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

I'll go with RCV shafts here, but Longfield and others make shafts, basically to length for builder axles.

I wouldn't necessarily say this is a cheaper way to go by any means. LOL... It's actually A LOT more expensive than getting an FZJ axle assembly and making it fit. But this will be a lot stronger than an FZJ housing. The diff is centered. And the brake assembly I'll be using is better.

I think I've narrowed it down to using the D-rotor kit from Front Range, that uses a 4th Gen 4 Runner disc with E-brake drum inside. The 4th Gen brakes are better than the FZJ brakes.

The hubs will end up being Toyota mini truck parts.

https://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/drotor-backing-plate-kit/

 

Speaking from experienced, I would preferred the LC brake over the 4th Gen. Owned both vehicle, the LC brake holds a lot better than the 4th Gen 4r on inclined. The LC is much heavier and the parking brake actually work, not like the 4th Gen. Even my DROTOR now still slide. Yes, the parking brake are adjusted properly.

 

Which brakes would you say work better? I need e brake to pass inspections (on some community trips like CORVA trips etc). I don't honestly give a shit about the ebrake. The ebrake on this truck now has never really worked right lol.

 

DROTOR Will pass inspection like I mentioned for offroad event.

 

Right on. I get that. And I thank you. I think you're input is why I'm probably going in that direction.

 

went to replace my struts and realized I messed up.
the replacement struts I got were a "lost in shipping" type of deal on ebay, so they were missing the coil seats, boots, and top nuts. it didn't cross my mind that the shock body on the 4600 is different than the stock units, so I can't just swap all the parts from the old ones.
no one sells that stuff separately. seems like I'm going to have to raid a wrecker and hope they have what I need and won't take me for a sleigh ride.
not the lesson I was hoping for today.

 

Head gasket kit came in from YotaShop. Everything looks to be in order so far.

 

Sweet ass sticker too.

 

I'm in the middle of taking my front actuator off. Might be in over my head

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/nj-b-s-thread.274779/page-1817#post-13178469
hope this helps. are you using a repair manual?
send some pics!

 

New radio and speakers. Easy couple hours while at work

 

Quick update to my speedo issues... tossed that trailgear/AP mechanical to electric VSS adapter since it a POS (internally locking up) and is what killed my speedo.

Ordered the Marlin Crawler version and you can tell immediately the difference in quality.
The 'pin' that inserts into the mechanical VSS gear base is fixed to the adapter.
The gasket is also afixed inside the adapter. I didn't try to remove it.

The TG/AP version, the pin is loose and can be removed simply by tilting the adapter - falls right out. The gasket is loose as well and can be chewed up by the pin.

If you're doing a PreRunner to 4WD conversion and have a mechanical VSS, you'll need an adapter. Don't waste time, go with the Marlin Crawler adapter.


MC adapter -



TG -





I'm also working on testing the 02-04 OEM electronic VSS to bypass this adapter business and will update later on that.

 

Bumper, grille and new lights back on. That’s rustoleum hammered black on the grill and bumper. This is temporary. I eventually will do a black satoshi grille with no emblem and a trail-gear tube bumper. Other things I took care of today include new washer fluid reservoir, new steering column ujoint, and a couple bolts I was missing on the exhaust pipe

 

Good catch. That will help a lot of folks. Unfortunately for me, I've said I'll never give Marlin a dollar and that is a promise I intend to keep.

I'll keep throwing good money after bad by buying the TG adapter... which IS a piece of shit.

Here's hoping you figure out a way to eliminate the adapter.

 

You'll be the first to know.

 

Another piece of the puzzle arrived

 

These VSS options are good, i tried the TG one on my LC and surprisingly it works right outta the box in place of the factory one. But it fell apart, luckily i found the OEM one, and was gonna use another LC OEM one on my Taco for the Haltech. But I might try the Marlin one rather than shelling out $200 for another LC OEM sensor.

 

Both of those adapters are roughly 40 bucks+ a piece. With the TG crapping out on me near immediately after installing I didn't want to risk having these things fall apart only to throw more money into them. Maybe I had a bad apple, maybe not judging by the feedback I've received from a few on here. With the MC one, been some good posts on it and it works fine as far as I can see. It certainly has better build quality.

Still, I wanted to just switch to the electronic one and so I started digging into the partsouq site.

Ordered this one and it's sitting on my desk awaiting a new speedo gear. The gear is like 12 bucks. It'll be another week since partsouq is coming off a National Holiday but once the gear arrives, I'll swap it in and see what happens. I would have used the gear from my 95 tcase but the mechanical gear is longer and does not fit this housing. Tested and it does fit the 95 tcase I have so I'm betting its going to work fine. If it does, my recommendation to anyone doing a conversion is to go this route vs those plastic adapters.

 

I'm hoping the sensor replacement works out.

If not, maybe I'll try somewhere other than TG. I went down a rabbit hole with that adapter the first time the TG adapter crapped out on me (it's already crapping out again). That adapter is actually available on Rock Auto, AutoZone, O'Reilly because it's actually an OEM part for a vehicle (can't remember which one) TG just gets the cheapest available adapter and puts it in their bag.

 

Would you happen to have the gear part number or similar I'm in a 98 manual transmission?

Speedo is acting super erratic. Tried the vss and even a new gauge cluster. Hoping it's the gear now