New Colorado Tacoma Owner

There is nothing like driving a brand new truck. The only one I ever had was an 01' Dodge Ram off the lot with 16 miles.

I like the Baja Rack and Shell combo, it really makes the shell look cooler.

 

So how are you liking the trail steps, I'm thinking about getting them

 

The trail steps are great if you're willing to deal with the hassles on installation. I found them and the polyurethane pads at the lowest prices on Amazon. I have detailed the installation hassles pretty well earlier, but three of my holes in the steps themselves were not properly tapped at the factory. I had to re-tap two of them, and the third bolt is still tight despite the hole being slightly stripped. I also had to use fender washers to space the front brackets away front of the body slightly because of the change in angles and the single bolt attachment. And, finally, the screws that came with the pads were the wrong type, but I experimented and bought my own. If you review my notes from earlier, it tells exactly what you might need to fit it all properly. As far as the steps themselves? They look cool, are super low profile, and are solid as hell! I don't use them to get in myself, but my wife and son do, and they provide easy access to my rack.

 

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If you have been struggling with a clunk, shake, or vibration felt in your steering wheel that is most pronounced at slow speeds on rough roads and trails, then this fix may work for your truck. I bought my 2014 back in November of 2013, and within 300 miles I felt a clunk in the steering wheel driving on the icy roads in my neighborhood. It was much more pronounced in the spring when I took the truck off road, so I did a lot of searching on the web and first tried the zip tie mod. In the 12,000 miles since, I have tried zip ties in varying thicknesses, numbers, and positions; the elimination of the rubber disk in the rag joint by rebuilding my upper intermediate shaft with bolts, spacers, washers, and nuts;adjusting the tilt and telescoping of the wheel away from the extreme points/stops; the TSB intermediate shaft; adjusting the steering rack guide screw; lower tire pressure; replacing the sway bar bushings; and even the building my own custom rubber damper for the shaft using hose clamps and the rubber from bicycle grips. None of these ideas has produced the kind of result I discovered when I did the fix documented below. I got the idea from a 4Runner thread that seemed to recommend making the opposite adjustment (pushing the yoke and shaft up), which I tried and determined it only made the problem worse. Shoving zip ties/other stuff in there or welding/taking the rag joint out, in my opinion, creates a conductor for vibrations to travel up between the rack and the wheel.

But to first understand why this particular fix works, you need to know that the either the soft rubber bushings that hold the steering rack to the frame and/or frame and body flex are allowing the steering shaft to be pushed towards the steering wheel by 1/4” or more on bumps. Just look at the grease spot below the bushing on your rag joint to see evidence of this. The only thing taking up the slack and preventing you from feeling this is the rubber disk of the rag joint (also called steering coupler). Replacing the steering rack bushings on a brand new truck seems a little ridiculous and is a rather extensive project, so this fix seems like the next best thing. I am also concerned that replacing the steering rack bushings with harder ones would subject the rack to harsher impacts and more wear, so I’ll stick with this for now. I would, however, be interested in hearing from anyone who replaced the rack bushings on a low-mileage Tacoma to learn how it improved their steering.

Next, it is my belief that the driver feels the clunk when rubber in the rag joint compresses enough that the steering shaft has nowhere else to go and then moves laterally. The fix I have discovered unloads the rag joint and gives it more room to absorb impacts. I think the shaft pushes up towards the driver more than it pulls back down, so setting it a few mm more against the direction it moves gives it more space before it bottoms out. In some rough off road driving, I would estimate it has taken out 90% of the clunk and vibration on climbs and level ground and 70% of the same on descents, when the front of the truck and steering rack have more weight on them. I have been told by folks at two dealerships and even an independent Toyota service center that all of these trucks clunk. I have read similar remarks on other posts on Tacoma World and elsewhere. I hope this helps some of you relieve your clunk and reduce it to more livable levels of vibration. To do this, you may need a helper to assist you in holding the rag joint down under the dash while you tighten the upper bolt on the yoke under the hood/over the wheel. You are essentially shortening the shaft slightly as you move the upper shaft closer to the lower shaft in the yoke, and the best results may be seen with a brand new TSB shaft with a tight bushing, but I have not tried that yet. Please let me know how this turns out for you and how much it improves your steering.

 

After 12,000 miles I still really like my Tacoma, but I have done the following mods recently:

1. Added the IFS skid from All-Pro Off Road. The factory skid plates are junk after one minor rock hit! When my truck was new, I first added the AP skid over the exhaust and transfer case, which is critical if you are going to do any serious off roading. That being the lowest part of the truck, right in the middle, it is pretty vulnerable. I put the IFS skid on a couple of months ago and have hit both skid plates multiple times, even when being pretty careful where I put my tires off road.

2. Added Husky mud guards and sold my originals on eBay. These new flaps still give great protection but rarely scrape off road.

3. Had The Spring Works in Grand Junction do an Add-A-Leaf option to my rear leaf springs. I can now carry more weight with confidence. No sagging!

4. Added the TrailSeal tailgate gasket, but despite careful application in a variety of places, I am still getting dust penetration at the corners of my topper door on the top of the tailgate.

5. Added the TSB shaft and did the rag joint adjustment mod addressed in detail above in a previous post. This has made a huge improvement to my steering! Time will only tell if it will last. I am still unhappy about the vibration I can feel on rough surfaces going downhill.

I have also noticed an improvement to my MPG here in the summer. I am getting over 18 on road trips and over 16 around town--even with lots of A/C use. We'll see if that sticks around in the winter with denser air. The JBL audio with navigation is nice, too, but I have given up on the Bluetooth and voice recognition. What a joke!

Here are some photos from a traverse of the San Juan Mountains my family and I recently did over 6 days. We were off pavement more than 50% of the time.

 

sub for for info/review/pics/mod ideas
Thanks

 

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Nice ride man !!!!!!!!!!!! & happy playing with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

36,000 Mile Update

Steering Clunk/Play-mod and $ PARTIAL FIX

Traction options confusing-mod FIXED

Baja Rack noisy, reduces gas mileage, and limits practical use of cruise control-mod PARTIAL FIX

Low Ground Clearance in the middle of the vehicle, weak stock skid plate up front-$ PARTIAL FIX

Too-low mud guards-$ FIXED

Not enough capacity on rear leaf springs-$ FIXED, but overweight GVWR when towing camper

Not enough power to comfortably pull ½ of tow rating NO FIX

Engine pinging-TSB PARTIAL FIX

Cheap seat fabric, popping seats getting worse-(barely) out of warranty NO FIX

Difficult to modulate brakes at slow speeds NO FIX

Cheap floor mats-$ FIXED

Bed gouges easily, weak tailgate-mod PARTIAL FIX

Could not seal dust out of topper-$ PARTIAL FIX

Trailer plug easily damaged off road-mod FIXED

Voice recognition is terrible! NO FIX

Rattling fender areas, suspension squeaks-mod COULD FIX

Dash vibrations NO FIX

Sunglasses don’t fit in overhead console NO FIX

Easily-scratched instrument cluster and easily-damaged interior plastics NO FIX

No side-window defrost NO FIX

Smaller than it seems at times NO FIX

Poor quality tires-Will need $ NEXT OWNER


Doesn’t feel solid or tight! Looks weird from certain angles. . .

Made in Tijuana!!! (others have problems with driveline vibration and yet others with frame rust (older trucks))

Toyota reputation is flawed and is way overrated!

 

Welcome!