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

I just got finished changing the rack and pinion bushings and I must say, that was the biggest pain in the ass. I would rather change the timing belt 3 times before I had to do that again. Nothing went smoothly from beginning to end. I had to grind a little on the front diff to get the lower bolt out enough to get the rack loose, all because of the diff drop. I had to fight the tie rod end to get it loose from the spindle. And the vertical bolt did not want to line back up after I put the bushings in. Luckily I won't have to do it again anytime soon.

 

Taking a load to the dump

 

Wow that sounds awful lol. I did my bushings when I first got my truck and had no troubles with mine...went smooth. Didn't take the tie rods off either. Must of had luck on my side that day lol.

 

That's on my to do list. I heard you needed to remove the diff drop to get that bolt out

 

This

 

Well, today I did a bit to both of mine.

On my 03, I glued my passenger rain guard back on, and duct taped my floor mat to keep it together.

I'm also missing a bolt thing on my passenger quarter window that was replaced with a bolt and washer before I bought it. I took those off today and painted them black to blend in better.

While I was letting that dry, my dad and I went to work on pulling the board out of the engine bay / fenderwell / dash of my old wrecked 96 2wd. We then bent the bumper back out off of the wheel and started her up. She didn't want to turn over and she sputtered out a few times, but we got it idling well and eventually drove it down the street (semi-illegally ). It was a surreal feeling driving that weak 2.4 liter with a slushy transmission and squishy brakes compared to the 03 V6 4wd one I've been driving since the wreck!



Don't mind the... uh... green workspace. The fence board sticking through the front end limited our area to work to exactly where the wrecker dropped it off.

 

Yea you definitely have to but I was already pissed off so I just whipped out the grinder and did this lol. Then I was able to slide the bolt out enough.

 

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Added the TW and Blitzpro stickers

 

Don't know how I did it, but I rolled my truck in carport......

 

Well I wasted 7 hours trying to install my lift on my truck.... Spent 3 hours trying to get the 5100's and eibachs to fit. The upper ball joints were keeping me from getting the shock/coil assembly in and I couldn't get the upper a-arm to separate from the spindle so was screwed... Didn't even get a chance to work on the rear. Looks like I get to have somebody else put my front lift on for me.... This sucks.

 

Changed oil and washed the mud off

 

With oem filter how many miles do y'all usually do before change I have been doin 5k wit previous filter

 

No man , you can do it, is the coil/shock together already ? & ready to install into the shock tower ? (not that it really matters)

loosen the lower ball joint bolts & remove (4 of them), lower the ball joint, now loosen (do not take out !! ) the 2 bolts of your lower control arm (not really neccessary to mark the current adjustment location) this should allow your LCA to drop plenty to slide the assembled strut up into the strut/shock tower, put the 3 nuts on the studs to hold strut in place & you shouldn't have any problem aligning the lower bolt hole with the LCA...

The reason to loosen all this up is becuse you're going to have to re-alignment anyway... hope this helps....

 

Went with a Tw member to try my tires out.

 

Hmm, I might try this next Saturday then...

 

You need 4WD!!!!!!

 

I'm planning a sas this yr

 

But I've went everywhere I've needed to. So might not. Why do u say that anyways?

 

oh