Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

So this exists apparently. Really wasn't possible for me not to buy one:

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Thats pretty cool!

 

Paint it to match!
Even though its a 3rd gen, still pretty cool. I have been collecting toy versions of every vehicle I have owned. Still missing a 1st gen RX7 and the Tacoma.

 

I picked one up a couple of weeks ago along with another FJ40

 

I ordered one! Any idea what size tires I can put on with a 3 mm lift?

 

Before kid that might have happened.

Stick with 2mm or less, doing the ECGS bushing install is a bitch if you don't have exactly the right tweezers.

 

I did not know they existed until I was looking at Target the other week for an FJ40. My wife laughs when I walk by the toy section because she knows I am going to look through the Matchbox for a Land Cruiser. Comical that it is listed as a Land Cruiser on Amazon. At least Matchbox got it right on the packaging.

 

You'll need aftermarket UCA's if you go over 2.5 mm, or else you'll never get your caster in spec.

 

Hmmmm.... Well here is what NWS thinks the forecast is for tomorrow where I was planning on camping in the Owlsheads:

By night time they expect gusts to only be 50 mph so that's reassuring. Think I'll skip deploying the FlipPac.

Hopefully there is just a bug in their interpolation algorithm or models but it appears that it is going to be extremely windy. I hate the wind. I really do. On the other hand wind forecasts for the Mojave are notoriously unreliable so there is some hope I guess.

 

Pretty windy in Vegas today... sustained 25-35, G50. Probably fairly accurate with the front coming in.

 

Thanks for the ground truth!

Right now forecast is for winds to die down Wednesday morning. If that ends up happening then I'll be happy because Tuesday is a work on the truck day in Vegas and driving out to camp probably around sunset. I can camp fine solo in really strong wind. Wednesday and Thursday are my hiking days so hoping for calmer winds by then! If it looks like a dusty paint removing nightmare to get out there Tuesday evening I'll just hole up in Vegas for the night and delay my departure until morning.

 

Bolts!
For want of a bolt...

I have learned first hand how much it sucks to lose an important bolt, then have to find something on the chassis less important to steal a bolt from and finally drive a couple hours round trip to get an appropriate replacement in the middle of a trip with a three year old along. And I know I got off really easy in that particular case too! So I've been meaning to put a bolt kit in the truck.

One thing to keep in mind is that our trucks use JIS metric which is a bit different than ANSI ones you will find in your average hardware store. Most importantly that means you need to pay special attention to thread pitch if you are putting a replacement bolt into a threaded hole. As a secondary consideration if you have thinned your tool kit to only the sockets used on the Tacoma you'll discover fun things like the JIS M10 bolts on the truck have a 14mm head while the ANSI M10 bolts have a 16mm head (and if you manage to find a DIN M10 it will be a 17mm head).

Most of the chassis bolts and nuts you are likely to lose are flange bolts and nuts. For an emergency bolt kit I chose instead to use standard nuts and also pack plenty of washers. That makes for a more flexible kit - it is possible that a flange bolt/nut might not fit some place but you can always make the equivalent of a flange bolt/nut using washers. Was sure to include fender washers too.

I picked up standard M6 (ANSI and JIS are the same for M6), skipped M8 as they appear almost nowhere on the truck (added M8, see post further down), JIS M10, JIS M12 and ANSI "Fine Thread" (1.5mm pitch) M14. I couldn't find JIS M14 easily available and there are very few on the truck so I don't mind the head size difference. I got a variety of lengths to ensure I could handle most anything.

Likely I've over done it, but as they say - once bitten...

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Parts list from Bolt Depot:

Code:

6210    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 6mm x 1.0mm x 30mm    2 pcs    $0.12    $0.24
6213    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 6mm x 1.0mm x 45mm    2 pcs    $0.17    $0.34
6216    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 6mm x 1.0mm x 60mm    2 pcs    $0.26    $0.52
6219    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 6mm x 1.0mm x 75mm    2 pcs    $0.31    $0.62
7269    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 14mm x 1.5mm x 60mm    1 piece    $2.15    $2.15
7274    Metric hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 14mm x 1.5mm x 90mm    1 piece    $2.88    $2.88
15853    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 10mm x 1.25mm x 40mm    2 pcs    $0.76    $1.52
15856    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 10mm x 1.25mm x 60mm    2 pcs    $0.91    $1.82
15858    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 10mm x 1.25mm x 80mm    2 pcs    $1.14    $2.28
15865    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 12mm x 1.25mm x 40mm    2 pcs    $0.99    $1.98
15868    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 12mm x 1.25mm x 70mm    2 pcs    $1.36    $2.72
15871    Metric JIS hex bolts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 12mm x 1.25mm x 100mm    2 pcs    $2.02    $4.04
4786    Metric hex nuts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 6mm x 1.0mm    6 pcs    $0.05    $0.30
6879    Metric hex nuts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 14mm x 1.5mm    2 pcs    $0.58    $1.16
15873    Metric JIS hex nuts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 10mm x 1.25mm    6 pcs    $0.22    $1.32
15874    Metric JIS hex nuts, Zinc plated class 8.8 steel, 12mm x 1.25mm    6 pcs    $0.33    $1.98
4527    Metric flat washers, Zinc plated steel, 6mm    8 pcs    $0.05    $0.40
4530    Metric flat washers, Zinc plated steel, 10mm    8 pcs    $0.07    $0.56
4531    Metric flat washers, Zinc plated steel, 12mm    8 pcs    $0.14    $1.12
4532    Metric flat washers, Zinc plated steel, 14mm    4 pcs    $0.17    $0.68
17831    Metric fender washers, Zinc plated steel, 6mm x 18mm    4 pcs    $0.08    $0.32
17833    Metric fender washers, Zinc plated steel, 10mm x 30mm    4 pcs    $0.15    $0.60
17834    Metric fender washers, Zinc plated steel, 12mm x 37mm    4 pcs    $0.22    $0.88
17835    Metric fender washers, Zinc plated steel, 14mm x 44mm    2 pcs    $0.40    $0.80

UPDATE: Added a few M8 bolts because they do appear a few places on the truck. Details here.

 

Read most of this thread. Great build. It sounds like the build I'm planning has almost the same needs as yours. I may have missed it, but what did the flip pack do to your mpg?

 

This is a great post and something I've wanted to do for my first gen for a while. What reference did you use to come up with the set of bolts you needed? Was that just from working on the Diet Taco, or were you able to find a list somewhere? (and if the latter...I wonder if there's a first gen list too.) I took a look through my 2000 Taco parts list, as well as FSM, and I don't see a list of bolt sizes.

 

So like most things my starting point was a post by @Crom which is a sticky in the 2nd Gen forum:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ckets-and-wrenches-for-2nd-gen-tacoma.158302/

From the common socket sizes you can work out the common bolts remembering that you need to use a JIS chart and not ANSI. I suspect 1st Gen is very similar.

Nick pointed out that while there aren't many M8 bolts they do exist and on places you might have an issue like the stock skids and hard brake lines. Also you'd likely need an M8 to pop off a stuck brake drum. So I've added a few ANSI M8x1.25 bolts to the kit. I know my aftermarket skids use ANSI M8 which has a 13mm head so I have that socket handy already. The JIS thread is also 1.25 but has a 12mm head.

 

I'd imagine your thoroughness and dedication to being prepared also comes from the fact that your truck does not live with you. Suppose it is a lot more convenient to have everything you need in the truck at all times. Always be ready.

Out of curiosity, since the title is "diet taco" have you weighed your truck in full trim? It'd be interesting to know the deviation from a stock truck.

 

Yeah, blessing and a curse! Truck is setup so I just add food and drinks to be off to the wilds. That's nice. Downside is I'm hauling things like snow chains in mid summer!

Good timing! That's one of the things I'm hoping to get done this afternoon before driving out to the Owlsheads. Wind forecast much improved as of this morning - suppose to die down by mid evening.

 

So right off the lot when I bought it with a full tank less one gallon and no driver in the vehicle - so stock as stock can be:

Front axle 2400, rear 1900, total 4300

Just now, full tank less two gallons, no driver, my luggage, no ice, no food but about 7 gallons of water:

Front 2600, rear 2760, total 5360

Add me and food/ice and it'd be a bit under 5600.

In other news it was a darn good thing I was anti-seizing the cams this trip. Front most driver side was already in the process of seizing. Amazing - less than two years and 13k miles in freaking So. Cal. deserts and the dumb thing was already almost broken! Way to go Toyota...

 

Well I certainly botched that quote.