What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Where did you find said deal on the Smittybilt?

 

It came with the tray? Those are pretty much free at HF.

The thing looks good tho. Do tell.

 

So I had some serious play in the steering wheel when off roading, definitely more then the normal “bump steering” I had already replaced the intermediate steering shaft and replaced the rack bushings. So I followed the ISS up to the fire wall and found the problem. I had recently replaced my body mount bushings and had a few spares laying around so I got creative and slid one up the steering shaft into the hole. The body mount was a little big so I had to cut it to fit. The pics will explain the process. The steering is now nice and tight .

 

Damnnn that is creative and an issue I was not aware of. I wonder if we can get @Plastics Guy to look into this with a more "plug n play" solution for anyone in the future. If there's enough demand of course.

 

why did you take off the 35's??

 

removes that bolt in about 30 seconds.

Anyone who has an MT without a STS is missing out!

He was probably tired of rubbing going over speed bumps.

 

Yes I just used a trim tool and gently but slightly aggressively pulled them off!

 

I have seen quite a few people running 35's i just figure they had gone at the entire front end of their truck with a saw

 

Holy crap. I dont check this thread for like 3 weeks and theres 1500 new posts

Latest addition to the ol girl is finally getting a dual battery system installed. Only took me three weeks.. but then again working outside in the Maine winter months isnt exactly fun.

Cut off the factory battery terminals and crimped new lugs on everything. Re-did the chassis ground in 4 gauge and added a neg buss bar. Added about 5 inches of 2 gauge to the factory pos. lead. Big butt splice, some adhesive lined heat shrink, and loom cleaned that up. Actually used the 0 ga. jaws in my HFT crimper cause it seemed to crimp the splice best. A high quality crimper should really be on my list of things to acquire.. And ran the ML-ACR control switch into the cab, just got to mount that somewhere now.

For future reference: the factory pos. and neg. wires to the starter are 2 gauge. Some people have thrown out various sizes, but for sure it's 2 gauge. Also, factory pos. wire to the fuse box appeared to be 4 gauge.

Stock vs new 2 ga welding wire


A 3 handed job


Finished product

 

Awesome! I have 3 gauges on top of my column.didnt want to mess with them to cancel the silver. The red looks sweet btw.

 

That looks awesome! I'm changing mine over as well. I have way too many wires to tastefully connect to the battery. Where did you source the butt connectors and wire? I was going to yank the whole factory system and just run new 4 gauge.

 

All the 2 ga stuff including wire came from https://crimpsupply.com/
The 4 ga stuff came from Amazon but appears to be the same thick welding wire as Crimpsupply which is nice

$46 4 Gauge 4 AWG 10 Feet Red + 10 Feet Black Welding Battery Pure Copper Flexible Cable + 10pcs of 3/8" Tinned Copper Cable Lug Terminal Connectors + 3 Feet Black Heat Shrink Tubing

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD21BCC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Thank you sir!

 

Seriously! I like my truck so much more with the URD kit! And it was like $150, so not too crazy.

 

Put in and adjusted my GTR Lighting LED bulbs last night at midnight so I could drive around without blinding people. The cutoff on these is about the same as the OEM halogens, but they were pointed a bit too high to start with.

The lows are a decent bit better than stock in terms of visibility, but are probably hindered a little bit by the reflector cups that make them mimic the pattern of a halogen by shining the light into only the top of the housing, instead of everywhere. Where they really excel is in the reach I get from the high beams. No noticeable increase in glare once adjusted properly. I'm liking these.

I'll update with pics later once it gets darker.

 

Just got a call from the stealership saying, that during the tear down for my frame replacement, they broke the nut off one of my rear shocks due to "excessive rust" and damaged one of my tie rod arms during removal. Of course they recommend replacing both shocks, which I understand, but they wanted $200 for two new tie rod ends. Is it necessary to replace both? I had them order two rear shocks but just the one tie rod end. This "FREE FRAME" is making my wallet feel lighter already. Do I have any recourse here as far as parts cost?

 

If they broke what wasn't broke shouldn't they fix it?? I'd suggest that reasonably.

 

TREs are like $20 FYI.

 

They were cheaper than the Weathertech's and both seem to be the go to. I might get rear later on but I won't really be having anyone traveling in the back of the cab.

 

Lol