SwampYota's 2003 Tacoma Build

Looks great, man!

 

Thanks man!

 

High Angle CV Boots

December 30, 2019 - Time to address my torn CV boot. I saw a post on Tacoma World where @Uphillshunter had put his High Angle CV boots from Off Road Solutions through the ringer and they held up great so I went with those boots based on his post. The driver side was the only ripped boot but it was a matter of time on the passenger side so they were both replaced. Still holding up great 7 months later.

 

Keeping it Legal

January 26, 2020 - Shows how much it gets daily-driven, almost a month after the bumper was installed I got around to installing the license plate lights. I ordered some LED knockoffs from Amazon, they look pretty good I think.

 

Replacing the Splash Guards

April 3, 2020 - I ripped the OEM fender well splash guards installing the lift nearly a year ago, specifically while installing the UCAs. The little lady ordered me a set of Gear Tech Customs PROTEC splash guards from @cnote4l for my birthday on September 10, 2019. I guess 7 months is long enough to let them sit in the garage so on they went. These are much thicker than the OEM guards and fit well. Great product.

 

Greasing the Driveshaft

July 24, 2020 - Since I was heading up to Linville Gorge the next day it was time to do some preventative maintenance. The truck was sitting at 173,260 miles and I'm embarrassed to say I had never greased the driveshaft since I purchased it 5 years and 17,738 miles ago so it was time.

According to the owner's manual, the Front Drive Shaft Thrust Bushings require Synthetic oil and lithium soap base chassis grease, NLGI No. 1. The Propeller Shaft Spiders (Universal Joints) require Lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No. 2. The Slide Yoke and Double Cardan Joint require Molybdenum-disulfide lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No. 2. So I went with the following grease for my driveshaft lubrication:

Front Driveshaft Thrust Bushings - Amsoil Synthetic Polymeric EP Grease, NLGI 1 (GPTR1CR)
Spiders (Universal Joints or U Joints) - Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease, NLGI 2 (53201-0)
Slide Yoke and Double Cardan Joint - Mobil 1 Mobilgrease NLGI 2 Lithium Base Grease with Moly (XHP 462)



I also have grease for the Daystar greasable shackles on the leaf springs and the bushings on the upper control arms so I've got four grease guns floating around my garage. To make sure I didn't mix them up I had @CBoy808 make some labels for me. Turned out great.





So a few pumps of the grease guns and quite a mess later the driveshafts were lubed which took care of a nasty vibration I was getting.



Also, it was time for it's once a year oil change (I put less than 5,000 miles on it since the oil change in July, 2019) so that was completed as well.

 

Zerk Locations

July 24, 2020 - Here are the nine zerk locations on the front and rear driveshafts:

 

Linville Gorge Trip

July 25, 2020 - Took a ride up Old NC 105 to the Linville Gorge Wilderness in the Pisgah National Forest. Beautiful area.

 

That’s a beautiful area!

 

Yeah it was great. There are some challenging hiking trails into the Gorge and down to the Linville River which is supposed to have excellent trout fishing. I had renewed my fishing license the day before ($27/year inland only no coastal fishing) and planned to hook a few for the smoker but every trailhead was packed with trucks. I had gear in my truck for staying the weekend, including a laptop and didn't want to risk some bonehead breaking a window to get into it so I just enjoyed the scenery from the truck or close to it. Next time though...

 

Just saw you had a build thread and read through it all. Great looking 1st gen man, very clean. Its a quality i admire. Subd for more updates.

 

Thanks Josh! Hope to have some more updates soon.

 

Clean 1st Gen! I really like how you included all the maintenance. I've slowing been working on my own retro build thread. Little here, little there, you know how it goes.

 

Thanks man! Build has been on hold to sell the house. Right now it’s garaged surrounded by boxes, furniture and clutter in the garage. You can see the new @22REthan skid plate resting against the bumper waiting to go on.

House is under contract so hopefully soon the build gets back on track.

 

Poor Taco! My wife and I just came up with a 5 year plan to move out of California. I'm really not looking forward to selling the house.

 

Escaping California seems to be a common theme these days.

 

Just wondering if the tires rubbed at all with those rims? I have the same rims with 265/70-17 tires on them and they rub a little when making a sharp turn like in and out of a driveway or in a drive thru. I'm about to do a lift on the truck because its stock height now so just wondering how high your lift ended up being and if it rubs at all? Thanks for the info...

 

The tires rub the frame at full lock. From what I understand a lift does not correct tire rub. Some wheel spacers would likely help but I don’t have plans to add any at the moment, it hasn’t been bad enough to make me consider correcting it.

 

.....and nearly 7 months later we still haven’t found a house. Really misjudged how terrible the housing market is right now. The truck has been sitting in the driveway of a family member this whole time. I go over every so often and start it up to let it run. Build is obviously still on hold but got a lot of good stuff sitting in storage waiting to go on, stay tuned.....

 

Mine only rubs the frame if I'm all the way on the lock and it just barely touches... My issue is it's rubbing on the the plastic behind the wheel, I'm hoping the lift is gonna help that that a little higher so it won't rub there anymore when driving ing around town. It's only a prerunner so it doesn't see any wheeling at all... Thanks for the info...