wi_taco 2015 TRD OffRoad build "The Gray Ghost"

Parts orders are slowly rolling in. Adding a Yankum offset winch ring and (2) 7/16" soft shackles to my recovery kit for the upcoming winch addition. I almost have the bare essentials now but will continue building as I go.

Other new things will have to wait a while to share. I'm still having bad luck getting wrong parts, partial shipments, or boxes going missing in transit. It's a race against the snow and cold now and Mother Nature looks like she will win. Going to be a busy Spring 2024.

 

Going through some photos from my October adventures, this one turned out nicely. Location unknown other than being somewhere in the U.P., I think somewhere in the Ottawa National Forest.



Some exciting mods coming very soon, possibly as soon as this weekend if the weather stays nice. Hint: this view of the front end will look very different...

 

One mod that has been a long time coming is adding a vertical panel to the rear cab wall for the rear seat delete. I saw this thread way back in 2021 and always had it on my mind, but I don't really care much for MOLLE/PALS. By the time I got around to actually looking to purchase (and see if there were options for a solid panel), the design was sold off to another TW member who disappeared and then to a company called Underland Offroad. Underland hasn't always had them in stock either indicating popularity or limited runs, but every time I went to purchase they were out. Long story short, I finally purchased one. Then I had to wait because they moved to a new facility. Then I had to pester them via email, chat, and phone calls to actually get them to ship it. And then I ended up with the wrong version with a huge cutout for the window motor...



Then I had to pester them again and again via email, chat, and phone calls to get the right part. Turns out they had some kind of family emergency causing the delays (and I wish them all the best with whatever happened). Sounds like the combination of moving facilities and that personal issue really hung things up. But I did get a return label sent for their mistake shipping the wrong parts, and a few weeks later I did get the correct panel.



Here's what it looks like with the rear seats and everything removed. I already had a crappy plywood seat delete setup out of necessity and it worked fine. This panel will be part of the evolution to make it a little more streamlined and useful.



One thing that makes me curious is there are no vents on the rear cab wall. I know some 2nd gens and like all 3rd gens have vents there which help to equalize pressure when the doors are slammed closed, and in cases where the airbags are deployed. What is interesting to me is that for 2nd gens this vent isn't always there, and I'm not quite sure how you'd figure out if your truck should or shouldn't have one based on trims or packages. Curious why it was only on some of them. But as shown above by that big empty oval spot right in the middle I don't have it. The other mystery is this small rolled up piece of rubber below the rear cab slider window. I tried pushing it down with a flat screwdriver to see if it was just rolled up but nope, feels like it is molded that way. Maybe it's related to the power sliding window option? Part of a vent? Not sure. I don't see anything between the cab and bed, and my ears don't pop when the doors are closed. Weird and inconsistent choice by Toyota but oh well. Sometimes I think too much.



And here's what it looks like with the panel installed. First thing I noticed was how incredibly light the panel itself is. Yes, I knew it was aluminum, but damn it is light! Installation is super easy and fitment is great.



I have a few things planned immediately but I'm not sure I will have time before spring. First will be adding some Resonix CLD + CCF sound treatment to cut down on road noise. We had temperatures near 60°F the other day but I was missing some supplies and now it's cold again - not ideal for installing butyl CLD products so that will have to wait. The other thing is coming up with a way to secure the bottom of the panel so it becomes 100% rigid. Right now, only the top and middle bolts hold it up there but I need it to be stronger. Just trust when I say that I have plans and it's going to look way better than it does now but I'm still happy with it so far. If you're interested in doing a rear seat delete, definitely also check out this thread in the 3rd gen section for lots of great ideas.

 

On the first day of Christmas, my Tacoma brought to meeeeee....a monkey-wrench in my tree (of plans for mods). Went to put some grease in the normal places and finally 2 of 3 rear U joints and the carrier bearing are dead. At about 127k miles and probably with wrong pinion angle after the lift it was just time but I was hoping to skate by until spring. Wasn't in the cards. Ordered parts and some new tools like finally buying myself a ball joint press. The yoke that holds the center bearing together fought me much longer than I expected and the rest came apart pretty easy. Worked until after midnight on Xmas day to get here before deciding maybe I should go inside and not wake up my neighbors. More to share on this later but tomorrow is trying to get everything back together and handed off to the driveshaft shop for re-balancing.

 

I’m going to try not doing that for sure lol. But luckily if I do, I have a spare shaft to scavenge hard parts from.

 

Driveshaft rebuild is all done and I'm quite certain I took far too many photos for such a simple rebuild. But whatever, it's my gahdamn build thread and I do what I want. But mostly sharing because people like pictures and maybe I can use them later to help someone else. Anyhoo without further ado, dilly-dally, dawdle, or delay...may I present my dirty brown shaft for inspection.



I couldn't very well continue without a little housekeeping so time to clean my dirty shaft. Recently I was crusing other TW threads and found this one discussing the use of Simple Green Pro HD purple degreaser concentrate for engine bay cleaning/detailing. I picked some up and mixed at 5:1 concentration and it worked wonders to quickly clean my shaft. I really hate cleaning and this actually made it fun so that's a win in my book. I used an orange paint pen to make some index marks for orientations, and I'd go on to make even more later. The more the merrier.



Picked up an

$150 Astro Pneumatic 7897 21Pc Ball Joint Service Tool and Master Adapter Set

Astro Pneumatic 7897 master ball joint press kit as Christmas present to myself and tool for this job and I'm glad I did. Made short work of removing and reinstalling the new U joints.



New U joints (

$38 5-1330-1x U-Joint Kit

5-1330-1x, qty 3) and carrier bearing (5002007) picked up from Rock Auto because I needed other misc parts and they have the best price.



Already shared a photo above when I got the shaft all disassembled. Still had a bit of gunk left on the flanges after removing the old U joints but with a little more degreaser it came clean lickety-split.



Used my line laser to precisely index the slip and carrier bearing yokes so that when I reassemble it would be on the correct tooth. Marks made with silver Sharpie marker which worked well.



I found it interesting that the nut holding the center bearing yoke on was not staked from the factory. It has an indent but nobody staked it from Dana/Spicer. I did not stake it after reassembly; instead I just used blue Loctite and torqued to spec (first to 134 lb-ft to seat the bearing, then loosened and torqued to a final 51 lb-ft).



Another interesting coincidence is that when I made index marks on the slip yoke with the laser, it co-witnessed with an index mark already on the shaft splines. Didn't know that was there. I also didn't know the blue paint on the splines is like a hard permanent coating - I always just thought it was the PTFE lubricant grease. Learn something new every day. All the OEM grease was gone but it still operated because of this blue coating so I had that going for me which is nice.



Cleaned all the splines on both ends which is kind of a biotch inside the yoke but doable with patience. Re-coated with

$19 Ford XG8 Ford Genuine Fluid XG-8 PTFE Lubricant - 3 oz.

Ford XG8 PTFE lubricant as recommended on several TW threads by people I trust for advice. Also it ain't rocket science, also it is well-protected by the sturdy rubber boot. I was able to re-use the boot clamp so that's nice too.



One of the warmest Xmas Days I can recall in recent memory. Stayed a balmy 50 degrees until around midnight in the garage. But I had to call it quits so I didn't wake up the neighbors from hammering and things like that.



Too bad that while temps are nice the weather itself is kind of shite. Rainy, foggy, humid. Better than cold I guess, but it's preventing me to install my new bumper and other goodies. Just need a couple dry days that aren't freezing.

 

Aftermath shot of the failed U joint cups. Middle joint was nearly perfect all around; front and especially the rear most joint wouldn't take grease at all this time because apparently it finally decided to turn the needles into anti-seize which in turn jammed up the zerk and grease path. Regardless, almost all of the blue seals had failed due to age and were letting in more contaminants than they were keeping out. Frankly I think the only thing holding it together was the high-quality AMSOIL EP grease I had pumped in which is good to know ho well that works. It was just time.



The rubber on the carrier bearing was the most failed part there, but after removing the inner bearing it was clear there wasn't much life left there either. Grease had hardened into what I'd call a wax and it had gaps. Those gaps are a perfect home for water, condensation, and dirt which would eventually seize it up. It was time.



Rigged up a Tetris-esque jig for holding my shaft using the vise and some scrap 2x4s. U joints pressed in & out using the Astro ball joint C clamp press which worked like a charm.



New joints all pressed in, clips and zerks installed, and filled with more AMSOIL grease. Clearances are noticeably tighter than the old ones.



Shaft rebuild complete. Took longer than expected but that's mostly because I have a TV in the shop and football + movies kept distracting me. But it's fully clean, fully rebuilt, and fully ready to head to the local shop for rebalancing.



Now before anyone asks "Why rebalance? That's dumb, just reinstall it!" Well I reply I'm doing it because I want to do everything I can to avoid the weeble wobbles and if it helps me get another 100k out of it without vibes than it's money well spent. If you don't like it then go play with your own shaft and leave my shaft alone.



Dropped off at 9am and it was ready for pickup the next day before 11am. Quoted $140 on the phone, final price out the door was $250 ouch. Turns out it was 0.030 out of straight and requied some finessing. Not sure exactly how that works but I imagine while it's in the lathe they use some kind of die to massage it back to parallel. They welded on a different weight and sprayed some black paint on the area. Looks like they filled it with more grease too which is nice especially because I know they also use AMSOIL grease to match what I already had. It's almost ready to rock and roll.



Weather is terrible again tonight. Rain, wind, and fog all evening. It's not your typical Wisconsin winter but still annoying enough that I'm not rolling around in puddles on the ground in the dark. Work also ran long so it's not getting reinstalled until at least tomorrow.



Decided to throw on a little bit more paint to cover up all the small chips in the paint and keep it from rusting for as long as I can. Used an old can of VHT epoxy rattle can I had on hand. Should do the trick. Maybe tomorrow is the day?

 

You've got me so hot right now. Yeah clean that dirty shaft.

Sorry it had to be done. And yes I am a 14yo

 

LOL glad someone picked up on that!

 

So I think I have lost my mind. Or I'm stupid like a fox. Or I'm channeling my inner desire to be more like @LarryDangerfield and do the ol' swaparoo on vehicles. But anyways I sold my Honda CRV that I bought back in June for no other reason than it's too f'ing boring and I can't stand it. So now I don't have a backup vehicle and the driveshaft still isn't installed yet and I need to go outside and fix that like ASAP to get to work tomorrow lol. But more importantly I didn't come away from the deal empty-handed and instead now I got this fat stack of cabbage to help do the most important Taco mod possible: the paid off title mod. Coming soon as long as I avoid the strip club or a car lot.

 

Here's me crying about missing the old vehicle already, LOOOOOOL j/k fucking thing was a slow turd. Toyota > Honda. Now more Taco mods and possibly a sportscar/midlife crisis incoming.

 

Oh naw hell naw, no more Subarus. I might be going with some Eurotrash this time instead. Eurotrash with a supercharger. Stay tuned.

 

Supercharger for the taco?

 

No I can't be that cool lol. That's reserved for you only buddy.

 

So with that stack of cash what's the next move for the taco?

 

Pay off lien early (wouldv'e been done in June anyways). Finish installing all these mods I already have laying around and waiting to be done. Like seriously, I have enough parts already in the garage to keep me busy through next year. Possibly buy another car because I have mental problems. Get this shitty old Jeep moving again lol. And then evaluate from there.

 

Gee and I was going to wish you Happy Honda days at the last meetup