TD's questions/help thread

I'm a new tacoma owner and so I figured I'd start one thread to consolidate my questions and maybe start documenting some work if I get around to that.



I bought a 1999 xtracab SR5 V6 3.4L M/T 4WD with 223k miles on it. Frame, interior, and exterior all look great. Mechanics feel fine but I do have the highway vibration at high speeds (around 75 in 4th) and that's probably the first thing to do -- find the culprit and fix that. I know from https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/vibration-at-highway-speeds.718836/ where to start looking for that.

My plan is to own this until it can no longer function, but I plan to service and upgrade failing parts so hopefully that never happens and it's a good work truck for a long time. First thing is I'll be moving cross country this year so I'll have to haul and tow at least 2 legs (one with just stuff, the second towing my dd). There are some projects I have in mind:

Short term:

• Tundra brake upgrade
• Sound deaden the cab (might become intermediate term if I can't finish it before moving)
  
• figure out high speed vibrations

Intermediate term:

• New paint job
• Linex or similar on bed
• Fluid film the frame
• Upgrade leaf springs and suspension
• Find low-to-the-floor bucket seats (I'm 6'5" and I'm too tall for the cabin so want something I could sit fully upright in)

Long term (I hope):

• When the engine dies potentially upgrade to a higher powered engine
• When trans dies upgrade to 6 speed transmission

We'll see how this develops (if at all). At the moment I have a very basic tool set. It seems like most Toyotas don't need a lot of tools to service them but one thing I am wondering is what tools are essential? It seems like 8, 10, 14, and 16mm socket wrenches (have these) and crescent wrenches (do not). Other than that a floor jack and jack stands (need to get), oil pans and catches, and a torque wrench. Are there any other tools you'd definitely recommend having to service the truck?

 

Id recommend a breaker bar for the suspension dependent on how rusty it is under there. one of the bolts on the rear shackle is known to seize so you might need a cutoff wheel too

 

Ah yeah a breaker bar is definitely going to be needed for the suspension work.

I just re-attached my fender flares (probably should have cleaned the truck and the flares first, oh well). I used the diagram here https://parts.toyota.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_product=63501778&ukey_assembly=6723851 which suggest I need 4 screws to attach the front fenders if I'm reading it right, but mine had 6 screwholes so I used 6 on the front and rear fenders.

That leaves me with the mudflaps and I'm not sure if I have all the parts I need. In the photo you can see the front flaps and the rear flaps (at least I think) and one of the rear flaps is attached to a metal mount that seems to fit under the wheel well where it should. However, the other rear one doesn't have that metal piece and it doesn't seem to be already attached to the wheel well so I might be missing it. The other perplexing thing is that I have 3 screws leftover from the fender flares (in the plastic bag, along with what seems to be a wire clip and a plastic snap ring of some sort?), plus all the bolts I have don't have the square nuts that you can see in the second photo are on the other side of the rear mud flap that has the metal mount. Do I need to order the square nuts and a spare metal mount here to affix? I'm having trouble finding a good mud flap assemblage diagram

 

Also does anyone know the dimensions of the seat mounts? As in the length from front bolt point to rear and left to right? More headroom is gonna be very welcome on the long hauls and I wanna start searching for viable replacement seats

 

I don't have a lift so if I want to use a floor jack to get onto jack stands or cinderblocks, how high does the jack need to reach? At least 3" taller than the rear diff and engine mount?

 

NO NO NO !!! Never use Cinder blocks unless you take and fill them with concrete with steel on the outside to keep them caged till you do all that work Jack Stands are much easier.

Cinder blocks have a habit of shattering at the worst time the worst part is a loved one finding you hours later.

Get a set of 6 ton jack stands and a set of 3 ton you should be good unless your truck is really lifted.

 

Thanks for saving me from stupidity. Are the 6 ton jacks for support and the 3 ton for backup, or would I be putting the 6 ton under the side I'm working on (e.g. working on front wheels) 6 ton in the front and 3 ton in the back?

 

The 6ton work well on the frame .

The 3 ton can hold parts like the axle housing or support the wheels to work on one wheel at a time.

 

Edit: missed one of the bolts.
9163160614 BOLT 9163160614

 

Took it to a shop for a look over. Here's what they found needs replacing:

• front right lower ball joint
• valve cover gaskets
• rear axle seal
• timing belt and water pump
• tires + alignment

In terms of specialized tools and expertise, which of these is the least approachable for someone with a floor jack, jack stands, and basic tools?

 

You can do the ball joints, valve cover gaskets, and rear axle seals without expensive specialized equipment... You'll need some extra tools like pullers and things for the ball joints, but they aren't expensive.

I suggest you watch a few of these videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/TimmyTheToolman/videos to get an idea of what you're in for.

RE ball joints, just replace them all. Don't just replace the right LBJ.

RE axle seals, depending on how far the oil has penetrated past the seal, you might be looking at new brake shoes as well.

RE the vibration, good luck.. You're in for a chain of replacing / fixing several things until you find the one that makes it magically disappear. But your first step is likely going to be to inspect the rear drive shaft (u joints and carrier bearing) for excessive play. Edit, actually you may want to wait until you've got new tires and an alignment before turning to the drive train.

 

Thanks for the reply and advice. Been watching videos in general and it seems doable. Auto parts stores usually have things like bearing clamps and spacers right?

Did give the drive shaft u joints some inspection when it was up on the lift and there wasn't perceptible play there. I'm hoping the ball joints and tire replacement and alignment does it. Like you said it'll be a long process of elimination to try and get rid of the vibrations, but the tires were unevenly worn (inner treads were straight up bumpy all around). Gonna probably try everything but maybe the dealer for the axle seal, although they said they'd just replace the entire rear axle cuz they don't do piece-by-piece replacements for trucks this old (tho the quote was $1k for parts alone)

 

Yeah.. Don't let the dealer replace the whole axle just because of the seals. The seals are doable as a DIY, and require the least amount of special tools. The tough part without the special tools is removing the old axle seals, and driving/seating the new ones squarely. However, I have done the job a few times without fancy tools, so it's possible.

 

I'm gonna start scraping together pieces and use July as the month to work on this before I use the truck to haul/tow things across the country in August. I've seen the timing belt and water pump kit from aircabinman thanks to adventuretaco (btw if you have a venmo/paypal or some donation site set up I will gladly contribute for the guides you've put together and curated); are there similar kits that people can vouch for for things like the axle seals or ball joints/control arms, or are these generally involving fewer parts so they don't really need kits?

I think in terms of must dos before the driving are

• rear axle seals
• front lower control arms (and probably upper too). Might just do ball joints because I do have access to a press and that seems much cheaper, but idk if the control arms would need replacing at 223k miles
• tires and alignment

In an ideal world I'd do the timing belt/water pump, valve cover gasket (might be a must do tbh), and spark plug replacements while I'm doing the gasket cuz/belt cuz why not. The Tundra brake upgrade would also be very nice to do but idk how much time I'm going to have altogether

Other than that the only thing I really want would be ABS, which I'm not even sure you can add afterward or if the dealer could/would (and it sounds expensive so I'd probably balk at the quoted price)

Are there other things I might want to look at doing/maintaining while I have the rear axles off or working on the front suspension, etc?

 

I'm drawing closer to when I'm gonna be moving and hauling some stuff with my truck across the country, and I'm starting to think I might be treading into dangerous load territories. I need to look back at the towing/hauling info here, but from memory my truck (3.4L v6 4wd M/T) has a total payload (towing + tongue weight) of like 7800 lbs.

My plan is to tow my prius (it'll have an empty tank, but still around 3800 lbs curb weight), and have a queen sized memory foam mattress (~50 lbs), squat rack (~100 lbs of steel) and weights (600 lbs) in the bed.

Add me (200 lbs), a full tank of gas, plus another 75-100 lbs of boxes and I think i'll be over that max amount. How unsafe would it be to do this? Would it be markedly safer if I upgraded the rear suspension (AAL, for example) or is it a larger problem than just that (brakes and engine stress)

Fwiw the truck will have a new timing belt/water pump, lower control arms, rear axle seals, and valve cover gaskets + spark plugs

 

Ordered parts from Olathe but the spark plugs aren't gapped properly (I'm seeing .043" or 1.1 mm from the service specs). No worries, I got "the gapper", that coin with the circle at the top.

Problem is, there's not enough room to get the opener part of the gapper between the ground and the electrode on some. Does anyone have a diff tool or method that works well for a ground that's a bit too close to the electrode?

 

About 2 months ago I did a valve cover gasket replacement along with other associated parts (throttle body gasket, spark plug tube seals, both intake plenum gaskets, spark plug wiring harness and coil packs). I started to get a P0303 cylinder 3 misfire code and too lean air/fuel code.

The cylinder 3 misfire made sense because when I put the passenger side's valve cover on I noticed the spark plug tube seal on cylinder 3 caught slightly and looked like it might have sheared and torn slightly.

I put it back hoping it was fine but clearly it wasn't.

Finally found time this past weekend to open it back up and replace the spark plug tube seal on cylinder 3, cleared the codes, drove for about 20 minutes and got the same P0303 cylinder 3 misfire code (too lean mix is gone at least). Does anyone have any theories what might be the issue and what I can do to repair it? Dealer's are quoting about $175 for the diagnostic fee and I'd rather avoid that if I can

 

The dual electrode spark plugs are checked with a feeler style gap tool, not the one you have.

Ideas about your misfire code: could be spark plug, plug wire, or the spark plug Coil. Try swapping from another set of cylinders and see if the misfire moves to the new cylinder.

Could also be a problem with the cylinder or head gasket. How does the spark plug look compared to the other cylinders? A compression test and leak down test may be next.

 

I'm confused about the swapping of wires/coil packs to different cylinders. I can see how I'd do the coil packs but the wiring is different lengths so if I switch cylinder 3's wires with cylinder 1 then the cylinder 1 wire wouldn't reach cylinder 3, right?

I should have just replaced the spark plugs when I did the previous job. Paying for my laziness now

 

it may be tight, but if you cheat the wire routing temporarilly
you can make it work

the cylinders work in matched pairs. you have to switch both sides of the plug wires