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

what did you use to clean the valve cover?

 

Easy off oven cleaner and a nylon bristle brush. 1 can per valve cover.

 

Wasn’t today but a couple days ago. Got to battle these stripped o2 sensor nuts. I won lol.

 

Did a thing, replaced the 60/40 seats with Corbeau Sports. Have a few small finishing items to take care of, but I like these way more than the thrashed and trashed OEMs. First time peeking under the seat covers and they scared me

 

Nice!

Welcome to TW.

I swapped out my seats two summers ago. One of the best things I've done.

 

Beat me too it... Lol.

 

That’s a helluva first post, welcome!

 

Im the same way, I took mine off the chain and put a normal keyring on it, short enough that it doesnt have the room to bang around.

Fun fact, those studs are removable! I didn't find that out until after cutting the bolts off

 

Really? I wonder how easy that could’ve been. I ended up screwing on a new nut to the old nut and welding it and then it easily came off lol

 

Thank you!!

 

Pulled the tranny and engine. Cut off the busted engine perches. Welded in DMZ fab ones. Successful day.

 

Well done dude! Should give it a bath while you can

 

Thanks man. Was a project.


My dad and I said that like 10 times haha almost said fuck it and went to buy one.

But whatever.

 

Finally got my new wheels and tires on the truck, but not without a fight.

Ordered SCS BR6 in gunmetal 17x8.5, and had them sent to OMF Performance for beadlock conversion. I’ve never had an issue airing my non-beadlock wheels down to 4-5 psi in the snow before, but the additional security of having the bead mechanically locked to the rim as well as the ability to mount my own tires seems worth it to me. Wheels were ordered on May 27th and showed up Sep 9th.



This is where I ran into the snag. My rear axle is a full float out of an FZJ80, and if you read the fine print on SCS’s website it says that their wheels fit every Toyota except Landcruisers. I read no such fine print, for I am an idiot. So I discovered when I test fit the wheels that the mounting boss for the wheel center cap doesn’t fit over the large 4.5” hub diameter of the FJ axle.

Luckily I have access to a production machine shop, so I hauled the wheels down there and got ready to do some further customization. We chucked the wheels up in a Bridgeport mill with CNC table and used a circular interpolation program with a 1” hog mill bit to carve out the bore diameter to 4.5”.







Having undergone their second round of machining and modification, the wheels were now ready for tires.

I had intended on going with Goodyear MTR in 35x12.5r17, but they were on national backorder so my second choice were Nitto Trail Grapplers in 35x11.5r17. They are one of the few 35’s in C load range besides the MTRs, which was a requirement for me. My current MTRs in 315x75r16 have 55k miles on them and have served me extremely well. I’ll be interested to see how the Trail Graps compare.

I mounted the tires on the wheels and torqued the beadlock rings down per OMF specs, then used a CO2 tank to seat the inner bead. I didn’t take any photos of that process but there are plenty of semi-decent youtube videos on how to mount beadlocks.





Interestingly, the new tires are only 1/2” taller than the worn out MTRs, even though they are a true 35 (34.75” actual) compared to the 315’s (34.6”).

It was raining cats and dogs so I threw the new wheels on quickly and took it for a short test drive. The Nittos felt fine on the street and weren’t excessively loud, and the skinnier tires felt like they required less steering effort. We’ll see how they do in the dirt soon, hopefully.

 

Installed my armrest finally that I picked up 2 months ago from another member here.

Need to Jimmy it and add some brackets to get it to sit securely, but so far so good.

The armrest came from a 98 automatic Tacoma so it doesn't really sit perfect on the transmission hump and needs some extra brackets.

 

Looks good! Bummer they aren't taller, considering those for my 1st gen currently. Or the Toyo's AT3s in the same size/load range.

 

This doesn't surprise me. The mtrk are known for being on the tall side. Nittos aren't. But still quite the difference. Shame manufacturers aren't more consistent

 

Yeah I’m not sure if Nittos run on the small side or what. If you are still running the Solo arms you could probably get away without tubbing to fit these. The narrower size will help a lot too.

I’m not too worried about it, it would be nice though. We’ll see how long these Nittos last for me, my next set of tires will be…larger.

 

Need someone with the Toyos to measure, and the Kendas for that matter. But probably doesn't really matter.

Still have the Solos. I measured my current 285/75r17 against a buddies 35x11.50 maxxis and they were only 1/2" different, so I'm pretty confident I'll be able to fit skinny 35s without tubbing.

Should just find small 37s...