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

oil change and AEM boost gauge install. the SC makes 7psi as advertised.

 

Great to see you around still.. Hope you are staying warm...

Be Safe...

Dan

 

Cold case radiator, flex a lite e fan conversion, painted valve covers, refreshed all pulleys and upgraded water pump bolts to stainless steel

 

Helped a 3rd gen do a bumper install. Looks good and gets rid of that butt ugly 3rd gen chin!

 

*rant* What did I do today? Got stuck on the road every time I stopped at a red light or got close yielding. Got stuck in parking lots. Got stuck at the airport. Got stuck at work. Was constantly drifting and almost spinning out everywhere, also still spinning my tires in every intersection while the light turns red. And I tried diff on and diff off, I have 300 lb of sand in the bed of the truck and a full tank of gas.

I don't know how this vehicle (rwd no positraction) is safe to be on the road in the snow. It's not even good when there's some rain. Meanwhile I'm being passed by stupid Jeep renegades and subarus in metropolitan Boise. This is embarrassing to drive and I don't think I'm going to have it through another winter.

 

interesting. What’s wrong with just a cheap replacement radiator and fan clutch, + OE WP bolts? Genuinely curious

they say the Tacoma fan clutch works well for water crossings because it automatically slows down hitting water to avoid breaking. Not that this a priority. And workarounds may exist.

4x4
and/or snow tires

looks like KO2’s. That’s one of the multiple complaints they have

 

You need the right tires.

 

I've replaced the radiator and fan components a couple of times due to offroading and severe flexing of the frame/radiator+core support. Abrupt deep water crossings also cracked the shroud and fan on a few occasions.

Some of the issues were mitigated with poly radiator supports but I've always had to replace pulleys, water pumps and drive line components every couple of months due to vehicle usage. I average 30-40k miles a year.

E fan bc I want to reduce serpentine load for faster sc spool up and also have a manual switch.

Aluminum radiator for the SC and I hate the cheesy plastic shroud with integrated coolant overflow. Also have a 160* billet thermostat to be installed soon.

Ss bolts bc the OEM bolts were completely rusted through. Probably from a faulty wp gasket and possibly increased cooling system pressures from the TRD radiator cap. I also couldn't clean off the OEM bolts enough. Wanted a cleaner look with SS hardware vs the OEM rust attraction bolts. Most of my hardware will be swapped to SS eventually.

Tbh I'm not totally sure of the longevity of the new fan. Just wanted to try a different approach. Not to mention the ac condenser cooling capabilities with e fan in the Texas heat vs the engine driven clutch fan.

 

oh man. So maybe the electric fan will have the ability to wire in a temporary shutoff switch for water crossing? edit: I see you did

I’m surprised nobody makes a bolt on core support that’s stronger. Or reinforce existing one.

which could be better and more serviceable than the stock front being “part of the truck”
On Audi, core supports are designed to quickly be removed for Service Position, aka any time the car gets major work. So there’s all the room in the world

I’m guessing the aluminum radiator will be stronger and more resistant to cracking then, over a stock style with plastic end tanks.

edit: maybe it is held on with bolts/removable hopefully and not welded, but regardless looks thin…
I think stronger aftermarket and DIY custom ones have been made before for other vehicles but maybe not yet 2G Taco

 

The fan module itself has a terminal to manually override fan operation via a switched positive input. This is in addition to the ac clutch activation and pwm based controller itself.

There are a myriad of off the shelf solutions for reinforcing the core support such as reinforcement plates and bumper support brackets. This even extends out to ridiculous solutions such as coastals extreme clearance bumper that entirety replaces the front cross member/subframe. The only issue is acquiring pre fabricated/pre cut parts at a reasonable cost and an even larger issue is having a compotent fabricator/welder at hand.

The Tacoma was never built with high performance in mind. The core support is held in by nothing but spot welds and some dinky fasteners and the support mounts. Ideally an entirely boxed/tubed main/sub chassis and cab is the only "real" solution.

There is a certain threshold where "serviceable" and full retard race truck exists.

Aluminum in itself exhibits a substantial difference in terms of thermal dissipation and characteristicly displays an efficiency much differently ethan the plastic end tanks found in OEM applications.

To answer your question, aluminum flexes and "conforms" to chassis rigidity in a more controlled sense than plastic. The health of your mounting bushings and even chassis rigidity are more of a concern than the radiator itself by far in the sense of "strength". My cold case radiator has " relief cuts" to counteract the issues of thermal expansion.

 

Are all 3 of the U Joints in the rear drive shaft of the 2nd Gen all the same size? Reason I ask is I'm changing out the U Joints (Toyota replaced 2 of them under warranty years ago) and I noticed the very back rear u joint that connects to the rear axle is a tad smaller than what was in the middle and front of the driveshaft. I was under the impression that all 3 were the same size.

 

The jeeps are using 4 wheel drive and the suburu is using all wheel drive. You are using neither.
When it comes to driving in the snow on paved raods my Taco using 4x4 does great but my Subaru wilderness is even better.

 

You live in Idaho with a light weight 2wd truck.... Thats like asking why a 2wd mustang sucks in the snow. Hell, I'd expect a Honda Civic to do better than you. Your expectations are far out of line...
You can help things by having decent tires, adding some sand bags in the back. BUT it's still a 2wd truck, it's not going to be great.


My Subaru handles snow better than every 4wd truck I have ever driven in the snow... there is a reason they have the reputation they have for snow.

 

I ordered a set of Husky Xact fit mats. Promo going on for a $50 mail in rebate.

 

Much better mats than the Weathershits.

 

just a heads up Diode Dynamics has some nice LED ones that fit there (side marker), less yellow and more amber

 

I got this idea from another member, not sure who, but I seen it in a toolbox thread. I painted the UWS plate on my toolbox and put a trd emblem on it.



Also, added a sticker to the back window.

 

It's -5°F in my garage right now, but I was bored, and my Redline hood struts showed up a couple of days ago, so I decided to install them. Just had to come inside and warm up a few times, so I could feel my fingers.

 

I've been looking into this mod. Just haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm just not real sure about using pop rivets, those things do loosen up over time.

 

If you notice one getting loose, drill it out and install a new one. Preferably get stainless steel ones and use a powered rivet gun.