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

Rebuilt my truck bed drawers which were previously all plywood.

 

Nice work!
This is my next project after I finish the swap. I have a dometic on the right and need to work up a deck with covered/removable lids for storage in the rear behind the dometic and the width of the bed. On the left a 5 foot drawer. Basically an upside down L shaped layout. Curious, what wood did you use and where can I find that framing material?

 

Wasn't quite as successful of a weekend as I wanted. Steering rack proved to be way more of an issue than I though it would be.

When I though the bolts came lose on Dusy, it was more than that. The tack welds on the nut (bottom) and bolt (top) of the bracket (passenger side) bolt broke. That was a bitch.

Ended up having the re-weld the bolt... that bitch is not going anywhere. Those aren't tack welds any more. I had to weld front the bracket mounting surface side and then counter sink the bracket to allow the weld bead to nest in it.

Then I cut an access hole to get the (tacked) nut out, and allow access for the Grade 8 nut and spring washer. So the bottom of the bracket is now Grade 8 nut and bolt.

Rack bushings were replaced while I had the rack lose. Even with 100,000 hard miles, and the rack coming lose on one of the hardest trails in CA (with it being lose for a couple miles until I figured out what the sound was) the only (Energy Suspension) bushing that was really bad was the band bushing, under the bracket... with the problems with that bracket, it was obvious why it was bad.

Also got the tires rotated... and re-fabbed skid mounting points. I drilled out the front 2 that have the nuts tacked inside the crossmember. (mine were both broken long ago) then welded in Grade 8.8 flange nuts. The stupid tabs, at the rear LCA mounts, that are barely thicker than sheet metal with nuts tacked to them were replaced by 1/4 thick by 1 inch Flat bar drilled with a Grade 8.8 flange bolt pressed through it and welded on the back side.




Still need to replace the CV axle seals and figure out the manual hubs. I also need to figure out which one of my belts is screaming at me every morning. Pretty sure it's the alternator.

 

Well, my truck killed another x2 battery... Reinstalled new battery and attempt to start the truck and the starter fails to engage the flywheel. Begin removing starter and drop socket into the bellhousing

Anyone else get sick of wrenching on these things and just want to light a match and watch it burn?

 

Haha ouch!

 

Do you have even a small compressor? It's so much more cost effective by the gallon and spray kit. Way better coverage too.

I have been there MANY times.

 

Good old Trudy took second place in the Truck class at the Nitto NMCA AutoX World Finals autocross event this last weekend!!

 

nice. looks fun, Whens the turbo go on? haha

looks like a rear sway bar would be beneficial.

 

I had built it with regular pine plywood a few years ago, with the intent of giving it a coat of poly to help with waterproofness. I used the skateboard bearings slide system to save money, heavy duty drawer slides were out of my budget then.

Fast forward to the present and the plywood was delaminating near the windows where they get the most water exposure (the shell windows leak a bit). I was going to replace all the wood with marine grade plywood or abs but ended up trimming most of the damaged part of the plywood top off and sanding and coating everything with polyurethane. Should hold up for a few more years I think.

The framing material is 80/20, 10 series (1 inch square). Fantastic stuff! But it can get expensive. The profiles I got at Grainger but all the brackets and angles were knockoffs I got on eBay.

The top parts are currently screw down, as I park my truck in the City (San Francisco) often and need the security. I have a lock in the tailgate which prevents the drawers from sliding out enough to access the inside, thats what the clear plexi is for.

 

Nicely done. Thanks for the additional info.

 

Torque converters... yay. Drained a little less than 2 quarts out of the prerunner torque converter. The torque converter from the A340F transmission was drained before shipping, nothing in that one. Going to have to 'fill' it before installing the transmission. EDIT: I was able to get roughly 1 qt into the TC, Maybe 1/4 of it came back out when I was trying to reinstall the TC. As long as you have some fluid in there, call it good.

Wanted to note and share, if removing your torque converter for whatever reason - get a mark on it and the bell housing. This will help big time in getting it lined up and back on the transmission. I didn't mark the A340E and stll messing with trying to line it up. PITA to get it to seat fully. This can help also - watch it.

Eeewwww...



2002 torque converter on the right, 1999 on the left.


Mark it!


Once you think you have it fully seated, be sure to check ---

 

I've put a lot of torque converters in, push and turn, shake back and forth, push and turn. Last thing you hear will be a more clunk of the converter seating in the pump gear. Should be three clunks, make sure it is seated all the way before calling it good, if you don't seat the last one, you burn the trans out cause the pump won't be engaged.

 

3 clunks for sure... thx

 

Yesterday I replaced my master and slave cylinder, it drove like a dream up until this happened on my way back from lunch (during the first big downpour we've had this season). Now do I look for one KM3, or do I switch all four to ST Maxx/Falken Wildpeak?

 

A member here was nice enough to give me a smoking deal on these BORA spacers that are brand new!! Gonna mount them up soon

 

Klever RT

 

I'm rebuilding mine right as we speak!

 

Just pulled mine apart. Found a bearing with half a race. I'm kind of surprised that it doesn't look worse after being flooded and using it to climb obstacles that the engine could not. No sign of heat discoloration on the gears.

 

When filling an empty torque converter, about how much should be expected to go in? I had nearly 2 quarts drain from the prerunner TC and with the 340F (which nothing drained out), it seems that it doesn't want to take more than 1qt. Just call it good? Thx!

 

Anyone running a Mean Green starter? Looks like they are 4.4:1 gear reduction vs the 1.5:1 of the OEM starter. Thinking it might be worth if for the electric crawlbox mode Toyota gives us from factory.