What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Looks over tighten??

 

No problem! I did my UCAs with the lift. Ended up just cutting and replacing the bolts vs bending the metal to get them out.

 

OME Heavy Lift
ECGS Bushing
Sumo Springs
Front Diff gear oil change

I'm a YouTube mechanic, this was by far the most involved work that I've done. Day 1 was the front end, day 2 the back. Everything went relatively smoothly I guess you could say. I was hopping between 3 YouTube videos and the Tacoma World torque spec thread the whole time.

-8400 miles on the tacoma
-Did it all solo
-No issues pulling the needle bearing on the CV axle, puller fit fine.
-No issue removing the drain / fill plugs on the differential
-Had challenges unseating both tie rods and the studs spun when reassembling (thankfully there was a tacoma world topic on the challenge)
-Had challenges reconnecting the sway bar, since I'm a noob, both sides were below the tie rods when I reassembled them, so there was a lot trying to get the bar where it should be and at that point i was tired. I ended up having to disconnect one of the tierods
-Because of the above, I did have some grease push out of one tie rod bushing and both sway bar bushings. But that is a future me problem if they lost too much.
-The drain plug of the diff had some sludge on it. Went with

$28 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 because I don't desire to get into the gear oil debate
-My Milwaukee Impact decided to lose all torque at the end of the first day so the entire second day was done with hand tools. I can barely move today I'm so sore.

The rear brake lines are a bit tighter than I care them to be and the u-bolts for the leaf springs were a bit shorter than I would of liked. Because of that, I'll probably do the u-bolt flip and extend the rear brake lines at some point. Drove the truck around a parking lot across from the house during the snowstorm didn't hear any thing off or feel any vibrations. Alignment is scheduled for tomorrow. Certainly can feel the difference in ride. It will be interested when the rock solid suspension hits some bumps.



On another note, I have been trying to keep track of the truck weight. Some folks track the total spend on their mods, the engineer in me decided to understand the weight impacts. Tracking the weight has caused me to move from a "I want everything to be bolted to the truck" into a "I will add bags, tools, and boxes depending on what I need". For example, instead of onboard air, I will have a carry bag with a portable compressor. The truck just overall, in my opinion, just does not have the payload capacity to leave all the off road gear always attached.

To put it more clearly, when I have sandbags in for winter traction, if I DD to bar room trivia with 2 of my buddies, the Tacoma is overweight. I will forever be bugged at what Toyota put on to reduce the payload 45 pounds.

 

Yeah, I’ve heard the horror stories about the bolts. Cutting them will definitely be the easiest route.

Think I’ll do the same with the rear leaf bolts when I replace the leafs and shackle hangers. Plus it’ll be the perfect time for the u-bolt flip kit.

 

Installed some "bed lights", since I have a 2019 AC mine wasn't pre-wired for OEM. Found these under cabinet lights at my dad's house and they fit perfectly in the drop downs in the bed panels. Some doubled sided tape, new batteries, and voila. Not bad for free and 15 minutes of work. Big bonus for me, no wiring involved!

 

Wow!! That’s a lot of work. I would’ve been sore even with the impact . If you don’t tow anything deleting the sway bar is always an option since you went with the Sumo bump stops. I went with the Wheeler’s Off Road Super Bumps and deleted the sway bar. It rides and handles fine and has more articulation off-road.

 

The wife knows I've done everything to my truck myself, including wiring, rack wheels, ect, ect, with the exception of the IFS lift and gears. I'd rather leave those types of things to people who I trust, and who have more knowledge about such things than I do.

I've got a similar front bumper coming from SSO (+ winch) in March, and I know I have the ability, and garage to do it, but these days I almost feel like my time and effort is worth more.
Depending on my job situation in a month or two, I may let my trusted shop install both...... depending on how I feel.

 

Did a k&n tube filter kit. I might punch another 3” hole through the air box through the inner fender with a pipe for more air. That was a big thing over on the tundra forums.

And I don’t care what all y’all are gonna say. I’ve ran k&n filters for over 20 years and have never had a problem with engine or any type of warranty work.

 

I like the high cuts on bumper. Looks way more aggressive!

 

JUST FINISHED replacing my entire right-hand side mirror after I had my first Lady Driver moment.
Peach tree - 1
Tacoma - 0

But to be fair, it was down pouring and darker than a snuff film the night of the incident. (totally cried all the way home because I love my truck more than myself)
Thankfully I'm a whiz with a socket set and electronics

 

You'd think mirrors would be totally easy, but after installation of some new smoked mirror turn signals it sometimes feels like your going to rip the entire mirror apart!

Was going to say it would be an opportune time to get rid of the chrome on those mirrors (if you are not into chrome) but just realized you said you were already done.

 

I agree with this concept
I only carry my sliders and the cap full time.
(and I don't DD).
Everything else goes on as needed...

 

Ugh, I wish I would've thought of that. The smoked turn signals add so much flair. I was such a wreck after it happened all I could think about was being able to find a matching one without having to take it to a dealership and fork over what would have undoubtedly been an unholy amount of $$$. Ended up finding an OEM match that night and saying fuck it rather than thinking about the silver lining it could've been lol

Dude, seriously a butt puckering process getting the cover off on your first go doing anything to your mirrors. 20 minutes of prying and 2 broken nails -- I'd call it a success lol
Given I am now familiar with it all, I think I might use your offered inspiration and poke around for said turn signals and see what would make my girl all the more perfect.

 

Now you know exactly what you are in for when disassembling them, and will be a lot easier this time around. After replacing the first turn signal the second one will be proverbial cake.

 

I used some extra smoke vinyl on my mirror turn signals; toned down the shine enough to make me happy and only took about 10 minutes per side: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...3rd-gen-today.399305/page-13432#post-29203152

For that I used a light smoke tint but I think you could go darker too if you wanted.

 

Thanks! It’s a viper cut. After I laid out the lines on painters tape and used a hole saw to cut the radius there was no turning back. It’s all about taking your time once you start cutting.

 

Dang. Sucks you broke your mirror but I guess it could’ve been worse. Awesome you were able to take care of it yourself because a shop would probably bill for two hours of labor.

BTW, welcome to TW!

 

First off welcome to tacomaworld and that money you saved by doing yourself can be well spent on the truck with the endless ideas found on the site . If your not familiar with meso customs yet they have really well built products for our trucks and the smoked signals are one of them. I've had both the version 1 and 2 and they were both great and straightforward installs only replaced version 1 bc the 2nd version has white running lights that go with the drl and switch to amber when turning and I thought that was awesome. Another easy thing to do to make the truck look alot better is remove the air dam on the front lower bumper. It only has a few bolts holding it on and makes the truck look much better in my opinion. Of you don't like how it looks with it off it's easy to put back on as well so just thought I would share.

 

Ya there’s viper cut and then there’s crazy viper cut.

 

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Updated my shark fin decal to this one, northern Michigan's hide-n-seek champion doesn't GAF!