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

Must have been a standard bulb. An LED bulb would probably cost you $28.99. I inspect lights and wipers on 9 family vehicles before they get inspected. Paid $10 once years ago for a $2 bulb at inspection. Back in the mid 90's my wife bought a new car. Was never in an accident and was always completely stock. After happening 3 years in a row she told me that her inspection was $10 more than mine. This one nearby gas station charged her every year to adjust her headlights. Needless to say, after a very well prepared ass chewing, they gave her a $30 gas card. Yes gas station. This was the 90's where they still had mechanics at gas stations. Don't believe me. Google it.

 

I'm just barely old enough to remember the gas station mechanic days

 

When I started driving we had 4 mechanic-on-duty gas stations within 4 blocks of my house in VA. I hung out at 2 of them and the old cigarette machines pumped out packs for 35 cents. I remember the 1st self service pumps in North Carolina that had no personnel. I worked at my Uncles 7 bay garage/gas station/beer and food mart/diesel truck service center in NC and they installed 4 pumps right across the street from us. I still checked oil and pumped gas then and gas was around 65 cents a gallon. Wasn't long before people figured out how to run the same dollar bill through those self serves and were filling up for $1. They fixed that quickly. Then big brand stations had 1 aisle that was self serve for 3 cents less per gallon. The beginning of the end of full service gas stations. That was probably around 1980.

 

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I finally replaced my parking brake cable… It took me twice as long to do one side than the other because by the second side, I knew what I was doing… I did have to cut the red spring on the driver side, I had an extra one from the last time I did the drum brakes. I also was not able to attach the cable to the tight spot on top of the frame on the driver side because the bracket crumbled… I improvised a zip tie.

The bolts, of course, crumbled. Luckily, I bought replacements and was glad to find that they are only threaded into the bracket and not the plate so when they snap, you can just punch them out.


I had to get my Dremel out and cut the spring, because it would not remove. It was impossible. It had such a bent hook to it. It was not the OEM. It was an aftermarket one so maybe it's had too much of a hook on the end.



I really didn't have to do much of an adjustment for the tensioner. I just sort of made sure everything was in the same spot.



those things really split




I made a video of how bad it was.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwIMG4jfnkY

 

Where did you get that amber light bar?

 

Ordered a set of Bilstein 5160s to replace my 5100s in the rear and also ordered a set of JBA HD UCAs. I've been putting off UCAs for a while now but I'm tired of having my caster not where it's supposed to be and its apparent from standing in front of my truck that the camber is not right either. Will be getting these installed in the next couple weeks and will update then.

 

I am always amazed at how many 3 inch, or more, lifted trucks have obvious bad caster. Half of the lifted Tacos look like the tires are leaning on the mudflaps with a 5 inch gap in front of the tire.

 

Starting to gear up for an extended road trip back out to NM, AZ and UT in about a month. With that, on Friday I put in the headlight assemblies that I bought last January. I was pleasantly suprised when I checked to see what bulb they included for the headlight. Turned out to be the German Osram 85w bulbs. Of course I left them in. I did stick with my marker and turn signal bulbs as I changed them to LED when I did the side marker / turn signal / DRL mod a month ago. The new headlights definitely spruced up the front on my 07.
Tomorrow, Monday, Oct 16th, the PS weather strips and seals for the front and access doors come in. Looking forward to that install and then the absence wind noise coming from the passenger side doors.

 

Looks good. Did you remember to silicone the seams so they don't condensate inside.

 

Sure did!

 

I've got a weird question, if I pull my front diff and my CV axles out well my Tacoma be safe to drive while I rebuild those?

 

Reached 225K on my 09. Finally sound proofed the doors. Next will be the floor and then the overhead. Make sure to have some spare clips since you will have one break per door at a minimum. Definitely make a difference. Radio sounds better also.

 

Since mine is only about 2" the caster isn't really noticeable however it's very noticeable while driving at highway speeds and bump steer.

 

Not quite today, but yesterday.

Replaced the leaking power steering return line. Not super hard, just a paint to get to the fitting on the rack. Took some creative thinking and a realization that I could just cut the line at the rack to make it easier to pull off.

 

I put the 100,000th mile on my 2014 today

 

No. The nut on the outer end of your cv holds the bearing together. Could be catastrophic failure. You could get a pre runner bearing and use that, or I’ve heard of guys cutting up a bad axle just to use the outer end to hold the bearing together.

 

You'll need to swap/replace your wheel hubs with 2wd or find two donor CV axles to dismantle. You can use the two outter ends to keep the spindle together.

2nd the quote above, broke a CV on trail and made it out with leaving both ends. Just pulled the middle rod and bearings out. C clip on the diff side keeps the one side in and the castle nut hold the wheel bearing to the spindle.

 

New headlight bulbs.

 

Looks nice, I have been considering the same wheels.