211k and counting 4 banger access cab 2010 MT

I’ve mostly been watching, reading, learning, trying, f ing up, and repeating so far. Figured I might as well start posting too.

tldr; I really love this truck.

Got the truck at 168k in August of 2020 after totaling my first car (2009 stick Jetta). This truck represented a real turning point for me. I’ve tried naming it but it never seems to stick. It is simply my truck that continues to love living. When I first got it I had never done an oil change. Earlier this week I replaced driveshaft U-joints and did the ECGS bushing swap, among other things. It’s been a journey so far and I don’t expect that to change. I’ll make a list of mods so far at some point.

So far the truck has been a lot of places in Colorado and Utah in particular. It’s done more offroading than I could have predicted I would ever do. In terms of trails I think the most difficult by far was Elephant Hill. The truck was more or less stock at that point too. Made for an interesting time. Came out with only a busted taillight. Next would be places like Engineer Pass, Yankee Hill, and La Sal Pass (in the middle of the night).

When I first got it I thought I had big rock crawling dreams that have now withered and died given the cost to enjoyment ratio compared with overlanding and still being able to daily it. So now I think I’ll end up posting things I do to it here since that seems to be the thing to do.

The past week has seen a lot of effort put in so I’ll have to write that up soon. For now here are some pictures and the list of things I wanted to get done/did in 5 days.

 

Looking good!

 

Nice dude! I got a 2022 SR base with the 2.7L hope to run it into the ground. Likely will rust out before this engine goes

 

I have to say I think as long as you are aware of rust being an issue and you really inspect your truck it would be hard for it to develop into something that kills your truck. Rust prevention paint/fluid film seems to go a long way. One small oversight by Toyota is the ac drain though. I’ll relocate it soon because I remembered it existed the other day.

One of the issues I’m beginning to have is finding random brackets or heat shields holders that have broken due to rust. Tricky to find pn’s for.

 

Thank you!

 

Yeah I do fluid film yearly. Where is the AC drain? Does it just leak into frame?

 

Under the hood at the firewall passenger side near the air intake can't miss it

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-on-frame-with-a-c-drain-mod-fix.444138/#post-12942289

Leaks right onto the frame. Pretty dumb-looking stubby hose poking out.

 

long bed access cab is the way to go

 

Had the rack and pinion replaced today and I was so glad to get some advice on bushings. I had definitely boarded the hype train of energy suspension poly bushings for everything but I guess for something like a rack and pinion, engine mounts, body mounts, etc, they are maybe not so ideal given their stiffness. My radiator support bushings were shot a while ago and I replaced them with ES ones, which has added some stiffness to the front, but it is manageable. I am now realizing that I am happy I have been sitting on ES body mount bushings for over a year because I cannot imagine how uncomfortable that would feel to have poly body mount bushings all around. Additionally, I am happy I replaced the leaf spring bushings with ES ones because (hopefully) I won't have to deal with them for a long, long time.

I wasn't able to complete my rack and pinion replacement the other day because I started undoing the pressure line fitting going into the rp and realized the line was moving with the fitting! No good! I was freaking out a bit that I would bust the line and have no way to get off Orcas Island until I could acquire a new line. Maybe an island you have to ferry to isn't the best place to work on the truck... anyways... it started leaking after I had rotated/twisted it about a full turn, so I gave it maybe a half a turn back in the tightening direction and hoped for the best. I paid a shop to do the rack and pinion and replace the mevotech TTX sway bar links with oem ones because good lord one of the joints on the TTX ones had already gone bad after a measly 8k miles with minimal offroading. Lame. Wanderlost overland just released a video showing off some new apex performance ones that look very cool but I digress again.

Bottom line: sway bar links are important to steering feel, rack and pinion replacement is a PITA, and $3k later in parts and labor the truck has never steered this well. I'm satisfied.

 

Yesterday I did the rear brakes, front brake lines (stainless steel crown performance) and attempted the rear brake lines. Could not complete that job as I was worried about destroying the hard lines in the process. The 10mm flare nut wrench I bought specifically for this job appeared to be useless, rounding every nipple I tried it on. Additionally, I should add that it seemed loose which I should have known would cause issues. Channel locks were superior and I hope to never have to touch the front brake lines again. Now, I would like to note that I still want to do the rears as I have a 2in+ suspension lift in the rear and also want the added benefits of stainless steel lines. Not sure how that will happen. The rear brake job was like legos and fairly enjoyable actually. Bleeding is always fun too, I did the clutch while I was at it. I used amsoil fluid this time since I had time to order it and it has far better metrics than prestone. I also did the ac drain line relocation which I am very happy about.

Today I added total chaos bed stiffeners to the truck since I measured about 1/4” of misalignment from the bottom of the bedsides to the top. There was a visible gap installing them. I had some trouble getting the bed bolts to unseize but eventually managed to free them. I also broke off one of the stock 6mm bolts while tightening it with the bed stiffener. Luckily it broke off with enough thread to swap it for the other one on the same side. I removed the rest of the bolt from the welded square nut by twisting it out with channel locks.

I aim to manufacture a rear cab platform out of birch with cubby access, install a dual battery system, and cut the existing platform to fit the bed stiffeners tomorrow. Oh and I need to set up the diesel heater. Another busy day.

Ultragauge speed testing today for fun included in images.