What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

I would, get some thick rubber stuff like cattle or horse stall mats from Tractor Supply and cut a bed mat out if you’re worried about hurting it.

Then bed line it when you can

 

Finished up another 30k interval maintenance (transmission, tcase, diffs, plugs) and greased the drive shaft last week and then took the first gen on one last taco run before I ship it to California.

Untitled by chris tsay, on Flickr

 

I ripped out my plastic over the rail bedliner (also no rust but lots of scratches) and replaced it with a deezee bed mat. I really like the mat. It fits really well, is comfortable for my dog's paws, and everything sticks like glue in the bed now.

 

Yeah, I’ll let you know how my raptor holds up, but my bed mat has been awesome. The new bed I got had a plastic liner in it and had a little bit of really bad rust and wear through the paint here and there, but over all was in decent shape. My old bed with just the bed mat was in much better shape though.

 

Overall as a temporary fix a rubber stall mat is probably the way to go...
that said if you've got a sheet of plywood lying around you could cut it to size and then use some cheap undercoating on it. might save you a couple bucks, especially if you're just going to have it just as a temporary fix. might not work if your raptor liner plans are far in the future, but for 6 months or a year it might work well, especially if you've got some plywood lying around already. just my.02.

 

Several interesting things today for me (or, interesting to me at least).

Some normal maintenance stuff:

• Oil Change
• Annual fluid change - diffs, tcase, trans
• Grease drive line
• Tire rotation

Also, these things came in the mail...

Stainless, extra tight FK bearings for my lower shock eyes. Won't be installing them until the current pair wears out (probably 2-3 months).

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Calipers. I've always wanted a caliper, @Speedytech7 convinced me that I needed one.

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And you didn't even ask me for recommendations, tsk tsk. Speaking of which I have a PM coming your way

 

Digital calipers are for the mentally infirm. I just wish he'd had bought a better set of dial calipers

 

I doubt he'll be needing those any time soon. Not trying to be a machinist haha

 

Still nice to have dial calipers that don't jump teeth

 

I already knew my brain was a Superfund site, this confirms it.

 

yeah well I bet it'll be just fine for whatever he needs it for. haha

 

Yeah it totally will for this project. Actually could do what he's doing with a regular tape measure or ruler. Measuring devices I put in the category of forever tools though. Actually I'd have sent him a spare pair of Mitutoyos, still have lots of stuff left from my machining days and at least another year before I buy a mill.

 

Hung a minimally dented rust free tailgate with nice shiny paint on my New England Beater. Even put some bling on there.

 

Just like me, buddy.

I don't need a great set of calipers, but if you have a suggestion of something better in the same price range ($40), I'm all ears; these are easily returnable.

I definitely want a gauge though, so don't tell me to get any of that digital crap.

 

I'd never tell you to get digital calipers, we even had really expensive Interapid and Mitutoyo digi sets at my last work that couldn't be trusted... the nice ones are barely even hobbyist grade. However we all agreed for folks just getting into machining or doing hobby work at home, Anytime Tools brand just couldn't be beat. We worked our sets hard and they held up well.

I have a set of these in just about every size and surprisingly they always check out great on standards.

$42 Anytime Tools Premium Dial Caliper 6"/0.001" Precision Double Shock Proof Solid Hardened Stainless Steel

https://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Precision-Hardened-Stainless/dp/B00IIS7DWE

 

Thanks for the idea's guys! Looks like i have a busy weekend. Got a bed full of wood to cut and i'll need to yank that plastic out. My high lift mounts go thru the plastic amd the bed frame. Same as my soft topper. I'll get-er-dun!

 

Oh shit, you came out purse swingin. But yeah, after my caretaker read that I laughed.

 

Getting close to getting the new to me / used tie down hooks. I’ll post pics when I get them. Hope you guys are as stoked as I am!!