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

No, that's a pickup axle for my buddy's 91 pickup. Sequoia axle is behind me against the wall from this picture. I'm unsure of when is the right time to put that in actually, since I have a whole bed replacement to construct, not sure if I sure construct it with that width in mind or not.

 

What's going on with that center console?

 

It's a Havis console from a police cruiser, I cut it down to the proper width and I've been 3D printing face plates for it. I have a face that holds my switch board, one that holds a GMRS, one for some 12v and USB ports... the rest are blanks for now. Maybe make one into a cup holder haha

 

Another year another alignment. Feels good to have a steering wheel that isn't tilted anymore.

 

Over the weekend, and with parts from Dan @drr and lots of help from Zane @Speedytech7, I swapped out 5th gear from the R150F with the 5th gear from a Dyna R452. Went swimmingly and resulted in a ~15% drop in RPMs, or about 500RPM @ 65-70MPH.

Naturally, I wrote up a guide for anyone else interested: Step-by-Step Taller 5th Gear Swap (Dyna R452 into Tacoma R150F) – AdventureTaco


Removal of the original 5th gear:

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Assembly and installation of the new:

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Original and new RPMs at the same speed:

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What an AWESOME project!! Well freaking done!

 

How does the shift from 4 to 5 feel? Do the RPMs drop a lot?

 

its 500 additional rpm. So the change is similar as what 3rd to 4th is.

 

Stock r150f 5th gear ratio is 0.84:1, the r452 5th gear is 0.69:1. So it probably feels a lot like shifting from 4th to 6th in a 6-speed transmission.

 

How often do y'all change your coolant/do a flush?

 

More often than I'd like to because I keep changing things that involve removing the cooling system

 

Hell yeah.

And a proper write up to boot.

For higheay cruising this has absolutely been one of my favorite mods to keep up with modern traffic and still feel pleasantly analog.

 

Now that's a gear ratio I can get behind!

 

I think you have to face it or it's .96

 

Details matter.

In other news, I've got spinney dials for my front axles now!

 

Hey do those wheels require spacers to not rub the calipers? And are they genuine Toyota TRD pro/off-road wheels? Or an aftermarket replica?

I've wanted to run those wheels for some time now, but read their backspacing wouldn't work with a 1st Gen without spacers (which I currently run but want to do away with).

 

I believe they are genuine TRD rims. They came on the truck when I bought it last year (one of the only things left on the truck at this point hah) and I think they look real sharp on a 1st Gen. They clear my Tundra calipers no problem and also allows me to run 255/80/17 tires.

 

Lol been there. thankfully it's been a while since I've had to touch mine. I think I'm coming up on 50k or so.

 

Nice, glad to hear they work without spacers