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

By the way Acorn is the shape of the seat of the lug nut. There are extended lugs with an acorn shape for the wheel hole. Most aluminum wheels need acorn shape lug nuts. My method wheel uses a acorn shape.

 

Not a problem, and don't go to any trouble. I can easily crossref the lugs by thread pitch and length if I can get access to the Oreilly computer system again. They have a new store manager who's an asshole and is scaring off business left and right. I went in for wiper blades today, and he started running his mouth about nonsense so I said screw it and left. He likes to talk crap about people that build things custom, but he drives a box stock Honda of some sort (Civic, I think) and thinks he has something. I'll have to drop in when some of my friends are working.

Funny thing is, I wound up getting the blades for 20% cheaper. Granted, I had to deal with the herds of morons at Walmart (at this late stage, with it being absolutely obvious this storm is doing nothing to us here- and is in fact past us- they're buying supplies) and drive 10 miles out of the way, but it got me out of the house.

 

I would grab some extended Gorilla lug nuts. You can get them in OEM style or keyed. My old steelies used the ones on the left of the pic. My aluminum wheels use the extended type.

 

I have acorns (the ones on the left of the pic, right?), but not extended acorns. I believe I may need the latter. It will just be a matter of getting a caliper out and seeing if that is called for.

Of course, the spare is a steelie. So I would have to carry spare lugs in the glovebox. I like to think I'd be smart enough to go ahead and swap those out if I had to go to a spare. But I also REALLY like the looks of steel wheels, and these aluminums are seriously abused- no gouges, but the clearcoat is long gone and they are severely oxidized. I am tempted to just scrap them out and put the money to new steel wheels and be done with it.

EDIT: granted, the more pressing issue is trying to see if I can even remove the spare from under the vehicle. At the very least, I know it has a lot of road grime and some corrosion on it. I am thinking it probably hasn't moved in 20 years, so I am curious if the crane will be cooperative. If it isn't, I will most likely throw the spare in the bed if at all, and implement my plans to build a rear bumper with tire swingout.

 

Both types will work with a steel spare. I dont stay on my spare longer than a day when I need it so I dont mind using my extended lugs on it.

 

Yup, it seems this will be the answer.

I had to buy a special thinwall socket to even get the lugs off- the PO didn't have one in the vehicle capable of removing the lugs (he rarely drove the truck). The lugs ARE like the ones on the left, which work great for steelies, as you say.

 

I'm really curious how the ones on the right will work with a steel spare when they are designed to hold the seat away from the thin steel mounting flange.

 

Idk, i was on the side of the road. Drove 50 miles like that. It may be best to get a set of the ones on the left, but its good to know the extended ones will work.

 

Now, what did I do to my Tacoma today? Not a damn thing, as it's rained all damn day. Not a lot, just a heavy drizzle, perhaps a bit worse. Don't let the news coverage fool you, this hurricane has been a complete joke. I've ridden my motorcycle to work and to see friends through worse.

Yesterday, on the final day of preps, I added another section of unistrut to the load bed job- across the back of the toolbox. Other than what could be called "trim work" (welding in feet for the verticals, welding the top of the verticals to theupper horizontals), that project is done.

Ordered a handful of

$38 PL259 USA Made PL-259 Improved Double Shielded RG-58u for FireStik Antenna K-8A 18-Foot Single CB/Ham Coax Cable

PL259 connectors, a bulkhead fitting, and RG-8X cable. Ordered a 5' Firestik (black) for CB. Blue will be 10m, and Red will be 2m. Different mounts, obviously. They will be stashed in my toolbox when not needed, for the most part. Scored a used Cobra 18WX from a nice lady in the upstate, for a song. It will go under the aftermarket head unit I will be swapping in, in the near future. Kind of hate to see the space divided up into 2 DIN units, but I wasn't about to spend $400+ in a double-DIN unit with NAV, etc, when I can just work up something with a Tablet and a mount, or a Raspberry Pi. It will be nice not to have the CB knocking my knee all the time- now if I could just figure out a place to put this trailer controller- I have a nasty bruise on my knee from where the PO put it.

EDIT- well, I drove it, so I guess I did that today. Had a couple near-donuts when the back end tried to slide due to the rain. I locked the hubs in, and when needed (from starts, or turning) I just flicked her into 4WD, made the turn/start till I overcame inertia, then reached over and flicked it back to 2WD and upshifted. Worked exceedingly well.

 

Not really doubting you, just honestly curious.

 

The dorman catalog is online. You'll be able to compare all the wheel studs. That's how I did it. It's just a matter of knowing what the toyota stud sizes are and looking at all the ones that are close to it just longer.
It was a ford taurus wheel stud,I just don't remember the year.

 

Just FYI those aren't the only types of lug nuts. Stock Toyota wheels use a mag style lug nut with integrated washer.https://www.discounttiredirect.com/learn/lug-nuts

If you use an acorn lug nut on a wheel designed to use a mag lug nut, you will ruin the wheel.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but yeah I did that too. I thought for sure that would help as it all looked dry but it didn't really make much of a difference. I used 3M silicone paste.

Windows roll up & down fine, just the motors are louder than what I remember them to be. But after all they are 17 yrs old.

 

For sure, I understand. I didn't know about the different seating of the lugs until I called method wheels and they explained it to me. They told me what lug nuts to use on their wheels. I know there are other types of lug nuts but I don't remember the names of them. The extended lug nuts I have collecting dust in the garage are more cone shaped compared to the acorn ones I'm using. That's why they are sitting in the garage not getting used.

 

Wow really? I'm using extended acorn ugs with my new wheels and by the looks of them I for sure thought it would be unsafe to use the extended acorns with the stock spare due to the thin extended shank.

So I bought a full set of acorns & sold 3 sets of 6 here for this very same reason. In the end I ended up paying about $5 for the set of 6 acorns that I keep in the truck now.

I've had the truck for 14 yrs & have never needed to use the spare once. Last month was the first time I even dropped the spare down but only to replace the rotted tire. But better safe than sorry so it was worth the effort.

 

Steelies don't use the mag washer type. Just plain ol acorns. Pic stolen from classifieds.

 

Oh I wouldn't recommend it, but my extended nuts were all I had when my tire blew. Ill get some acorn style nuts to keep in the truck if I need to use the spare again.

 

From what I have read, the mag lugs will work on the stock steelies. This is due to the fact that the end of the extended part has the same taper as an acorn lug.

My truck came with 15" aluminum alloys (mag seat) and a steel spare. I don't expect to have a separate set of lugs just to run the spare wheel.

 

Oh I see, in that case I understand you had too.

To add to all this, as said, Toyota commonly uses mag type lugs (I know them as shank style) on their stock alloy wheels & acorn for steelies. Many other makes still use acorn for alloy wheels.

Some people question why Toyota doesn't supply an extra set of acorn lugs to be used with stock steel spares if the vehicle has alloy wheels with mag lugs. Toyota mag lugs have a taper on the end so they'll work with steel spares also, just looks funny but it's only meant to get you home or to a tire shop. American cars that use use mag/shank style lugs just have flat ends, no taper.

 

One side is done. Should be done tomorrow so I get to pick up my truck in the morning.