What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Sick

 

Wish I still had my first gen. It was a perfect size

 

Vleds v-tails, license plate led reverse bar, footwell lights (red), DIR harness (huge shoutout to puppypunter). I also installed the hardware for the key fob tailgate unlock but didn’t run the wiring yet. I did test it so I know it works.

Going to give the poor girl a bath tomorrow.

 

Decided not to wait for the bath.

 

Timbren Active Off-Road front bumpstops and @TOTAL CHAOS bed stiffeners went on today

 

All I ask is that substances are enjoyed at home and then they stay off the road.

 

Those poly bushings are known crack the thin radiator support, its a pain but better off putting a set of stock bushings in every so often. One of the many weak points of the 3rd gen.

 

If my '04 was 4WD I would have never traded for my '20. But I've come to like my '20 so I guess all's well that end's well.

 

Installed some faux leather seat covers. The seem like great quality and pretty easy to put on for seat covers. Can still feel the heating element too, just takes a bit longer. A great looking upgrade.

 

I found that with similar covers that you installed my drive comfort improved because of the extra padding.

 

Oil change and TuRD skid plate installed. That will be it for a few weeks. I also finished the wiring for the tailgate lock too. A whole weekend wrenching has to be repaid with a whole weekend pampering the wife.

 

No pics, but spent the weekend cleaning the undercarriage from salt after spending a week driving around in snowy/salted Knoxville.

 

Finally had both time and reasonable temps to look at this today, decided to do the old squirt a little water on the ribbed area of the belt trick, the squeak immediately shut right up, so I figured it has to be the belt. Only thing open was AutoZone, so got a Duralast belt for $30, and it seems fine. Not sure what the click was the other day that led me into thinking there was more of a problem, so I'll keep an ear on it. It was absolutely frigid that day, and now it's a good 35 degrees warmer out, so who knows.

Idler pulleys don't seem to have any excessive play to them, and there's no more noise than usual now (I mean, it is a 3.5 DI V6 Tacoma, it ain't exactly silent on it's best day ).

The original belt had no cracks, but felt harder and seems to have stretched a little bit compared to the new Duralast belt. 2018 with 33k miles. I'm not mad at it.
Might have preferred a different brand, but for $30 what the heck. At least I can drive the truck to work tomorrow instead of the Corolla.

I'll probably grab an OEM belt to throw on the shelf for next time.

 

Installed these (link at bottom) today (assembled coil overs from wheeleveryweekend; stock height and spring rate). Had them since 7/29/24 and USAF son asked to help (saw box setting on floor). So, knocked them out today. Watched a few videos and did a modified version of this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9N1fvbGAEw

Modifications:
(1) Used Sharpie to mark lower control arm-to-frame “washer” positions (washer’s used to perform alignment but wanted to get it close so drive to alignment shop wouldn’t make my brain crazier). NOTE: Each LCA has four (4) of those washers, one under the bolt head and nut of each of the two (2) bolts PER SIDE.
(2) Installed already-assembled coil overs so removed the 3 nuts holding the assembly to the upper mount vice the single nut holding the shock to the coil over assembly.

After doing the job and watching the video again I now have the confidence to save some $$ next time and replace just the shocks.

ODO: 71,000

Why’d I do it? There was a 'thunk' noise on the front, passenger side when going over pretty good ’transitions'. And, since my wallet is bigger than my brain (the bar is low!) I decided to easter egg and see if the assembly fixed the ’thunk’. Mild off-roading that followed installation didn’t reveal the ’thunk’.

https://www.wheeleveryweekend.com/p...a-4runner-2003-2009-toyota-tacoma-2005-2023-1

 

Applied some CERAKOTE® Ceramic Trim Coat on the fender flares and windshield cowl. Ran out of packets before I could do the bedcover so I'll do that next weekend. Installed some windshield wipers and generic tow hitch plug, then proceeded to paint the silver wheel rings on my TRD beadlock wheels.

Last item for this weekend was installing the new-to-me Miller Cat catalytic shield cover I picked up off FB marketplace for $100. With this truck being lifted I didn't want to make it easy on any thieves looking to steal the cats.

Just a photo from their website, but ya'll know what they look like.

 

Pulled out the decked drawers and replaced with a half cargo glide to have more vertical space in the bed with the cap on - did this a few months ago and very happy with the change. Also moved the max trax inside the bed to make room for some solar panels in front of the tent.

 

Beautiful set-up!

 

JBA

Unnnnfff portals

 

Curious, how did you reproduce/isolate the radiator support bushing squeaks?

 

Starting to get ready for the outdoor season. Bed rack for new RTT that shipped today, still have to source a bike rack attachment this week. Oh and as wash….