My 1999 Taco TuRD Build - I sold it

Clutch hose is from Marlin Crawler.

The brake master is from Autozone.

 

Thank you

 

Working on improving the available storage in the cab behind the seats. I won't ever have a passenger back there other than the dog so this should hopefully work better for me. Still in progress, I might use aluminum panels once I have everything worked out to how I like it. The back wall is 1/4 plywood and the floor is 5/16 ply. Still working on the floor part, need to add some feet for support and then hinges so I can still access the factory storage compartments.

 

The front output seal on the t-case was leaking so I replaced that with new OEM parts today. Only have these pics of it tho.

Drip, drip, drip...



Nice and wet, little hard to tell since I recently changed the oil in it so it's still very clean.



New OEM Toyota seals and pinion nut.



Then this showed up while I was working on replacing the seals.





And when I checked the mail this evening, this was in there waiting for me.



Got some work to get done this weekend!

While I was poking around the underside of the truck, trying to determine a suitable mounting location for the air tank and compressor, I discover that the 3rd member housing seal is leaking on the rear axle...great...





I might try replacing the breather (read "extending") to see if maybe the breather is just gummed up and causing pressure to force oil out the seal. Hopefully that's it, otherwise, I'll need to pull the 3rd member to reseal it which will be a pain in the ass.

 

Upgraded my headlights today with a better harness and bulbs. Removed the LED bulbs installed by the PO.



Focus is screwed up but the headlight relays are on the fender, hidden away behind the battery. The orange plug in the foreground is the new headlight plug. I need to get new boots for the bulbs since the origianl ones were cut by the PO to fit the LED bulbs with their big-ass fan on the back of them.





These were the LED bulbs. They worked good and have the shield things for the high beams but I still wasn't happy with them. Still scattered and not correct for the OEM housings. I also didn't have a working high beam indicator on the dash, now I do which I much prefer.





Then I put new Marlin Crawler shifter bushings and t-case shifter bushings in, along with replacing the original boots that attach to the trans and t-case. Glad I ordered those since the t-case boot tore while I was pulling it off the t-case. The white bushings are for the transmission shifter and the blue is for the t-case.



These are the old, OEM parts that came out/off the transmission shifter.



This is what was left of the OEM t-case shifter bushing. That was a pain to clean out, I ended up grabbing the shop vac to keep that all out of the t-case while scrapping it loose with a screwdriver.



And the shifter itself. Cleaned the crap out of that, spraying it down with brake cleaner and then wiping it down real good.



Some of the crap that I scrapped out of the shifter hole. The washer looking thing is a rubber washer that was at the bottom of the shifter hole. The transmission shifter also had one but neither of them are reused with the Marlin parts.



Looks much better all cleaned up and ready for a new bushing.



I didn't think either of the shifters were working bad but the t-case definitely is a huge difference in shifting, much more positive now.



Then I installed these fancy spot mirrors. I've always used them on my trucks but these are much better than any of the ones I have used previously. Glad I mistakenly ordered 2 sets, now I have a set to replace the old ones on my Ram.





Credit to @turbodb for the spot mirrors link on Amazon.

 

Oh, and a follow up to this post.

The new front output seal seems to be working great and no oil is seeping out so far. I'll continue to check it periodically tho.

And as for the rear axle leaking, turns out that was my fault. When I installed the LowRange e-locker skid plate, I left one of the nut off the top since I couldn't get it started. I just figured the skid plate tab was too thick and there weren't enough threads showing on that stud to install another nut. So I left it off, thinking it would be fine. Well, obviously it wasn't since the leak started.

After some investigating, I discovered that I need to do some clearancing on the skid for a bolt that the skid was hanging up on next to the stud/nut that I left off.

Clearancing completed, I was able to finally get a nut on that last stud and so far, the leak hasn't returned. Fingers crossed but I will continue to keep an eye on it. There is room for a little more clearancing if I need to.

 

Finally was able to change the oil for the first time since I bought the truck. I had ordered a new drain plug with a magnet on it and it took forever to get here. Feels good to know that all fluids except the coolant have been changed by me and I know are now fresh.



I also changed the washer nozzles out to the Honda ones. I can't believe I've got Honda parts on my truck now... They are way better at least!





And finally, I extended the rear diff breather. Not that I have many water crossings to worry about here, although we do have monsoon season. Just less shit to worry about. I kind of want to extend the trans/t-case breather (is it just the one on the driver's side for them both?) since I looked and it was really caked up with mud and crap. Wonder if it uses the same fitting as the rear diff? Maybe a 90 or 45 fitting would be better since it's kind of close to the trans tunnel of the cab.

 

Oh the joys of changing coolant! I'm about 1/2 of the way done with a complete coolant flush and change from the green stuff that was in the truck when I bought it. Putting Zerex Asian car red stuff in.

1. Green stuff drained from radiator and block - Done
2. Refill with distilled water for initial flush to get as much of the green crap out as possible - Done
3. Run engine for 20 minutes, burping the system and then let cool - Done
4. Drain radiator and block again - Done
5. Refill with distilled water and Prestone engine flush and degreaser - Done
6. Burp system and drive around town for an hour or 2 with the flush/degreaser/distilled water mix
7. Drain flush/degreaser/water mix from radiator and block
8. Fill one last time with distilled water to make sure the system is as clean as possible
9. Run engine for 20 minutes, burping the system and then let cool
10. Drain radiator and block one final time
11. Final refill with Zerex Asian vehicle red premixed coolant and monitor for the next couple days

There was definitely sediment starting to build up in the system. Lots of what looks like sand in the bottom of the drain bucket. And I can see some build up in the pipes that you can see via the fill cap on the radiator. Hopefully the Prestone flush is able to dissolve and clean most of that crap out. The radiator internals do look pretty good otherwise. It's a Denso unit so I assume aftermarket but I have no idea how old it is. Timing belt, water pump and thermostat were replaced by the PO about 6k miles ago.

And for anyone that doesn't know where the block drain is located on the 3.4L engine (like I didn't, took forever to find a thread with a pic of the location) it's on the passenger side, right behind the A/C compressor. You have to move the mud flap out of the way as you can see I did. You don't need to remove the whole thing as some others have posted. Takes a 14mm socket and your longest extension or several of them. My truck doesn't have the drain spigot that some of the engines seem to have. Just open slowly with a 5 gallon bucket tucked underneath and most of the coolant/water will drain into the bucket.

 

Cooling system service is now complete. All fluids have now been replaced with what I know to be the correct stuff now. Feels good knowing the truck is in way better shape now than when I first got it.

This is the left over sediment from flushing the system 3 times. Twice with straight distilled water and once with Prestone cooling system flush.



And this was still in the bucket too.

 

Wow man!! That crazy how much $h!t was in there. Good job on all the maintenance! You truck is gonna last forever.

 

Hopefully! These are great little trucks and I will be putting it to some hard use soon enough so want to make sure all the basic shit was taken care of.

Picking up my RTT Friday when I go to San Diego and then sliders sometime after Christmas and the bed rack after that.

 

What RTT do you have?

 

Ended up getting it from a company in San Diego called Wheel Every Weekend. Dude and his wife are building a sick 1st gen SAS'd Taco too. Looks like they've had it for a while. The tent is really nice, comparable to all the others of course but he has some nice features that he adds that really drew me to it. And the CNC security mounts that he sells.

 

So do they make the tent or modify one that you send them?

 

They get them from the supplier and then do their modifications from there.

 

Like CVT/Tepui or something else? The security clamps look sweet and the price is really fair!

 

No idea who the supplier is. I talked to him about the tent before buying and he didn't tell me who the supplier was. But the main mods he makes are described on the website for the tents. Just makes them a little sturdier and better able to handle abuse and for not a whole lot more. Prices are very comparable. I'll be back in Tucson with it on the 27th, if your free that weekend, swing on by to check it out. No rack or bars yet so it won't be on the truck tho.

 

Oh yeah, if you want a set of those clamps, let me know. I just need to know what diameter your bed rack bars are. I can pick up a set for you while I'm there.

 

I should be in town at least on Sunday. I’ll hit you up and drop by if convenient.

 

Fabbed up a temporary bed rack so I can pick up the new RTT tomorrow. Made it from 1.75" x .120 wall HREW, 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron and 4 exhaust clamps. More than strong enough to hold the RTT wil me in it. Eventually I'll have a proper bed rack made that will sit higher and actually allow me to attach things to it so they can be accessed from outside the bed. Now I just need to find some caps for the ends of those tubes.