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

I dont keep up to date with this thread anymore. Probably wouldve spotted a thread on it, or even a tag though, happy to help at least in his case.

 

My rear shocks are the blue Tokikos. Didn't realize those came stock on Tacomas. I'm pretty sure mine were installed by a PO, but it's cool they were paying attention.

Maybe that means my front struts were replaced at some point as well, although they are still the blue/yellow Bilsteins.

I'll definitely do some side by side pictures with measurements when I do the swap. I know my 4600s are thicker than what's on there. I'm curious whether there's any difference in length. Bilstein doesn't advertise their shocks as extended travel, but I recently found a video that showed 5100s give an additional 1 1/4" of droop compared to a stock 2012 FJ shock, and I'm curious if that's true for 4600s as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATmyTbMJL3o&ab_channel=Tinkerer'sAdventure

 

I should've mentioned and this might have been the reason, my 02 had the TRD option. My 98 did not. Not even sure if they had it as an option in 98.

 

To be fair, I hadn't specifically started a thread on the cheap quality adapter issue simply because I had already come up with my own plan to deal with it.

After digging and doing a bit of cross checking, the 95 tcase shares the exact same transfer sub assembly housing (#3610535040) as every other tacoma up to 2015 and multiple other models (FJ, 4Runner, Tundra, etc). Hell, it also appears on the 88-95 toyo truck tcase. So with knowing that, I wanted to jump over to the Speed Sensor that is on the 02 (#8318112020) as well as 97 all the way through 2011. Now while it fits perfectly into the sub-assembly housing, the speedo gear does need to be changed out. The original mechanical gear is too long.

So I'll confirm its 100% working once the gear (#3340339365 - 30 tooth) gets here.

Now with the sensor Zane shared, I bet its 100% compatible as well. As he mentioned, it has been around forever. I'm not going to pop another 100 bucks on it but I will order one of it's cheap Amazon alternatives just to confirm it will work with which gear and if it'll fit this t case. My bet is it will work fine with the mechanical gear and fits perfectly.

Once I have it all together, I'll do a quick thread with info and pics. Another thing that would be nice (especially for the folks who don't like splicing) is if there was a simple patch extension for the VSS sensor wires. Hell, I might even slap one together and offer it up. I snipped the connector and already wired in an extension but it would be really simple to have a OEM quality connector patch option.

Cheers guys and thanks for all the input!

 

Oh and on another note, looks like my Northstar 24f batt (use as a starter) from the 2019 group buy might be crapping out. Either that or I have some odd electrical drain going on I'm not aware of. Whenever I throw it on the

$97 NOCO GENIUS10, 10A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries

Noco 10 amp charger, the charger will fluctuate and occasionally I've noticed my ScanGauge II has powered on even though the truck isn't running and key is nowhere near the ignition. Not sure what's going on with the SCG to be honest.

So if I replace the Northstar, what's the current lead performing batt these days? Optima? Odyssey? I don't like Interstate, have never had good luck with them. Not even sure what is still around, will have to dig. Battery suggestions?

I wonder if I should try the repair option on the Noco charger.
Ok, yeah NO. Apparently the repair option is for flooded batts not AGM.

EDIT: After having tried CTEK and my experience with the NOCO, I've settled on the Victron Blue Smart IP65 12v/15A Charger.

 

Ive always run Odysseys, im not an Optima fan and dont enjoy their weird form factor. Longest lasting Osyssey Ive had was 9 yrs, the others are still going but havent had em that long yet. The CTEK charger is what ive veen running to condition the AGM batteries and i use a Battery Tender Jr. to just keep my winterized bike and truck and it works well too. Im not sure id 100% trust a reading for the OBD port for voltage since theres a lot of things on that circuit and it isnt huge gauge wiring, it may be suscepible to voltage droop.

 

I do remember mention of the CTEK charger in the Northstar threads. I had already bought into that NOCO charger and figured I'd chance it. Guess I should've went with the CTEK lol. I'll look into the Odyssey.

 

Interesting, I figured tg got the whole deal when inchworm was sold to low range then TG bought low range. I know inchworm used to make a bunch of marlins adapters back in the day.

Sucks the consolidation in the Toyota industry, all the vendors blow total ass IMO. Even companies like front range offroad suck, I have yet to get a product from them that hasn't been a pile of poo.

 

You might consider tossing this device in the mix of mentions too, it makes adjusting speedo reading super easy.

https://www.lutzauto.com/product-page/toyota-92-manual-transmission-3-wire-speed-sensor-calibrator

 

I remember this coming up before in one of @turbodb threads and also one just recently which iirc you mentioned the lutz option. The other one mentioned previously was the Dakota Digital.

Will look into both more once I have my sensor solution resolved. I know my speedo is slightly off with the 30 tooth & 255/85/16s. It's close when comparing it to radar (I don't even bother with GPS comparisons). Slower speeds its really close but freeway speeds I think its +5 mph over.

 

Yeah, this one is ideal if you havent already gotten close with a gear change but you can still dial it to perfect if you wanted. Its nice if you havent already done a gear change though, any speedo gear, diff, tire combo can be adjusted for as-is. I prefer it to the Dakota one by a huge margin though, that thing is a pain in the ass.

 

I love my cTek charger. It has a de-sulfate setting option specifically for AGMs. I truly believe using this setting every once in a while has kept my two Northstar 24Fs healthy and happy. They are almost 7 years old now.

I'd be very surprised if the issues you are having has a root cause of a bad Northstar. What is the battery voltage 5 minutes after shutting of the engine? And what is the resting voltage after 24 hours?

 

@Area51Runner Just noticed your sig says you have 882s. I dont remember what our last conversation was exactly, are you still possibly interested in my 882s?

 

Will have to check voltages and I'll let you know.

 

My rebranded odyssey, from the 01 is still trucking along 12 years later with no signs of issues yet.. I do keep the jump box around these days though, just in case

 

Hey guys I own a g3 and g2 currently. But I've owned 2 g1s in the past. I snapped this pic today for you guys.


Cheers, much love from a g2, g3 owner

 

Which ctek do you recommend? Too many to choose from.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/CTEK/page/9352F8FC-6852-482C-B8E6-E2547BE69804.

I know this one has come up before

$95 CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-40-206-5-0-12-Battery-Charger/dp/B00CD44RQO

and this one,

$178 CTEK (56-353) MULTI US 7002 12-Volt Battery Charger,Black

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-353-12-Volt-Battery-Charger/dp/B000FRLO9Y

any others to consider?

Thx!

 

This is the one I purchased. But it looks like this model has been discontinued. It was $68 in 2016.

CTEK (56-864) MUS4.3 12 Volt Fully Automatic 8 Step Battery Charger,Black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006G14FK8?ie=UTF8&th=1

This one seems very similar, with AGM specific settings.

$95 CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-40-206-5-0-12-Battery-Charger/dp/B00CD44RQO?th=1

 

My vote is X2 Power (AGM) available at BatteriesPlus, if you have one nearby. 4-year full replacement warranty. My first lasted 3 years in AZ heat and the warranty reset when they gave me the replacement.

 

X2 Power are Northstar BTW, good batteries though and the Batteries plus warranty is a nice one