What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Tacoma ones hang down past the frame. There is a plastic skid plate, but a hard enough hit would push up into the tank. I bet that's what happened.

 

That's an idea... at least to get home. Probably would want to replace the tank before the next major trip. Thanks for the tip drop!

Spent my weekend dealing with the rust in the bed - turns out that the drop-in bedliner infamous for trapping water and encouraging rust... trapped water & encouraged rust. Luckily mostly surface rust, except a big spot by the passenger side wheel well that rusted through.



Wire wheel, elbow grease, rust converter, then paint & primer later, I'm comfortable that it won't progress. I'll patch the hole with fiberglass later - a family friend that works on American classics is willing to advise & assist. The bedliner will go back in, & the rust hole should allow water to drain out in the short term. (Yeah, I know it's a reach, but it's the only silver lining I can see to this situation.)



Color match came out better than I expected, though.

 

Just made a really stupid mistake, bought some lumber and a piece got jammed between the front of the bed and the tailgate and i couldnt get the latch open. Used too much force and broke the handle by accident. I cannot believe people want $200 for an OEM tailgate handle, $100 used. Absolutely insane.

 

Well last oil change I had the skid plates off and painted them. And there was no witness marks on the “fresh” painted steel skid to warrant that I slid or got jammed up on something. I presume I got a rock up between the skid and the tank when I got stuck in the mud the last time. I used the weld putty stuff. New Tank is ordered. $215 shipped seemed decent enough

 

Stumped on some power steering stuff, can't find the info I want...

Ps pump has a "flow control valve" that has a spring loaded ball that dictates bypass pressure, therefore max steering pressure. I want to crank mine up for more power.

Old Toyota stuff has a valve that you can pull the back off and remove some shims or stretch the internal spring to increase the bypass pressure. Aftermarket 5vz pumps also seem to have this? Idk


OEM 5vz pumps have a closed valve, so I can’t remove shims, stretch springs etc. there are 6 different valves they make - A to F. I have a C,D,F… but no physical differences to tell if one is higher pressure?





Any ideas to test these easily to see which one is the higher bypass pressure? Or maybe just buy a aftermarket parts store 5vz pumps also and swap in an oem valve for one that I can pull shims out of?

 

$40 gets you an upgraded metal one.

$41 Tailgate Handle Assembly, Upgraded Metal - Compatible with 1995-2004 Toyota Tacoma Pickup - Liftgate Latch Assembly Textured Black - OEM 6909035010, TO1915102, 79605

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYNRS1VW