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

Trail Gear

 

Not the best picture but, OME lift installed.

 

Building new high-ish clearance bumper.

 

Last Tuesday after kayaking with some friends I went to start my truck and it would not crank. Checked connections and everything was good and then tried to jump it off with my brothers truck. That still did not work, so I borrowed the battery out of our tractor to get home.
Got a new battery on Wednesday as my old one would not hold a charge and also got the alternator tested, as I suspected, it failed. I removed it the next day and took it to be rebuilt instead of buying a cheap one from the auto parts store, or wasting $450 on a reman from dealership. I picked it up today, and then got home and installed it, everything is good now, and it also looks brand new.

 

Today I got alignment done after me and my brother installed Icon extended travel front coil overs and Icon delta joint tubular UCA. We also “reset” the rear axle to try and get correct the thrust angle — driver side being about a quarter inch further forward than the passenger side two days ago. We did the rear Icon AAL and remote reservoir shocks a few weeks ahead of the front due to work travel, so we got to do aggressive test rides on the class 4 roads twice. It made me realize just how shot the original shocks were after 90k+ miles. The hardest part of the process was dealing with what a decade of New England salt and dirt does to hardware under the truck. Well, getting the UCA bolts out was a chore too.

Numbers came back good, tho they say the 3.8 caster is out of spec. TW commentary seems to be that 3-4 is preferred.

The ride is certainly better. Found myself going 10mph faster on one of our usual dirt routes with washboards, washouts and bit potholes. Much better connection to the road, and the truck feels solid. Less body roll and smoother ride on what passes for paved roads here in Vermont. The wife got to drive it the other night and was stoked enough to say how impressed she was with the work we did.

Now I’m just getting used to all the new sounds I can hear. There is a new “thump” coming from the passenger side. Sometimes it feels like it’s under my feet, sometimes feels like it’s furthest back. It happens when going relatively straight and at moderate speed. Greasing up the UCA bushings seemed to reduce it, but that might just be imaginary. Was thinking it might be some sort of stiction or binding in the suspension components when hitting a sharp bump. I’m not worried about it, but after having my hands all over the suspension my mind is trying to map the sounds into my mental model of the system.

 

So with new upper control arms, new tie rods and lower ball joints, new front brakes that aren't seized up, new to me oem shocks. This truck feels brand new! No clunks. Rides amazing. Stops like it should. Onto the next problem! It sits about an inch higher which is what I wanted, however I bet it settles down after time.

Yes I put pads in after the pic lol

 

Finally got all the bits and bobs together. Install is tomorrow.
Super excited, super anxious.

 

Have some icon billet uca’s with some bad squeaks. They have close to 40k on them without any noise. Is there something I should be replacing? Heims? Uniball?

 

For that matter, add extended bolts and dirp ‘em for good aerodynamics! Thanks for the update. Where would we be without the forum?!

 

MUCH MORE!

 

Damn, you’re gonna make me do it!

 

Got an extinguisher mounted on the front bed rail. The idea was to make it easily accessible through the driver's side windoor. It's mostly a proof of concept, but it's seems far more secure than expected, especially considering this mount isn't intended for this extinguisher..

 

I have a molle panel mounted extinguisher in the cans and one mounted at the tail gate on the bed stiffener, driver’s side. Both easy access depending on if I’m in in or out of the truck

 

Today, I took another step closer to becoming an instagram truck fanboy...except I deleted my instagram app...oh well. My tailgate is a table now, so that's a thing.

 

Color matched grill and dipped emblem.

 

What bumper is this?
Looks wicked.

 

Took a picture.

 

Cool thanks!
I am going to go with an aluminium @SOS CONCEPTS bumper!