Bob's, "hold my beer and watch this" 06 DCSB build.

That's going to be awesome if it fits! I did a quick google search and there are aftermarket offerings out there that are sold as being "05-20" compatible so definitely likely it'll just drop right in. Fingers crossed!

 

How much were you finding aftermarket options for? I bought this used for $330 shipped to my door.

 

I just did a quick search and the ones I found were not powered and one didn't even have a sliding window at all. I imagine any of the aftermarket ones that are powered wouldn't be labelled as fitting a pre '16 model.

 

Time to put this pile of parts on the truck!

 

Old diff out, and next to the 3rd gen t4r elocker diff. Just glancing over both to make sure there's nothing missing and I'll be shoving the 4.30 into the housing.

Going to need a new pinion flange as early t4r driveshaft bolt pattern is smaller and the 4.30 uses a 27 spline pinion vs Tacoma 3.73 is a 29.

 

I start this off by saying, Urethane sucks!

Ok now some good news. I was able to successfully install the 2017+ power rear slider assembly into my 2006 Tacoma. No cutting or modification needed. Slap it in run a bead of new urethane and you're done. Obviously you'll need to run wires, relays and install a switch, but no major hurdles to install it.

 

I'm interested in this, ECGS did my rear, I been wanting to know if I could use a 3rd gen 4.30 diff in the front! Staying tuned!

 

Moving right along with the mods this weekend. Should have the tcase back in pretty soon and then I'll be tearing the front end apart.

 

good to see you're lubing the u-joints lol

Mine looks the same way

 

That one wouldn't take grease so I just squirted a bunch on it and rubbed it around. While I have the driveline out, I've got 2 ujoints to replace, that being one of them the other in the front.

 

Well what started as a simple tcase and gear swap is turning into a full blown operation. It's all the little things that while I'm in there which add up and make sense to do now, rather than later. Contemplating a rear disc conversion which is about $800, along with manual hub conversion for the front. I need new wheel bearings which would be about 1/3 - almost half the cost of the conversion since new hubs are needed for the conversion, which is $990. The rear disc idea is just a thought, and I'll probably just stick with drums for now. Manual hubs seem like a no brainier to go with the manual tcase, and I'll permanently engage the front jack shaft making it truly 4wd on demand with just the tcase shifter. Eventually I'd install the awd fj one piece jack shaft to eliminate the slip collar and the ADD components. The hub conversion would make it so the front axle doesn't spin all the time like it does currently.

Didn't make much progress on the front this week but hopefully I'll have the old front diff out and the new one in by Sunday evening. I did manage to remove the needle bearing and install the ecgs bushing in the new 4.30 diff. Also replaced the pinion flange on the diff since it was bent in shipping. not a big deal, I have a few extra flanges now between my old front diff and the old tcase. I was also able to get $100 refunded from the seller due to that. The OEM flange is $100 from the dealer. So total price of the front diff was $470 + ecgs bushing and new seal.

Got a new rack and pinion ordered and on the way, should be here middle next week some time. Mine is soooo f'ng shot, its solely the reason why I decided to do all this work in the first place. Never in all of the clapped out vehicles I've owned over the last 20yrs have I felt unsafe while driving them to the point that I had to make myself stop driving it before A: I lost control B: seriously injured myself or someone else IE: passenger and or occupants of another vehicle. There is currently an 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock slop in the steering that is truly a no man's land of nonresponse, which combined with the traction control is a recipe for disaster. Leading up to starting this I had to drive around with the gas cap unscrewed and just sitting i place to throw a check engine light which disables all the safety features. That allowed me to drive the vehicle without fear of the TC freaking out and automatically applying breaks to one side causing me to swerve the opposite direction of where I was traveling.

Tore my icon coilovers apart last weekend with @JimSnell and I was, but wasn't too surprised with what we found. Broke one of the topout washers in one coilover, and also found that one of the coilovers had a longer spacer in it than the other. The difference between the spacers is an easy 3/8-1/2". They are the non ext travel version, which I was planning to remove the spacers anyway while I had them apart for rebuild. So more parts needed. The shock with the broken washer had little to no nitrogen charge left and the other side, not quite sure how much exactly, but it definitely had more than the broken side.


About the only thing going good is the new bushings and new paint on my OME dakars. I still need to install those in the rear and weld in a new mount for the rear shocks while I'm at it.

 

Could have just double drilled the flange

 

Which one? The t4r flange? It's not quite big enough. There isn't much meat left to where I'd feel confident it wouldn't rip apart mid power brake burnout or from a good torque load up. Actually here's a comparison of the gen Tacoma and the pre 2001 t4r/Tacoma flanges, overlaid on each other. 1st pic is the 27spline flange on top of my 29spline Tacoma flange. You can see the size difference in diameter. Second pic is the Tacoma on top of the t4r flange. Zoom in and you can see the seat cushion color through the outer edges of the drive shaft bolt holes, which is the outer most edge of the flange. Just not gonna happen. Are the 2001 - 2004 tacoma and 2001-2002 t4r flanges bigger in diameter? I had to double check, but the 4.30 elocker I have is from a 99 t4r. They might have changed the flange size in the later years?

 

A rear disc conversion is always nice eye candy



That steering rack sounds sketchy. Didn't you lose a inner tie rod in the snow a while back?




I've had my Icons for almost 5 yrs now, when should I think about rebuilding them? Im not seeing any leakage anywhere and they still feel great

 

2006 Tacoma flange




1999 T4r flange

 

Yeah especially with f5s, and calipers painted a different color to stand out.

Yeah, the inner unthreaded from the ram.

Mine stopped supporting the weight of the truck even with 700# coils, and I also broke the top hat on the passenger side. They had at least 40k miles on them, which I think icon suggests no more than that with mild/moderate use. Mine have been pretty much abused for the last 40k. Mine never showed any signs of leakage, but they definitely showed signs of fatigue.

The first pic is from 2016 is actually with 600? Or maybe 650# coils, can't remember what Icons come with. The second is in 2017 after the 700# swap and then the last 2 are from late 2018. You can slowly see the front end get lower and lower.
285/70/17's
Early 2016

Mid 2018

265/75/16's
Early 2017

Late 2018


Broken tophat pieces half on each side of the coil and a whole one in it's normal place still attached to the not broken/such a mess inside coil.

 

Been pretty busy this week and I haven't gotten a chance to touch the truck at all. Steering rack showed up today. time to get back to wrapping this thing up.

 

Got side tracked by a work project. Moved into a service truck this last week after I hit the limit for tool storage on the F350 crew cab I was driving. The service truck had been driven by random people over the last few years and used mostly as a back up rig so there was all sorts of crap left behind and overall a mess. So I decided to give it a good spring cleaning. Pulled the air compressor and welder out and steam cleaned the whole thing and even inside the service box. Its a 96 f350 2wd with a 460 in it. Would be better if it was a stick or at least 4wd, but it'll do.

The welder is a Miller AEAD-200LE and it got some long overdue love with fresh paint and a good cleaning inside and out. I cleaned all the crap out of the carb and all the tin work got cleaned up. I couldn't find a serial number on the welder itself, but according to the engine serial, it was built in April of 1983. Damn things older than me by a month. Still burns in the rod like a champ. I've got some holes to patch in the bed where the compressor was mounted and reinforce that area before I put it all back in. Should be done tomorrow and then I'll be able to bring it home along with all my tools to get more done on the Tacoma.

 

My add has been bad lately.

Trying to finish up the last few things with my truck.

I had a few cans of spray paint lying around. Pretty sure I'm 37yrs old going on 9.