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

Best advice- if you do 1 side at a time you’ve got the other to refer to

 

Progression on the climate control continues: heater and evaporator cores are out!

 

Hood kept wanting to try to pop up...
So, I fixed it.

 

How hard were they to install?

 

A pain in the ass.

 

You've got to move them back off the radiator support to get them to a flat spot in the hood. So, I had to make brackets the bolt to the radiator support, that the pins attach to.

I need to also attach those brackets to the fender, but didn't get that far. (Also need to tack the torn radiator support back together.)

Once you get all that done you put a dab of paint on the top of the pins, so the paint marks the hood for a pilot hole. Trace the body of the latches, cut, blah, blah, blah.

Adjusting the pins (up down) is relatively easy.

 

Finally got my spindles all assembled.

 

Need to adjust them every once in awhile anyways to keep front rotors from warping, so good time to spray out the brake dust, measure pads, and if needed regrease the backing plate contact points / expander. After learning them it can become pretty quick.

 

I just did mine for the first time. It was absolutely no fun, but it isn't all that complicated or anything just annoying. If you're going to do it, just get the correct tools for the job before you start. I tried to compress the washer springs with a pair of pliers for about an hour, and have Never been as frustrated working on the truck as I was at that moment. Was about ready to throw the pliers through the windshield.
But once I got the correct tool, it popped right in.
https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-...532523_0_0?searchText=brake+spring+compressor

Need some brake spring pliers as well, I used the ones from Autozone. They fit terribly and barely worked for our trucks, but did get the job done.
https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-.../46854_0_0?searchText=brake+spring+compressor

 

I was worried about this as well, but in the end, it turned out to be way easier than I expected. Here's a step-by-step with photos you can print out to have on hand as you do it. I only used basic tools and didn't have an issue at all with the little washer springs...

Step by Step Tacoma Rear Drum Brake Shoe Replacement – ADVENTURETACO

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Did you get the cool tool or something else for the bearings?

 

No cool tool. These were done on a 20t HF press.

 

easier to do with them all the way out for sure on a shop press. I liked how I didn't have to remove mine.

 

Yeah, that tool you got makes a lot of sense for doing this job while the spindles remain on the truck.

 

Spring spruce up -

New throwout bearing and flywheel - (anyone have issues with an Exedy flywheel and the starter sometimes not engaging?)





Also just finished a new tcase skid.

 

For those who are interested...
Main dates are out... start planning.

 

I've had a set of these on the shelf since installation of the turbo but ended up finding a way to keep the factory latch.
I'd be interested in seeing the brace you added to mount the pins.

 

Still need to finish the bracing. I'll post pics when it's done... enough... lol

My hood kept wanting to pop up on me. Catching on the secondary latch (fortunately).

Tried popping up on me 3 different times on the trip down to Hammers this year.

 

Yikes, I'll be interested in how this pans out. I had to remove the support bracket behind the latch to fit my IC and that made the core support flex enough that it wouldn't latch when shutting the hood. So I bought those latches and started mocking it up and realized it would be easier to make a new core support bracket instead.