2002 Tacoma Rust Belt Restoration

Bummer. Going with OEM Inners or something else? So expensive from Toyota :/

 

agreed. I bought aftermarket’s that I was going to put on then decided to do just all oem. Hoping to selll both the aftermarket lbjs and tie rod ends.

overall around 500 for lbjs, outers and inners

 

Need the unlike button for the pain. Love your truck btw, killer looking ride. Wish mine was as clean.

 

FYI - You painted the wheel weights.. when the wheels get rebalanced you will have a blank spot because these get removed and readded

 

Yea I realized that would be an issue. Probably going to get new rims around the time I get new tires so hoping I'll circumvent that problem.

 

Thanks. Love seeing a good rebuild and restoration, keep up the good work.

 

4/26/2022 - Replaced my gas filler door and gas cap. Hinge was busted on the door and I'm thinking that must've been an after market cap. Key lock cylinder was jammed.

 

6/6/2022 - The driver's side door lock would stick and I would some times have to turn the key a few times to get it to unlock. Opened the door up and found no obvious issues so I went and go it rekeyed. I guess the lock cylinder was just worn out. Works as good as new now.

 

6/13/2022 - The seat belt wouldn't retract. Initially tried cleaning it but that didn't do anything. Got to the retractor, pulled the belt out, spun the retractor/spring as tight as it would go, reinstalled the belt and that did the trick.

 

6/21/22 - Went to go open the back quarter window and found that both of those windows had busted latches. Another simple repair.

 

3/30/2022 - Got some mudflap 4WD decals that were surprisingly legit. They're not a perfect fit if you look real closely but from any normal distance you can't tell at all.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2551306238...aDGoptSHi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

 

I have slowly been tackling the project of preserving my Rear Differential. Didn't realize how crusty it was when I bought the truck and then figured this should be the first item to get treated for rust. So I went about hammering and wire wheeling all the spots I could get to. Then I ended up settling on spraying everything with Rust Kutter (phosphoric acid) and Rust Oleum Paint. I did three coats of each. I felt that the concentrated acid spray would be more effective at converting more of the rust than something like Corroseal (which doesn't utilize any prep and converts using a different chemical). The metal prep that POR15 uses is also phosphoric acid, only it is three times more diluted than Rust Kutter so it made no sense to buy that product. You can see what the diff looks like after using Rust Kutter in the picture where everything is taped off. After researching rust conversion and preservation it seemed that the important component was the rust converter/metal prep than the paint itself so I just used RustOleum in the end. I will spray everything down with some sort of linseed oil this Fall.

 

Got a few front end things done this past week. My side marker lights have had busted clips since I bought the truck, they were barely holding on. Was using string trimmer line to hold one of 'em in and it still flapped around. Also needed to replace the chrome portion of the front bumper as mine was OK but definitely not capable of saving, had rusted poking through the front along with plenty of dents. Then I figured might as well replace those old blinker lights. Now all of my front end lights are after market. Didn't realize the headlights were after market when I bought the truck, should've known given how nice they look. Oh well, they work. Unfortunately had three bolts bust on me taking the chrome bumper off. Probably should've had my impact wrench on a lower setting to start. Ended up using a torch to free the broken bolts and luckily had some spares that fit the threads perfect. Then I found out that the nuts holding the brackets that hold the chrome portion were completely rusted away so I had to order some new brackets and find new bolts to hold them in, so the project had to wait a few days for completion. I'm glad I got it all done, of course things took an unforeseen turn. Turned out good and those side marker lights hold in real well with all of the clips present, who knew.

 

Haven't had any time to do anything on the truck. Been busy with other stuff and getting ready to move. Gave the truck my first real heavy use of packing it full of stuff. Oh yeah and I bought a house that has a lift in the garage . I'm definitely intimidated to use it but looking forward to having it.

 

Congrat's on the new place, any questions on the lift let me know.

 

I'm struggling to get the lift arms down to the ground. This pressure relief knob let it lower some but not all the way. I can raise it up but it just stops at like two feet above ground when I lower. Not sure what I'm missing or if I'm lowering this thing completely wrong.

 

Have you checked the locks, there should be a lever near the up/down lever should click about every 6" to12".


Watch the hydraulic res when going up, it looks low on fluid, maybe see about a change.

IIRC the ram is in the cross member on top, check all pulleys and cable for proper movement.

There also should be a filter in there somewhere I think (but don't quote me on that).


That's all I can think of for now, but it will give you somewhere to start.

 

Thanks I'll look into those things.

 

10/9/2022 - Tackled the Rear Drum brakes, first time using the lift. Heard that it was the source of vibration for someone else so I figured Id see if this would fix the vibration as my drums were very crusty looking, so might as well replace them. I was assuming the drums would be a nightmare to remove, the bell crank was seized on the driver's side. The rust gods blessed me as the drums slid right off. Couldn't believe it. The parking brake has been broken for a few years at least (rust) so the brakes haven't been adjusted in sometime and therefore had a decent gap between the shoes and the drums. The pin that held in the front shoe on the passenger side had also rusted away. You can see it missing in the before picture i uploaded. I lost about 1/3 of the outer part of the backing plate on the passenger side. That stuff was barely hanging on. You can see the lip of the drum showing on the passenger side. Not ideal, probably going to have to take everything back apart sometime in the future Also replaced my seized bell cranks which were probably the original source of everything going wrong.

I think this might have actually resolved my vibration issue, and it would make sense given the condition and missing spring/pin. My brakes are feeling much stronger now and most of the vibration is gone, I think there's still a little something in the 50-60 mph range but this vibration was much stronger and from the 30-60 mph range. Will finish up the parking brake sometime soon, gotta fix the cable up front.

 

Looks good, my only question is both pads look to be the same size, there should be one with less material in the front position.