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

Just an oil and oil filter change.

And found an attempt at a bird nest in-between my radiator and AC condenser. Not in the shape of a bird nest, of course. Just a ton of grass, twigs, etc.. (sorry no pics). They like to build above my front door, but I have blocked them there. They then move to the Tacoma engine compartment? WTF.

 

lol finally remembered to snag a pic but here it is. needs a few more things added...

 

Had another optima battery go out within warranty. Picked up a Interstate AGM instead and selling the replacement optima

 

Bend it back lol

 

Was getting a little squeal for 5 or 10 seconds on cold mornings so I went to change the serpentine belt. Old belt looked good, no cracking but the lower idler pulley wasn't spinning freely. Did an oil change while I waited for the part to get in at the store down the street. Was surprisingly easy to reinstall the belt!

Tricks I found on youtube:
-Take off the engine cover, it makes getting the old belt out easier
-Check all the pulleys with the old belt off
-Take off the skid plate and do most of the work from the bottom once the new belt is slipped over the fan
-DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING - it's easy to miss a spline on one of the accessory pulleys

Also now I have a spare belt.

 

I chose to beef it up. 3/16 steel should hold up. I have more than a couple punctures and gouges so it came as the perfect opportunity to upgrade.

 

You sure that squeal wasn't the secondary air injection system? I hear this same squeal every time I start the truck.

waiting patiently for your response to tell me that my truck is on the edge of grenading itself if I don't get this handled ASAP.

 

Made new forward brackets for the rear wheel wells. What a big difference! The bedside fender is pretty stable now. It still flexes a little because the wheel well flange is gone. I probably won’t get the liners on until next week.

Modified factory vs. mine


New ones installed

 

Yup, definitely from the belt and especially given the bad pulley

 

I popped in a couple Gear Tech Custom wheel well liners and really happy with them. The liners are cut from really thick rubber and the holes line up well. I called on a Saturday to get shipping info I had deleted and the owner answered and helped. Great service!

 

I have one listed in the "Free stuff being given away" thread.
Miguel_prerunner7 wants the aluminum outer skid.

 

Hit the jackpot the other day..


So I decided to celebrate:

 

installed an additional trans cooler in series with the factory one so I can tow my travel trailer

 

You had cut your fenders to make tabs for these right?

 

I just added some lights to the bed

 

Trimmed my LCA skids to work with the MC gussets

 

Yes. I cut 2-1/2” off the fenders & 2” from the flares.

 

I just got off the phone with Discount Tire about my out of round tires.
I’ve been having wheel balance issues with my new 35” KO2s. They rebalanced them once; so now I’m having them do a warranty replacement next Tuesday. They have a bunch in stock & hope to find 4 that are good.
If this doesn’t work, I might need to pick another tire.

 

And here is where I am at the moment: