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

god i wish my engine bay looked that clean... oh wait.. i dont have an engine bay right now.

 

most important tool is the tool for compressing the tensioner. massive time saver for sure. other than that the jobs not hard at all.

 

meh not needed. Just bolt in the tensioner before pulling the pin. The bolt in everything else and slip the belt on. Then pull the pin. One and done.

 

I had the engine steam cleaned / power washed about a week ago because I was going to do the valve covers this weekend.

I also had him steam/power wash the under side of the engine/trans because I'm about to start the 4x conversion.

I think it's probably the best 90 bucks I've spent on the truck lol.

 

Well if you replace the tensioner. I’m talking if your reusing the original.

 

As Ben said most kits come with a new one and it's cheap to get if it doesn't. Makes it much easier and simpler for the at home install

 

Was workin on replacing my third brake light and thought the seal was just really stuck on there, until I realized there’s two bolts going into the cab... guess I was following a thread for a 2nd gen, any way of taking these out without pulling the headliner??

 

Like Ben, I'm relatively easily bribed. Shoot me a PM and I'm sure we can work something out.

That time. Next time, we'll just do it at your place. Maybe with a couple extra seals handy.

Happy to answer questions as well - was a fun job after worked up the gumption to do it!

The tensioner that comes with the kit is definitely the easiest way to do this, but no special tools are needed to re-tension the original. In fact, because I'm such a cheapo, I still have my original as a spare, since it seemed to be in perfect working order. To retension it, simply place it in a bench vise and slowly tighten the vise until you can slip in a pin (or small hex key) to capture the piston. Works well, is super easy, and you don't need to purchase an SST.

All this talk of Timing Belts and my checklist; here it is again for easy reference:

adventuretaco.com/step-by-step-toyota-tacoma-timing-belt-replacement-for-3-4l-v6-5vzfe-also-4runner-tundra-and-t100/

 

You don't have to pull the whole liner out. Just enough to get to the screws which is basically the 2 button retainers above the rear window. The 3rd tail light is held in place with 2 10mm nuts. You need a deep socket to get them loose. If you have a 1/4"" drive, that is ideal since it's smaller and easier to get in there.

Here's my stock one, I already swapped it out for an LED one.

 

New TYC headlights and all pro front bumper with full skids installed today. Coming together

 

40" E-series rigid bar on roof bar

 

Washed and waxed just in time for the 5 days of storms were getting starting tonight.

 

Install an oem radiator I had laying down and a transmission cooler

 

I love your truck dude, you should post a bunch of pics in the reg cab thread

 

Thanks man!

 

I give ya a hand man, it is quite simple. You are mechanical with cars. What i meant about not lining marks up. Is to do it before you release the tensioner. Also I will say replace all the pulleys and tensioners while in there. I didnt and now have a pully going bad. Im just waiting on a new radiator fan and crank pully before hand.

 

Them are some bad mamba jamba lights man!

 

- Installed ditch light brackets (still deciding what ditch lights I'm going to use)
- Threw the spacers back on
- Did an oil change
- Re-mounted the bumper lights so the covers can be taken off and put on without worrying about breaking them
- Fabbed an insert with nuts to make an attachment point for the front 3 bolts for the front skid plate to the Trail Gear bumper

And cleaned up the garage from today's work and doing the valve covers yesterday.

No pics you'll have to take my word for it... lol
But not a bad weekend's worth of work

 

I like these

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/302855610453

 

I'm not sure if I want spot or flood for the ditch lights. And I need to have them covered.

Thinking about these.
https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/163053066580