FATS builds a Taco

Step 1: Cut a hole in a box . . .

Here's my gradual build, starting with obligatory 'before' pics . . .

 

And with an OME Nitrocharger Sport suspension. 880 Coils, Dakar leaf springs, shocks and struts. And about damn time, too, I couldn't bring a drink in the car I was bouncing around so much on my old suspension ...

 

Good luck on the build. Post pics as you go

 

Got some bushwacker fender flares and took off the broken window covers. They were cracked and held on with black duct tape . . . not classy. I could not for the life of me get all the adhesive off, so I think I'm just gonna get new ones to cover it up haha

 

Just got these bad boys!! Can't wait to get them mounted tomorrow. Upgrading from stock alloy 15" wheels and 31x10.5r15 Dueler A/T Revo's to Procomp 7069 16x8 wheels w/ 4" backspacing and 265/75r16 Dueler A/T Revo 2's. WOOT!!

 

Getting a little better now. Slow and steady like a turtle. A turtle that is harder to see at night and sneaks up on you . . . a ninja turtle, if you will.

 

Upgraded clutch with Marlin Crawler Heavy duty clutch kit. Previously 900 ft-lb and slipping all over the place, now 1200 ft-lb and tiggggght. Loving it. No pictures because I didn't have the guts to do it myself ... but here's a link to the kit I bought:
http://www.marlincrawler.com/clutch/heavy-duty/heavy-duty-clutch-kit-1200-lb

Next up: Tundra 13WL front brake upgrade

 

Did the Tundra Brake upgrade; I basically followed the other tutorials so I won't go step by step, but here's a few shots of the process anyway.

Shiny new parts! Calipers first, went with the 231mm 13WL, reman'ed Duralast brand (part # C9950/C9951). One note I realized a few weeks after- I shouldn't have trusted the reman'ed paint job. It rusted straight through the paint in a couple weeks. If I had to do it again, I would probably do a rustoleum black paint job or something first. Oh well.

Rotors- 2005 Tundra 318.8mm diameter Duralast brand (part # 31267)

Brake pads- Duralast CMax Gold. I'm pretty happy with them.

All stock, 265,000 miles ...


Looking shiny and new. For a few weeks at least.


I chose to drill out the banjo bolt, it was super easy and worked great.

I really wanted to change out my stock brake lines for braided steel lines but they didn't arrive in time, so I'll have to do it another time. The brake bleed process was a pain, so I probably won't rush. I got the Wheeler's off road set.

Next up- CV axle replacement! Tore the boot ages ago.

 

Tore a boot on my CV axle and discovered it while I was doing my brakes. Just took a few photos and made some notes as I went through it. The big things that I found were:

-Skid plate bolts rusted out and turned into a project in itself to take off. I drilled and used a screw extractor, but ruined a couple tools in the process, and I'm going to invest in a bolt extractor set.

-The dust cover on the hub was a bitch to take off too- broke a chisel and took forever to knock it loose. Chisels and pry bars were the only way I found, and it just took time.

-The swaybar endlink had to be disconnected and rotated up to pull the CV axle out.



-I didn't find any pictures of how the dust covers should sit, so here are a few shots:





I did a front differential oil change with

$30 Mobil 1 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

Mobil 1 75W-90 after I finished. I couldn't get a torque wrench in the small space where the fill plug is, so I just ratcheted it down ... good enough!

 

Took off my tonneau, tool box, and plastic over-the-rails bedliner today in order to prep to get a Line-X spray-in and a Diamondback tomorrow! Woohoo!

15 years since the bedliner was on, and 10 years since the tonneau and tool box were on there. The bed is scratched in places, but otherwise looks awesome. I thought for sure it would be rusted all over.

 

Since Bettie P is getting some years, and miles on her, but still doin me right, I decided to upgrade a bit.

Got me a line-x over rail bedliner






And FINALLY got a Diamondback tonneau cover. Line-x'd at the factory, and it rocks my world.





Also got some new headlights and tail lights! Anzos, with the black casing. Old vs. new!


And I threw in a Sears DieHard Platinum battery for good measure, cause my old one was leaking. Greased my zerks, flushed my power steering. Feeling pretty damn good about 300,000.

 

awesome build man. I am looking into getting the 16x8 7069's for my 95. how do you like the new tundra brakes compared to the stock tacoma brakes?

 

I love them. I'll be honest, with just slightly larger wheels/tires, the weight and inertial moment difference makes having the old brakes dangerous. If you keep the old brakes and try to stop short for traffic or an animal or something (sudden stops from 75 to 0 happen daily on CA highways ...), or if you ever tow anything and have to stop quickly, you'll probably be in trouble.

The Tundra brakes were not that expensive, not that hard to swap out, and it's probably the best thing I've ever done to my truck. It was the first major repair/upgrade I ever did on my own, and it wasn't out of my reach at all. Highly recommend it!

 

cool ill definitely start looking into the brake job. Do you think that it will work with 15x8 rims? or do you think i would have clearance issues.....

 

Did you do the bed liner your self? It looks great! And just simply changing the wheels and tires changed the entire look. Looks clean.

 

Just noticed the typing in the middle of the photos... lol. Never mind about the bed liner.

 

Not that anyone is watching this thread ... but it feels like I should close it out. Totaled this sweet girl in a rollover and broke my heart. Time to move on. She was a classic and a beauty, and would have lasted long past 500k had the worst not happened.

Her name was Bettie … named for Bettie Page, cause she was dark, often dirty, and had more than a few miles on her, but still *oh so sexy*. The first car I ever bought, a 1998 Tacoma in 2003 with 99,000 miles, sight unseen off eBay 1000 mi away. When she finally kicked it on Sep 11th, 19 years later, she had 419,750 mi, with a few new parts but all the important stuff original. This beautiful adventure machine took me all over this country, towed my life around for me, off road and on road. In the end, she died like she lived, in a blaze of glory and on her terms, while keeping me (and my dog Scout) safe and sound beyond all reason or logic during a nasty wreck. There will never be another truck like her! So long old lady.

 

Well that sucks!