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

Mechanical knowledge and ability to do stuff yourself versus paying for someone to work on your car was brought up a couple pages ago and thought I’d share this… Two days ago my buddies front passenger wheel bearing blew out and it’s costing him $1400 for parts plus labor as well as new brake rotors and pads… I did that same work on my truck within the past couple months all for about $450-500. I was aghast at the fact it could’ve cost me that much just to not get my hands dirty!!

 

Replaced my serpentine belt today. A little more than 125,000 miles, belt would squeak a little on start up on cold/wet days.

holy cow is it easy. I was a little worried that I’d mess something up but it literally takes 10 minutes. Just be sure to have a diagram handy for putting the new one on.

Old belt, cracks don’t look to bad? What do y’all think?


belt off


allen wrench to pin back the tensioner

 

Diagram ???

 

I agree. I have used it in all manner of Toyotas for years without issue

 

Belt looks great. Fold it up, put some zip ties on it, new trail spare acquired.

 

Put my new patches up. I need more.

 

That's absolutely insane.

 

Ya... Lol not going to happen.

 

Just got back from my grandpa’s house, picked up the used tires from up in Georgia before I left, got the shocks from a guy in deltona on the way down, and got the control arms from a guy in Daytona on the way back up.

Tires are 245/75 r17 Michelin LTX M/S2s with less than 5k miles on them, guy gave me 5 of them for a steal. Shocks are off a 3rd gen TRD-OR, guy lifted it after 5k miles so they’re basically new, and the UCAs are also off a 3rd gen TRD-OR that got lifted after 10k miles. All together cost me $500 and my friends are back from their first year of college so I can get them to help give me free labor when I mount everything.

 

Looks good! Which wheels are those, and also who makes that front bumper?

 

Yeah or take a mental picture lol.

 

Did a full OEM inverter install with parts from a '05 Tacoma that is at the local Kenny-U-Pull.

 

Thank you!

Wheels: Summit Off-road, Model: Dakar
https://summit-offroad.com/collections/dakar-wheels

Bumper: Chasis Unlimited, 2005-2011
https://chassisunlimited.com/2005-2011-toyota-tacoma-octane-front-winch-bumper.html

 

Installed a Meso dual color dome light. Looks good. Can't wait to see it at night.

 

Sorta blacked out my interior.

 

Drove it to Harbor freight to pick up a pack of zip ties so I can bundle the harness before taping it (again).
Took the long way home on roads I've never driven on.

 

What did you use on the shift bezel?

 

adjusted my bull bar so it no longer looks like it’s hanging off the front of the truck and took some baking soda and vinegar to my headlights. That seemed to clear up most of the yellow so after that I cleaned them with armor all and then put some ceramic spray coating over them to hopefully keep the fog away.

 

Finished running the illumination wires for the CH4x4 switches I'll be adding at a later date.
Bundling the harness now and then I'll start taping it. Hope to have it done tonight or tomorrow night.