CVyota's "gonna take a while" build

Your pics make me want a fabricated full tube core support replacement. This might be a cheaper option to help. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/core-support-kit.754801/page-2#post-26901370

Looking forward to your repairs

 

Looks par for the course for those of us who have a lot of off-road miles.

 

Working with Sergio on a replacement

 

Ohhhh that's great news. Means I can follow suit unless I get a 2nd gen DCLB.

 

Very interesting posts there.

 

What I ended up with was a combo of a few ideas and some of my own. I was going to splint the break with 2 thin bars but the screws would cause more tears.
I ended up using one bar under the core, one bolt and wrapping the core around the bar.
Still flexible but holds it in place.


The bar is bent, to match the core


Just needs to be road worthy

 

@GHOST SHIP to the rescue!

Just got the truck back and Sergio outdid himself on this one. He fabbed up a radiator core support and installed it this weekend. Hood latch works again and it seems to handle better. Can't wait to beat the shit out of offroad.

 

These are the only pictures I took when I had everything apart. The front end of your truck was held together with nothing but hopes and dreams.



I wish i would’ve gotten shot once I cut everything out of there and again with the new support back in place before we started putting it back together. This project is definitely not for the faint of heart. Still, super happy with how it all turned out.

 

Really did a number on the truck this time.

Offloading in DV, heading to defense mine.
Got up the ruff part but didn't see the last rock in the way, hit it hard, my head hit the steering wheel, gave myself a concussion.
Lost power steering, no leaks, push one of the LCA arms back, shearing the tabs on the adj. Now I have found out the real bad stuff.

Steering rack seems to be ok but the intermediary steering shaft is bent. However, I have deformed my shock tower. That is going to be the tough fix.
This is the good side, with the spacer mod on top


This is the damaged side


Top cap is split on the Icon and all 3 bolts are sheared off

https://youtu.be/utgm9Fzwdnk?si=4H_t71b46BeIPbbX

 

Dang Andy! That's rough. I hope you get it fixed soon.

 

Got the metal spacers, ordered the lower steering shaft and ICON is shipping the broken tophat ($65).

Rainstorm due wednesday.

Have to get the nuts and bolts for the jig.

My other car, that the kid uses, got damaged, he wasn't in it. Probably totaled. Bad year for my vehicles

 

On to teardown.

Bolt holding the tophat on the shock, broke in half, top tower is definitely out of shape, you can see the flat spacer i put on top. Clip came off of the outer CV boot, grease everywhere, back tabs on the rear LCA adj bent back and I am replacing the intermediary steering shaft, hopefully that is the only issue there.

 

If the rest of the cv boot is in good shape and doesn’t need rebuilding, I have an extra clamp we can throw on there to seal it back up. Otherwise doesn’t look too bad except for the shock tower.

 

Did a little too much yesterday, head is still not 100%.
Took the skidplate off today and also found the DS tie rod boot, on the steering rack, is destroyed not sure if it is a replacement part or just replace the whole thing, time to look online.

Anyway, enough for today. I will tackle the intermediary steering shaft tomorrow.

 

I need to see what grease is needed, I may take it to the dealership so they can do it and correct any mistakes I make.

 

$20 for the tie rod, I can afford that.

 

Replaced the intermediary steering shaft, the old one looks fine. Found out why a shop doesn't want to replace a steering rack on a v6. Compressor is in the way. You would have to remove the Compressor to remove the bolt. And they probably only call it a 1 hour job, so the tech loses an hour of pay.

Bent the tabs out on the cam adj, need a little more but the air chisel is too much.
Got the spacer inserts for the Icons out, finally.
Bolt was broken in half and wouldn't come out. Liquid wrench to the rescue.

Next step is flattening the shock tower, it's just a little out of shape so I hope it will still retain it's strength

I did find a company that sells a weldable plate for the top
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-strut-tower-rings.852667/

 

Shock is complete, the spacers took a big hit and had threads, they aren't supposed to.

Reamed them out and all is well. Looks like Icon sent a universal top hat, no notch for the Allen wrench and 6, tapped holes instead of just the 3

 

Replaced the tie rod today, put the LCA back in and sorta bent the tabs back...not really close tbh. This might just be a 200ft/lb torque fix.

On the other hand...the heims on the lower icon strut are toast. Ordered new ones.

Had an MRI yesterday trying to figure this weirdness out in my noggin

 

MRI was clear...well there is a brain in there somewhere...Dr says just a bit of post concussion syndrome, it will clear up, eventually.

Got the heim joins in and when I went to install the shock, I found the tophat is 1/2" too wide. I am in contact with ICON, we will see how this goes. It's always something when you don't have any idea what you are doing.