New to Me 1999 SR5

Picked up a 1999 SR5 4wd AT. It’s got 194k miles and had a few issues so I got it cheap. Interior is nice outside of wear on the driver seat and door panel. Other than wheels and tires and cold air intake it seems completely stock. Paint is good but it does have a few hail dents mainly on the hood. Main thing is that it is rust free frame and body. It runs great and AC is cold. Here’s the issues I’ve dealt with so far.

1. Top of radiator was cracked. I installed a new one and fresh coolant. Fixed.
   
2. Steering rack was leaking and had excessive play. I installed a new one along with inner/outer tie rods and then got it aligned. Fixed.
   
3. Dash/door rattles. Put some rubber between windshield and dash. Got a new push connector for both door panels. Mostly fixed.
   
4. Passenger valve cover oil leak. Found most bolts were not even finger tight. Snugged them down a touch but still need to clean it up so I can see if this helped. Probably need to replace both valve cover gaskets. Not fixed.
   
5. Washer fluid reservoir cracked up top. Wrapped it with fiberglass reinforcement for now to keep neck from breaking off completely. Able to fill it 3/4 full and washer system works for now. Not fixed.
   
6. Tailgate missing one cable. Need to order a new one. Not fixed.
   
7. Not a broken part but it’s got stupid heavy 31” Toyo RT tires that weigh 56 lbs each. They only have about 30-40 percent tread left so I’ll be swapping to a lighter tire of the same size in the near future.

Here’s a pic.
I’ve learned a lot cruising the forum so I just wanted to say thanks to those that post and answer questions.

 

Sounds like you’re on your way to getting it fixed up, welcome aboard!

 

Great looking truck. Welcome

 

Sweet Ride
Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

very clean truck!!

 

Thanks guys. The other thing that will need to be addressed is the suspension. The rear leafs have seen better days and the front coils I’m sure are the same. Debating on my path on this. Looking at the Old Man EMU stuff right now but also just thinking a more economical route would be better. I’d be ok with a 1-2” lift but no more. I’m think factory spec new parts would probably get me that just due to the sagging stuff I have now.

The truck will mainly be used as my hunting rig but my drive to and from is about 200 miles of highway round trip. I make the trip about every week during Oct-Dec so it will see a lot of miles during that time. Once I’m there it’s a few miles of rough road and sticky mud during wet periods but those are few and far between that past few years.

I’d love to hear opinions on the suspension choice. I’ve read countless threads but still can’t make up my mind.

 

I bought the General Springs OEM replacements for one of my trucks. In hind sight, I wish I had gone with what they call the heavy duty variation. My experience, the std variation are not as rigid as the old OEMs.

I have two 95 Tacos. On the other one, I had one broken leaf. I replaced only that side with one from O'Reillys. It was a little more expensive, but no shipping, so evened out. Again, my opinion, the quality is about the same as General Springs OEM replacement grade.

 

Welcome to TW!!

Good luck on your suspension setup & be safe during hunting!

 

Thanks again guys. I think I’m going to with the 2” OME with the coils that are close to stock spring rate. I’ve priced out replacing with factory spec parts and the cost will not be much if any cheaper than just buying the OME kit that includes coils, shocks, and new leaf springs. Unless some one tells me this is a bad idea I’ll order soon.

Couple of other issues I’ve dealt with:

Turn signal switch was intermittently not working. Replaced with a new one. Works great.

Auto shifter was bouncing around and even sliding into 2nd when driving. I suspected bushings but I pulled it and found them in good shape. Turned out to be the linkage under the truck just needed to be adjusted properly. Easy fix once I figured it out.

 

Pulled trigger on the OME kit with 2881 coils from WheelerOffRoad. I priced out other options and with tax and shipping the OME kit was about $300 more so hopefully it’s worth it over the OEM type stuff. Not really looking for a big lift but 1.5-2” seems ok and hopefully won’t be a mistake. I’ll post up my thoughts after it’s installed.

 

Did a spark plug and wire change today. Since I didn’t have any history I figured it couldn’t hurt. Turns out the old ones were pretty worn. Gap was about .055 on all of them. Wires were brittle too. She was running ok before but much much smoother now. Idle is perfect and throttle feels better. Here’s a pic of one of the old ones. BTW I took out

$18 Denso K16TR11 Spark Plugs, Pack of 4

Denso K16TR11 and installed

$57 PK16TR11 / 3289

PK16TR11. Seems like the same plug but the new ones are double platinums. Should be good for a while. I used Denso wires too.

I should also add that all the new plugs were only gapped at .030 or so. I adjusted them all to .044.

 

isn’t the gap suppose to be .032?

 

I hope not!!! I did some reading and found the most common answer was .044. Also when I bought the plugs they were supposed to be gapped at .044 out of the box. I hope someone smarter than me can confirm .044?

 

I just looked it up and I guess it depends on the spark plug. Some say .044 and some say .041 and some say .032

 

Thanks for looking into that for me. I trusted a few forum posts that I found doing a quick search. I thought .044 seemed reasonable for a normal NA motor. FI motors usually require a smaller gap in the .025-.035 range.

The .055 as found indicates a lot of wear if they started at .044. It would be a ton of wear if they started at .032.

 

yeah I have a EFI in my truck so mine is .032

 

My new OME suspension will be delivered this week. Pretty excited. This thing rides like a covered wagon right now the the 22 year old springs. Will be time for some new tires after that. I’ll decide on tires after the OME stuff is installed. Would like to stay with 31x10.5 just so I don’t lose any more power but I don’t want it to look odd with the mild lift. I’ll post up some before and after pics this week once I get everything buttoned up.

 

Nice ride. I too have projects on mine. Sun’s finally out and it’s the weekend so I plan to take advantage. Noticed just changed some push connectors. Where is a good place to find an assortment of good connectors and clips for everything? Asking for a friend.... actually me and a buddy are gonna probably buy a huge assortment box and split them for my taco and an 84 K5 blazer he is restoring.

 

I’m not sure the best place to get push connectors. I just have some laying around from one of my other 10 project vehicles. I think these actually came from a Mustang I worked on a couple years ago.

 

Well…I started on my suspension upgrades today by trying to remove factory rear leafs. As I have read is the case on most, the front leaf bolts are frozen. Also I was able to get the inside plate off the rear shackle but cannot seem to get the shackle bolts to slide out of the hanger or the spring. Looks like a lot of cutting in my future. I was able to get the shocks and u-bolts off. Shocks appeared to be 1999 vintage with 195k miles. Yikes!

If anyone has any words of wisdom on the hanger bolts I’m all ears. My plan is to break out the 4.5” cutoff grinder tool tomorrow after work. I hate cutting!

My new OME stuff will be delivered on Tuesday so I thought I’d get a head start. Good thing I did.