What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Thank you!
West Africa pulls at ALL sorts of emotions. Yes, at times it is very nerve-racking. Pulling into the border crossings always gives us butterflies as well as stopping at a country’s first police checkpoint. Driving through streets completely taken over by people and their food stalls is scary - at times the Tacoma feels like I’m driving a semi. But seeing the everyone’s completely warm smiles is amazing - something that’s missing in North America. Its shocking that these mostly poor countries can have crazily complicated visa procedures. Thinking of you Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. Makes us wonder if they want tourists


Utter chaos but a bystander decides to help and direct us, he was a lifesaver!

 

I let the dealer do it. I sit in my truck while they are working on it. It's free why not you paid for it. Been doing this with 17 and 21 New TRD's.

 

Not a bad idea. Did any dealer give you any crap for wanting to sit in?

 

My AFE rock basher is on the way! Which one you go with?

 

I'm on a 5k interval as well. 10k was too long for my i4 and I was burning an entire quart already at 30k miles.

I just changed my oil over the weekend and it was still dirty.. 5500 miles, but I didn't burn a quart this time.

I'd say change it at 5k intervals. That's what I'm sticking to now. 10k is too long.

 

Where did you get the portable cradle? And any photos of the wiring? This may be my solution.

 

Same.. I let them do the first 2 oil changes and then took over. My oil filter was cranked so hard I had to buy a lock jaw long arm oil filter wrench to get it off. Meanwhile my drain plug was a bit more than hand tight (certainly not 30ft/lb). My U bolts were all loose (not 52ft/lb), my bed bolts were not torqued to spec (at least not ALL of them), the plastic frame drain was busted on the passengers side (part of it is still floating around inside the frame), my coolant level was not FULL, and I had all 4 tires rebalanced at 18k... They didn't remove existing weights.... They just added more (my wheels are balanced, but this is a lazy and poor job).

When I did my first oil change I wondered why only 4.5 quarts came out? Did they underfill? Am I burning oil? I just changed my oil myself for the 3rd time and it looks like I fall under "severe driving" conditions and I am on a 5k interval.. 10k results in my burning about a quart which is no good long term. If I had the dealer do this it would cost me 2x as much vs the 10k recommended service. I called for the 30k service which was diff fluid, oil, cabin and air filters, tire rotation. They wanted almost $1200.00...... that's outrageous. I did it in my garage for about $200.00 (minus the transfer case since I'm not in 4wd that much)

I've had several Toyotas and all I can say is that the basic maintenance techs they have at Toyota in my area seem to be much worse than VW, Hyundai, etc..... I've never had problems with any of my wife's cars getting serviced at a local dealership (other than the high price). I've had nothing but issues with Toyota service centers. I've had things busted and ruined at just about every Toyota dealership in my area.... I went to them all and gave it the college try... Problem is that nobody cares about your stuff like you.... I take care of my shit, so for me (although I'd rather have someone else do the work).. I feel like I have to pull general maintenance.. I'm certainly not going to throw $1200 away on a half assed 30k mile service that doesn't take too much effort in my own garage.

My advice.. get what you paid for, and save a few bucks doing your own maintenance you feel comfortable with. Thus far I saved roughly $1600 on diy maintenance vs. what I would have paid a local dealership to do it (and by my vast 20+ year experience with my local Toyota service -- it would have been done half assed)

 

Ordered Rough Country neoprene seat covers for the front and back from Amazon. Sold out everywhere else till March.

 

Love these seat covers.. especially for the price.

 

Got some new wheels today, SSW Offroad Dakar MACHINED SILVER 17x9 -25. It's a huge change from the Black Fuel Shok D664 wheels I had, I have mixed feeling about them but I think I do like the look.

 

What is the rest of your suspension setup and alignment specs?

I'm swayless but there is nothing loose about my steering or feedback. The steering wheel is still snappy (at ~4° caster) and the whole truck is still very responsive. I can whip this thing around even with the shocks retuned with softer damping to allow increased body roll.

These looks sooooo muchhhhh better than any wheel Fuel makes <3

 

6112s at 3rd/4th out of 6 clips. Alignment is good, caster was set at 3 last time I checked. Does not wander, bumpsteer, or tramline on the road.

After a day of driving the steering isn't bad, and I wasn't meaning to imply something is wrong when I called it loosey-goosey. It's always going to be looser/less responsive than with sway bar in. That's just the nature of physics, you're losing that initial vector change to body roll.

It's one of those that took me by surprise within the first hour, and by the second hour I didn't even notice it anymore.

 

I feel fortunate that I trust my dealer (been using them for a looong time) and they know me, and I use the same service advisor. Just did a 60k (actually a 240k) on our 4Runner and that was about $700 so their pricing is not terrible. If I have an issue they take care of it (e.g., replaced the axle boot on the RAV, it leaked, they bought me a new axle no questions asked).
Someday I'll learn more/do more but for now I'll just admire and absorb all the cool stuff the rest of you know how to do. I need to find a buddy who likes to take things apart/put them back together again. I do the simple stuff (no, I won't pay $60 for a cabin air filter).

 

Ahh yeah I was thinking you were probably just noticing the difference in now the front end responds being independent and not necessarily having a suspension issue. The 6112's should be just fine without the sway on there, but if you were still on stock shocks/alignment I don't think you'd be having a killer time. Yanking the sway makes a pretty big difference on these trucks for ride quality + adds a lot more fun to the ride. I don't miss mine at all. I love the increased body roll and articulation gained from it + my shock tune, and I wouldn't be upset if it had even more. I have a lowered coupe to tool around in, I don't need my truck to be able to keep up with it thru the twisties.

 

Depends. How much do you want to spend?

The vast majority of my torque work is done with a $30 uncalibrated HF wrench. Doesnt matter if its off, as long as I don't shear a lug bolt then I'm happy. If I'm doing laboratory grade torquing, then it would be on a several hundred dollar wrench.

 

I'm always on the fence with white as a vehicle color choice when buying, then I see a beauty like this and swear the next vehicle I buy it's going to be white. And then it starts all over again. I've always lusted after a white Corvette with red interior. And a white Electra Glide. Maybe some day. Nice looking truck Ace.

 

Added some “carbon fiber “ edge trim to my viper cut.

 

I had a good mechanic to do the stuff I wasn't comfortable doing. He passed away a few years ago. I'll need to find someone I trust who is reasonable. They're not a dime a dozen.

 

I have a 20 year old 3/8" drive craftsman.
I also have a 5 year old 1/2" drive harbor freight one. They were both fairly inexpensive and good enough for any shadetree mechanic work I'll be doing in my garage/driveway.

 

Got new wheels Saturday.