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

How are you going to determine just how the 555s are holding up?

 

That's rad. Those fit perfectly. The PO of my truck installed MDF enclosures on either side.
I'm hesistant to put woofers back in them though cause I think the boxes will rattle against the outer skin of the cab.

 

I had to add a "leg up". (getting old)

 

Here's to making mistakes and hoping it works out anyway.

Was getting annoyed with having to top off the oil frequently and park on top of a cardboard box to keep oil off the garage floor. My drivers side cam plug has been leaking for a while and now with the turbo it's much worse.
I'm really not sure why it's leaking to begin with since I replaced the cam plug and resealed the half moons when I replaced both valve cover gaskets.


However if it leaks this time I'll have an excuse and it's totally my own damn falt

I put the cam plug in backwards. I put the plug in the collar without thinking about the direction and put the rubber face on the inside then bolted the collar down and proceeded to put it all back together.

I have a feeling I'll be back in there fixing the same leak in the very near future but at least I already have all the parts

 

Truck did that to my wife once when she took it to work on a bad weather day and it hasn't happened again but I feel like I'm waiting for it to happen every time I drive it.

 

Those cam plugs only fit half ass decent, I put some Toyota black FIPG on them before cinching them down. And of course on all the sharp edges of the cam caps that the valve cover gasket sets onto.

 

I did use the black FIPG. I think that might have been why I started to rush getting it back together and didn't catch that it was backwards in time.
I also noticed a couple imperfections in the Doorman valve cover that I sanded out to help the gasket seal better and I used a square this time around to insure the half moons were nice and flat.

 

Oh and the light right above the engine bay in my shop stopped working again so that was pretty annoying. Usually there's decent lighting. Idk why the fixture is having issues

 

Odd Question but someone here might know, I am thinking about putting SPC UCA on, but want to keep the factory wheels and 33x10.50s. I have a 1/2" of clearance to the factory upper currently and no issues rubbing at all on them. But was curious if SPCs or even a JBA will end up sticking out any farther and contacting.
I don't really want to run wheel spacers since I have almost zero rubbing on factory offset.

 

Put the same ones on my topper to go a little higher:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...nd-internal-frame.694546/page-2#post-25499175

 

That's where I saw them, I thought it was you but but I was looking only at your bumpers.
I had wanted to get them when I made the bumper but life got in the way.
I went with the zinc finish and that was a mistake, couldn't get any type of primer to stick at all no matter how much I sanded/wire brushed/sand blasted etc. Ended up with a dip in a Muriatic acid bath. 3 minutes of foaming later, nice bare metal and paint stuck well.

 

As someone far less detailed than yourself, my plan was to stick a prybar on them occasionally and hope they don't develop noticeable play as soon as the OEM joints.

 

Just count the miles until the wheel falls off. Compare to previous wheel off adventures.

 

I don't see that method working with the 555's due to their construction. Between the ball and the cap/cover is a compressed slug of rubber forcing the ball against it's seat. That's essentially a spring continuously taking up any play that would develop as the ball/seat wear.
Not saying they are not a viable option, just that the "play" thing does not apply. You always see folks saying "I been running them for X years with no play".
I once did some measuring on the cut away OE joint and found that there would be around 0.10" or 3/32" play when the plastic liner wore thru and ball was rubbing on the joint housing. That's like 5 times the Toyota spec for play and the point when the integrity/strength of the joint starts to deteriorate, rapidly.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ooof-another-lbj-bites-the-dust.712577/page-3#post-25355440
Again, just something to be aware of, maybe replace them on some schedule devined from the trail gods.

 

So you're saying there's really no way to check for play in the 555 joints at all?

 

Well, yes.
I should say "no practical way".
One could measure how far the ball stud protrudes from the joint body (wear of the seat) before and after but that would be a moderate pain and need a bunch of checks over time to mean anything. Hence the suggestion for R+R on some schedule that has not been determined and would likely vary considerably from user to user.

 

Keyless entry! Still need to find a better power source than jamming the hot wire in the fuse block and figure out how to flash the lights when it locks/unlocks

https://youtube.com/shorts/b3rtTh0wE9A?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/b3rtTh0wE9A?feature=share

 

FYI - these were clutch on our Rubicon trip



The wing nut makes it tough to get some air chucks on. So, I bought these.



The nut instead of the wing nut should work better.

But either way they work... they can save your bacon.

 

If there was enough wear to have a measurable difference in length, you don't think you could find some amount of vertical play with a pry bar? Maybe not the audible clicking I just heard with my bad OEM joint.

Edit: reread the post you linked and answered my own question.

Now to cut apart the joint I just removed for science.

 

Don't know if I learned anything after taking the porta band to it, but it was oddly therapeutic.



I do think after seeing how it works first hand, and inspecting it, that the small but noticeable play I was achieving with the pry bar would not have caused a failure for much, much more time.