Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

Installed a 200 cell count metal core cat. The kind of cat that you more typically see on a muscle car, so it has plenty of flow.
Quieted things down just a tad when heavy on the throttle. And should hopefully cut down on smell a bit too.

 

Ran the Rubicon for the 4th, and now I've got a slew of stuff to fix on the truck as per usual.
Came back with some new body damage too.



LCA bushings were toast after the trip. I could move the LCA by hand on the driver side when I had the wheel off. Not sure why my setup likes to go through bushings at such a high rate. So replaced those when I got back. Despite it being only 3 bolts per side to do, it's a greasy & messy pita with the thick ass lube I use for them.



Had the section of exhaust after the muffler redone. again. Since I kept crushing it on rocks and then it would rattle and contact the shock body due to the routing.
Had the shop do a new routing since I don't have a spare back there anymore to snake around. Tucked up there real nice now with a removable tip that I can replace in the event I somehow bash this one in.




Flushed the clutch master cylinder too since I haven't done that in forever and the fluid was black. I think the small leak in my cap was letting too much moisture in maybe so I replaced that just in case.


I was pretty frustrated to find this one: the floorpan on the cab is starting to sag and collapse. No doubt due to how big of a hole I cut out to make room for the dual cases.
So I started stripping the interior to figure out what do for that. Getting really sick of doing sheet metal cab work on this thing, but I'm also sick of the cab riding on top of the cases.
I need to come up with some sort of plan to reinforce the floor all the way across so it's more load bearing.


I pulled the speaker boxes out of the rear pockets while I was at it. Depending on how motivated I'm feeling, might sound deaden the interior and put a new vinyl floor in it. We'll see.

 

Vinyl floor and dont look back, 100% need a good heat gun and some patience.

 

Making some progress on the floor reinforcement.
Got the stiffener welded in and done. Working on adding in all the sound deadening now

 

Wrestling with this vinyl floor. Might be the most tedious thing I've done on the truck yet.
My OCD wants it to lay flat and conform to the shapes in the floor, but I think I might have to live with it being not perfect...

The mass loaded vinyl I ordered won't be here until Monday so I decided to put it together with the jute I had on hand for a trip this weekend. It's roughly the same thickness I think as the material I ordered so I'll just pull it apart later to swap them.

 

It's tough for sure. I felt the same way, but happy how it's finally landed. Not all crease will fall flat but most do.

 

Thanks for the pics. That's a helpful reference for when I do my final cuts.

 

Are you using a heat gun? You can get a lot of those wrinkles out.

 

Yea I was using a heat gun, but the memory of the material seemed to overcome my efforts. Going to play around with it some more tonight and hopefully get it to a point I can live with.

 

Swapping our the jute with second skin luxury liner pro. Don't love how heavy the two sheets are (30ish lb), but it's quality stuff and should hopefully cut down on heat and noise more than the jute did.

Getting sick of interior stuff. Hopefully the last time I have to dig into this for a while.

 

Threw a GoPro under the truck to try and get a better perspective on how much the drivetrain moves around under load.
I was surprised to see how much axle wrap there is in 4.7 low range just in the parking lot. I can only imagine how much move it twists on the trail (aired down, loaded with gear, crossed up on an obstacle, etc).
I'm tempted to get the JXB carrier bearing to better constrain movement there, but the price is a bit much. Stock carrier bearing probably doesn't love my heavy ass retubbed rear shaft

 

What about adding a traction bar?

 

That doesn't seem too extreme as far as wrap goes, as long as you're not drag racing a little wrap as a barrier to shock seems like a good thing.

 

I just fought through and sold a Mitchmade carrier bearing on a new driveshaft I had built. Better to stick to an oem carrier bearing and go with an antiwrap bar.

Ironically enough, it's for my diamond housing I see you have as well. Should have some pictures of progress in the next few days.

 

A buddy was fighting warp too. Added a traction bar and no more issue.

 

That's what I was thinking too, 63s are great but a nice worn set with an overload trimmed isn't the best to help axle wrap.
Now just to build a decent mount to the carrier bearing cross member (not stock) already replaced that to support this next step.

 

Got back from a trip this weekend to find my input shaft bearing is probably toast
So truck is down until I can rebuild this one or find a used donor.

https://youtube.com/shorts/owflauIfGf4?si=HuqmY8QjlrCxOLZN

Why didn't you like the mitchmade one?
Curious to see how the antiwrap bar comes together for you.

That's a lower priority on my list since it also involves redoing that crossmmeber like you said.

 

The MitchMade carrier bearing is a well-made product—no complaints about its quality at all. The issue really comes down to driveline angles, which the vendor does mention as a critical setup factor to avoid vibrations.
I’ve carefully set up all my driveline angles (built both axles from the housing out), but they differ significantly from the OEM geometry, which I believe the MitchMade is more closely designed around. In particular, the rear two-piece slip yoke setup sits at a steeper angle than a typical Tacoma due to the SAS. To compensate, I’ve rotated the rear pinion accordingly due to the CV style rear driveshaft.

The key difference between OEM and MitchMade seems to be the slope angle from the carrier bearing down to the rear pinion. The MitchMade doesn’t tolerate as much angle deviation, whereas the OEM rubber carrier can absorb a few degrees more of downward rotation.

With the MitchMade shaft, I experienced vibrations starting around 10–15 mph. In contrast, the OEM setup runs smoothly—even at highway speeds—which is impressive given it’s a new two-piece CV shaft with .156 wall tubing.

 

I think it might be a different outcome with the JXB one due to design differences. It has bushing material surrounding the bearing in addition to the mount points. Wheras Mitchmade looks a lot more rigid overall, despite offering a "soft" variant.

 

Interested to see how it works if you go through with it.