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

My MTRs aren't any louder really then my km2s.

That said, for a dd. I'd still do km2s. Wear better and last longer. MTRs don't wear well in part to their funkalishous tread. Which does give them better grip offroad.

Coopers are a great tire though for a dd. STT too.

 

Almost lost my light bar tonight on a night run. It was only a few threads away from falling. Limped it home because I didnt have any allen keys in my tool box. I loctited all of the bolts and nuts on it. Tomorrow my new LBJ's are going on.

 

Finally built my driveshaft and put it in 4wd for the first time in idk how long.. oh how amazing a front locker and twin sticks are... makes you forget you even have a rear locker..



The skid is for overflow stickers that I have way too many of.. eh why not. Already gouged it in a few spots.. cant wait to go to Uwharrie next weekend!

 

nice Chad....verrry nice ....

 

Both of them do that when I droop for some reason. I will eventually get rid of them, but right now it doesn't cause any issues. It's only sitting to save the new frame from rusting away.

 

Nice, that's also on the to-do list

 

Dilemmas.

I have some money to spend on my truck. My original intention was to get a new rear bumper to improve my departure angle, mostly for my planned Moab trip next spring. However, a few recent "household emergencies" have zapped the Moab funds so that trip is out but I still have money to spend on the truck.

While a rear bumper isn't entirely out, not planning for Moab opens up other options. For the same price as the bumper, I can relocate my spare tire, install an air compressor and do a few other small things.

Relocating the spare is on my to-do list. When I can get around to regearing, I will install an ARB locker so a compressor is necessary plus adds other trail and camping uses.

 

Has anyone mounted one of these compressors in the engine bay? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BM8RT8

 

Its a portable unit with aligator clips for the battery connections. Not sure if its durable enough for a permanent mount.

 

I've seen pictures of that before... but really it is a junk compressor. The duty cycle sucks and its really easy to overheat. Mine lasted about 8-10 trips before the valve disintegrated. I would look in to something with a higher duty cycle especially if you want to run a tank.

 

After seeing how long a compressor takes to air up 33's at 6 CFM, I'll never run anything but C02 for tires...

 

Fat. Fixed light bar noise with edge trim

 

Id rather have a compressor because it's endless air even if it's slower. Sucks when you run out of CO2 in the middle of airing up. I've never really been in that much of a hurry to air up tires.

 

I shall remember this the next time we go wheeling and somebody returned your tank all empty.

 

Uneven tread wear.

I'm not worried about noise, truck is already loud.

Will do. I'm gonna be stuck on 16"+ as I'm about to swap a set of tundra calipers in. BTW I have hawk pads, do you have any suggestions on rotors?I've got the stock ones machined down but figure might as well get new rotors.

I had been dead set on MTRs untill I heard what you had to say about them on a DD. but they do look sexy,,

Any reason on not going with km2s again? or just want something different?

 

Finally got around to replacing the LH LBJ today. Now both LBJs are in (Moog 555). But I had an adventure in it. I have been flipping the castle nut on the tie rods to tap against to help loosen the tie rod. Which I now realize is dumb, as I can whack the ever loving crap out of the housing since it is being replaced as part of the LBJ. Anyway, wound up doing this to the threads:



Could not get the castle nut to tighten past that point without the rod spinning, and no amount of force to bind it would work. So, got to install a new outer tie rod too. Yay Since this has become my DD (my Camry is out of commission waiting on a throttle body) I had no choice but to replace it with a Duralast TR from AutoZone. Which is a tad longer, so I had to try to match up to get to sort of aligned. I can tell I am slightly cocked right, so I suppose next weekend I will take it off and do another clockwise revolution on it. Yee haw.

 

$12 tie rod puller from Autozone will do all that and a bag of chips without any damage.

http://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools/pitman-arm-puller/oem-tie-rod-puller/555631_0_0/

The whopping $15 one is great for the LBJs.

http://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tool...-pitman-arm-puller/555623/?_requestid=8628050

 

^^ I bought a puller from AZ, and the damn thing doesn't fit anything - tie rods, LBJ, nada. So, have to get the right one I suppose I just posted a thread about UBJs, so looks like I shall rent the three arm puller. My preference is to remove the knuckle and do it that way - I could also sand down and paint the knuckle as it is rusty - but I have seen some videos that suggest this is quite the job thanks to my manual hubs. I have some bad lug studs as well, so should bite the bullet and get it done. Damn cold weather and no garage to work in! I need to clean my garage stat so I can use it. Grrrr.

But, as to the new tie rod - meh. 129k, original tie rods - might as well replace them. Will do the passenger side next weekend I suppose. If it is not insane cold.

 

Thread file:

 

^^ Was thinking about something like that, but no time to deal with it, no place to buy it, etc. Had to be operational before the sun went down (and it stared snowing on me. Literally.) But I may pick one up and fix this, as the TR seems perfectly fine. Can keep them as spares.