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

swearing. heat. special tools... it gets done.
heres a nice one that was at work one day...



you get really good when you use to do these all the time..

 

Well, it definitely takes some of the fun out of it knowing most any repair under the truck will mean extra work dealing with the rust. Bleeder screws, brake lines, and fuel lines are some I especially don't look forward too. Anything less than 14mm usually the heads snap off the bolts.

 

Gross

 

Working on rust separates the me. From the boys! Lol


(It’s not that bad honestly. But when something brakes it can make a day horrible...)

 

Do they have a seperate pay rate or add hours for working on rusty shit?

 

typically based off the rust we see, price is adjusted accordingly.



fun fact. i've NEVER had an exhaust stud break.. that seems to be everyones nightmare

 

Dude, I've had at least 4 break on me 2 on the tacoma 2 on the Camry and surely some others I don't remember

I just drill the manifold/collector out and use a nut/bolt like it should have been

 

Fresh oil change, greased up zirc fittings, fixed my wobbly rear view mirror, polished/sealed roof paint, cleaned air filter, foam cannon wash.
‘Twas a good day.

 

Today I installed Cam Eliminator bolts to prevent myself from knocking my wheels out of alignment every time I go offroad.

This job was actually a tad difficult. I had to almost entirely remove my power steering rack (disconnected everything except the fluid lines and steering linkage) to pull the old cams out and put the new bolts in.
I was going to install a diff drop kit too, but Trail Gear's kit included nuts that were the wrong size. I was pretty disappointed, considering the kit was around $30.

 

you running adjustable upper control arms then?

 

Did a trail run yesterday.

 

Taco vinyl.

 

Got all the bushings replaced and the truck aligned. Alignment shop (Firestone, where I have a lifetime alignment) called 10 minutes after I dropped off the truck to say, "we can't align this due to all the aftermarket suspension parts." They were adamant about this, even after I brought their attention to the fact that I'd purchased the lifetime alignment after said parts were installed, which they were OK with at the time. Then the tech said, "If you pay for an additional one-time alignment, we can do it."

So it was just exthortion.

I countered with, "How about you just do the best job you can with the cam adjusters on the LCAs, and the tie rods, since both the LCAs and tie rods are stock, so you should know how to do them."

Of course, there's no way for them to come back from that, so they relented. Aligned right up, as always. Still, never going back to that Firestone.

full story, photos:
Replacing All the Bushings

​

 

Did you get the bushings from sornasteel or somwere else?

 

Yes, I have the SPC UCAs

 

I have a similar story involving Firestone and a 1" lifted 3rd Gen 4Runner on all OEM components except the coilovers. I was able to get a full refund on my lifetime alignment by requesting via the website. Multiple places told me the alignment couldn't be done, including a Toyota Dealership. Took it to another dealership that said "oh yeah, we can align that no problem". The latter dealership did a great job. Just depends on the place it seems and whether or not they will be able to do it quickly or not.

Been reading up on how to do alignments at home. It's doable to DIY, just a very tedious process from what I gather.

 

Just FYI, not that you probably want to come all the way over here for an alignment, but the Firestone by my place will do it no problem. They have an ASE master tech who has been doing it forever, had no problem with dialing it in with all the aftermarket stuff.

 

Installed new tires. I installed these myself. I jacked up the car, dismount, mount, balance, The while job was done by my two hands.
Note the 12 o’clock placement of the Goodyear ⚡️. Bummer the center caps don’t align to 12 o clock.

 

I'll take it anywhere, I don't mind going that direction. I've been taking it to Renton for a while b/c Mike had a great guy at the Firestone down there, but he left...

 

Any issues with the alignment afterwards? Can the SPC be fine tuned or are do they only have a limited number of set points?