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

what's the height of the opened hood to the floor? i like the spiker strut idea but i'm not that tall. maybe i need to run my own struts custom.

 

I put this on mine. Worked great for a while. But the cable for the tailgate was always being jammed in a weird way and it wasn't too long before it broke. After replacing the cable for the second time. I took off the tailgate assist. I don't recommend this mod for anyone! Save you money for something else.

 

Finished with front end, Rancho RS9000XL quick lifts, new upper control arms, new sway bar links, new lower ball joints, new tie rod ends, new drilled and slotted rotors with new pads. Have put 274,xxxx miles on this thing since 2012 and now it feels and drives like a new truck. Had to lift the rear 1.5 inches as well just to get rid of that gangster lean or donk mobile look. In all that, it does not appear I need an alignment, going to run it by for a check and alignment to be sure but rolling between traffic lights at 30 mph hands off of wheel and braking the thing tracks straight and true. Now, have a set of Set of 4 Herko Ignition Coil B087HE Red inbound, have had a noticeable drop in MPG over the past year or so, no codes, no CEL, changed out plugs a few months ago but no improvement, have cleaned Mass Air Flow Sensor, cleaned air filter, changed air fuel ratio pre cat sensor to DENSO so hoping this makes a difference. I was getting almost 25MPG on the highway before and that dropped to around 19.5-21 MPG on long trips. I had replaced OEM Ignition coils with some off brand eBay crap at around 190K miles and they worked good for a while. Hoping this restores MPG.

 

Looking to mount my Ripp superchargers oil catch can but can’t mount it in the required location due to the compressor. Any ideas?

please excuse my dirty bay

 

I am only 5'10" and I set it 4" higher than the stock height and I can still reach it easily. You can set it at stock height.

 

And NOW the passenger side light bulb again...Well at least it only took me about 3 minutes this time because I'm experienced...Got another two pack...I watching you drivers side! 202,431

 

Did alot of rewiring, ripped apart the 3rd crossmember due to some leaks. Took a picture at the park.

 

Great setup!

Our group went GMRS and paid the $70FCC fee to use the repeaters. For a while this worked great, but the repeater we used might be down.

For full disclosure our use would be infrequent and mostly when off road. Overall experience I'd rate at a beginner level given the frequency we are able to get out. If we switched over to HAM I would want to do it right and take the HAM tech exam. Curious what the investment would be in terms of time and cost. Plus any recommendations for a HAM vehicle set up? I would want one on the trailer (Base camp) and vehicle.

 

It comes with directions on how to mount it to get different amounts of lift. Pretty straightforward

 

Cost wise it is minimal. About the same as GMRS. I run an anytone 778uv with powerwerx SAR antenna. I can hit 10-15 miles simplex and repeater wise 50-100 miles. With more advanced repeaters that utilize winlink I regularly have conversations with other operators as far as Alaska. Ham is more versatile in many ways but does have testing restrictions, which aren't bad at all if you enjoy electrical work.

Excuse the dirty interior.. just a quick shot of the cabin setup. I rarely use the cb anymore tbh.

 

Just another lighting upgrade

 

My son came home and parked his new to him ‘02 beside my ‘10 and ‘98. I wonder if all the neighbors can tell the brand of trucks we like?! Haha

 

Installed new carpet into my son's 2007 taco. Taco family here!

 

We plan to simplex GMRS, there aren't as many around as 2m/70cm repeaters. For us it was the time investment of the other guys to study for and pass the tech exam. They don't plan on using the radios outside of wheeling communications so it was a no brainer to pay and play. (We also joke the one guy can't read so it would have taken him a bit to pass).

As for radios I started with a UV5R which was 25 bucks on Amazon. I could hit repeaters 13 miles away on 5w 2meter. I have since upgraded to a 50w icom 2730a in my truck which has waaayyyyy more reach but is also 15x the cost as a cheap handheld. There are 40-50w GMRS equivalents but again we are only planning wheeling coms so less than 1 mile distance with clear uninterrupted communication. It was real nice when going around blind turns in a caravan on tight trails or over blind hills/drops to have guys wait until we made it without having to get out of the vehicle.

Cost wise you can get a UV5R (ham) for about the same price as a UV5X (GMRS) and they will both function the same up to 10ish miles. There are a lot more >5w ham radios than there are GMRS >5w radios. All in all I'm glad I got my tech exam, but I may throw a GMRS or cheap ham in my trailer when it's finished for home base as well.

 

I thought I would use my CB way more when I bought and installed it but too many people don't tune them properly and it makes communications suck.

Which is why I advised the group I wheel with to just start with GMRS

 

Moved some fence boards for a friend.

 

So I was helping my brother with his lights today and I thought Guys here would like to see them. He pulled his factory lights apart off of his 2013 tacoma, painted everything and now he is putting in some 7” jeep led lights from Amazon inside. Let me now when y’all think. I personally really like them.
I will follow up on them when they are finished.

 

Took advantage of the holiday weekend and did a little solo off-roading for two days in the Leadville-Breckenridge area of CO and saw this guy!


Having run a number of “moderate” trails this year, I wanted to get my feet wet and run a few “hard” trails. And I got my money’s worth that’s for damn sure! Hit skids, sliders, bumpers, rear diff got banged up a few times. Got hung up a few times. After this trip I’m definitely gonna make the jump to 35’s.

Birdseye Gulch, Mosquito Pass, Red Cone, Radical Hill, Middle Fork of the Swan River, North Fork Swan, Saints John.

All the trails were super scenic and many offered more of a challenge than I was expecting. Add to that the running and standing water on the trails both days.

Birdseye Gulch big ass rocks uphill in the water. No biggie

Red Cone had some healthy obstacles on the way up and amazing scenery from the top. And a steep steep descent (pics never do the hills justice)

Radical hill was pretty fuckin hard on 33s. Videos and such all go on about the narrow death defying off-camber switchbacks. And it was all of those things. They gloss over the super rocky obstacle filled mile before that.

View of the switchbacks from the top.
This was the easiest obstacle.

Views across to Red Cone from half way up. Mountain goats in the road near the summit


North and middle fork of the swan River were beautiful and rocky. With optional lines to bump the rating. I somehow found them all. I’m taking the harder rating for both of those trails.


The V-Notch section of the the North Fork was a steep, muddy, off-camber washed out mess that was so narrow it closed both my mirrors on the way up.

Moderate way on the right. Hard line I accidentally came down on the left.

And on the way up to the summit on Saints John trail. My truck looking muddy as usual.

 

Who did your gauge lights? I will be making my lights white at some point. not a fan of the orange.

 

I suppose I should share it here, for anyone that missed my thread. I did some minor restoration to the rear axel.

Before:


Cleaned for priming:


After: