Raz's '04 Tacoma TRD build

Nice truck man. First gen best gen.

 

it does still have the original clutch but i'm not real worried about that. my last truck only had 1 clutch during it's 164k miles. it's all in how it's driven. the guy i bought it from was an older gentleman who (allegedly) didn't wheel it or drive it hard. it was a retirement present to himself back in 04 and he wouldnt have sold it except that he needed a double cab (his new truck is a red 2019 double cab v6 so pretty much the same thing but newer). the clutch also feels pretty good.

my family and I have a mechanic that we have been going to since we first moved to the Seattle area (some 35 years ago). he's always done a good job and charged fair rates. i can do regular maintenance (oil change, air filter, etc.) myself but for bigger and more important stuff, i like to go to a professional.

 

I had a $1k charcoal canister job show up not 2 weeks after I got mine. Happens to the best of us.

 

I have the Weathertechs in my 2004 double cab and my brothers 2002. They fit great in both trucks.

Nice truck! First gen = BEST GEN!

 

Husky makes some nice floor mats similar to the Weathertechs for our trucks, and much cheaper. Think I got mine for about $70 on Amazon, they trap dirt and water really well

 

Update 7/5/19:
so i had the truck looked at and they decided that instead of replacing the master and slave cylinders that they would just bleed the clutch. they found that there were air pockets in the system and said that if the problem came back then they would just replace both the master and slave cylinders. that fixed the problem temporarily but it has come back somewhat. it turned out that the clutch was just stuck halfway down and if it happens again i can just pull it back up with my foot; not ideal but it works. it doesn't happen unless i am letting the clutch out really slowly though and even then it only happens 1 time out of 9 or 10. i think that i will still have the work done but i am going to wait until i don't have to borrow money to get it done. oh well... just means that i will have to wait longer for the bumper and suspension work.

 

The issue is with the pedal not returning all the way? I had the same thing happen with my truck after I got a new clutch installed, I would have to pull the pedal back up with my foot after each shift because it would only return half way on it's own. I took it back to the shop that did the clutch and they did a bleed and that fixed it. I wonder if maybe they didn't bleed it enough? Might still be air in the system if they didn't bleed it completely.

 

from what the told me, they bled the system as far as necessary. the clutch felt great at first but as i drove the truck home the problem came back a bit. they couldn't find a leak but they said that it was possible that the leak was from the slave cylinder on the inside of the transmission housing (meaning they couldn't see if this was the case). if this was the case more air would get into the system as it leaked; this would show it's self by bringing the problem back. from what they told me, the solution was simply replace the slave and/or master cylinder. perhaps i am naive to believe the shop but they've been pretty trustworthy for the last 30 years.

 

Clutch master and slave are an easy swap. They are 60 bucks + ship @ rock auto. Both aisen. 20 min job to swap. Bleeding is the hardest, I would renting recommend a vacuum pump

 

Just FYI you can still drive it without a clutch. Shut it off and use the clutch start cancel to get going again. Rev match to shift gears. I wouldn't do it all the time , especially in high traffic areas but it could help you from needing a tow.


There is also an adjustment from the master to the pedal. Not likely to be the issue if it's the original though.

 

hey all, question for y'all. i'm trying to avoid making a new thread so for the time being... i'm just posting this question here.

so i just got a quote for my suspension and it's lookin' pretty expensive. one way that i was thinkin' that i could save some money was doing the work myself. i'm not sure about how feasible this is so that's where y'all come in. i'm 18 years old, have little experience working on vehicles, but i am pretty competent working with my hands; i tend to learn well on the fly. i have all the basic tools: socket set, torque wrench, etc. and know a decent amount about suspension, cars, etc. but i lack the hands-on experience. i've done basic projects but no big items. when i do the suspension, i'll do the front coils, front shocks, UCAs, Brake lines, diff-drop, rear leafs, rear shocks, and rear brake lines. as i said, i generally do pretty well working with my hands but i don't want to get in over my head. is this too big to be a first project or is it feasible?

thanks in advance!

 

My suspension swap at 19 was my first real experience working on cars besides typical easy stuff. I watched a ton of youtube videos, as its basically the same concepts across all makes and models. And I read through a lot of write ups on here. My truck was "under the knife" for 4 days, so I drove the beater in the meantime. I say go for it! If you have questions that pop up while your doing the job, I gaurantee you will get an answer on here within 30 minutes.


My top advice before you start:
1. Start soaking all bolts and fasteners with penetrating lube a few days if not weeks in advance.
2. Invest in some 6 ton jack stands.
3. Buy new bolts for the leaf spring main eyes.
4. Use SuperLube (can be had at harbor freight) on every rubber bushing.
5. Be prepared to buy new sway bar links if you plan on keeping your sway bar.
6. Be comfortable/prepared to use a sawzall/angle grinder on your u bolts and main eye bolts.
7. Do one side at a time, always leave yourself a reference. Take pics.

 

Suspension was the first real DIY work I tackled on my truck too...its easy if you don't overthink it and follow some online videos/tutorials. It's just nuts and bolts, as long as you have the right tools there's no reason you can't do it.

The hard part comes when something unexpected happens lol...like a broken bolt or something stuck that won't come off. But between YouTube and Tacomaworld there's a solution for just about everything.

 

ok, so i should do it during a school break or something so that i'm not SOL when i need to drive it the next day.

any specialty tools that are worth getting?

 

If you're just doing suspension I wouldn't worry about anything going wrong...it's really pretty simple especially the rear shocks and front coilovers (assuming the shock/spring is already assembled). They literally just bolt right in.

Leaf springs are a little trickier in that they're heavy and awkward to work with, and take some trial and error in getting the front and rear bolts lined up. But I got them done in a day and I didn't have hardly any experience in doing any work on my truck at the time.

As long as you don't live in the rust belt and don't have to worry about frozen/rusted out hardware, I think you'll be good. Give yourself a day or weekend to do it and you'll get it done faster than expected most likely.

Basic tools really...have a variety of sockets and wrenches at the ready. A torque wrench is a must have, they're easy to use and you can pick one up from Harbor Freight for cheap. Jack stands, floor jack, wheel chocks...standard stuff for working on a vehicle. An impact wrench can be handy for taking bolts out but I wouldn't use one for putting them on, you want to make sure you torque everything to it's proper torque spec. I have a PDF of all the proper torque #'s on these trucks if you want it

 

Here's the torque spec guide for our trucks, I have this printed out and keep it in my truck so it's handy when I need it

 

The good thing about having a 1st gen Tacoma is that they're so common/popular that there are multiple videos on Youtube for just about every DIY procedure you might want to tackle. Check out @Timmah! 's youtube channel, he has a ton of videos and he's very thorough on what to do. Most of his vids are on his 3rd gen 4runner but those are very similar to our Tacomas.

 

Love Timmy the Toolman's videos! They have helped me out more than once!

 

Also Ive found that there are more 2nd gen how to's on youtube. Pretty much the same concepts.

 

thanks for all the advice!

after thinking about it i have decided that i am going to try and do the work myself. this was really helpful.