to be done, so good luck with everything, and I hope this time to yourself is enlightening for your next moves in life