2002 Tacoma Rust Belt Restoration

Hmm. Well it should be right because there is a shoe with a pin and one without so there wasn't really an option to have the front and back mixed up. I guess the rear (no pin) could be flipped? Meaning the passenger and driver side are swapped, but IDK how that would change thickness.

 

I was meaning the length of pad on the shoe, two should have almost total cover like the ones in the pic and two should have about three quarter.

Look at the two left for the other side and I'll bet they don't have as much material length.

 

Sorry I'm not computer savvy but if you look it up for drum brakes there is a primary shoe and a secondary shoe, primary goes towards the front so when you apply the brakes the primary forces the secondary shoe into the drum where the most braking force is applied.

 

I just don't see how I could've mixed these components up. The shoes that go towards the front of the vehicle can't be mixed up. They only fit in one location. It's possible i messed up the shoes in the rear but that's it. I bought these shoes as a kit from Napa.

 

Fluid filmed the whole underbody. Went through 7 cans, could've been more. Should've bought a spray gun. Maybe next year.

Also did some engine detailing while watching the Packers get rolled over.

Finally, upgraded my lights using @crashnburn80 suggestions for the wiring harness and osram bulbs. Much better!

 

Replaced the vacuum lines. Check engine light still on

 

Finally have a working parking brake. Realized after I replaced my bell cranks that i just needed to connect the rear cable to the front where a prior owner had cut it. Heres a temporary fix. I always park in gear, but this is nice to let me hop out of the truck to close the garage door without turning the engine off.

 

Put on some new to me 3rd Gen 4runner wheels and some hankook tires. Definitely not as good as my wildpeak at3w in this snow but i wanted to get a set of highway tires. Gonna clean up the rims and repaint eventually.

 

Wow, I respect your ambition. I hope you don't find anything too rusted and unrepairable!

 

I like were you are going with this. Keep it up!

 

Thanks all!

I replaced my dome light today. Damn thing was a bitch to try to pull out. Bout damn near broke the bulb into pieces trying to get it out. Everything's a fight with this truck I tell ya.

Got my UCA bushings coming so I will be hopping onto replacing the UCA's, bushings and upper ball joints soon here.

 

Keep up the good work and fight.

 

Well I realized recently that I had been low on coolant since I bought the truck in December 2021. I topped off the reservoir and have been monitoring that. It hasn't seemed to consume any coolant after getting that level correct, will continue to monitor. The coolant in there looked good as far as I could tell. Its the original radiator so we're likely getting to the point of needing a new one, but funds are limited.

I finally got my UCA bushings replaced. I bought some used OEM UCA from a member here out in California. Replaced the bushings with NAPA 4Runner bushings. They appear to be the correct replacement for these OEM UCAs. I tried getting the bushings out myself with a torch and vice but it was just too awkward to get everything out. Took it to a local shop where the guy really bashed on these things. Mechanics can be rough. He used an air hammer to get them out and a 4 lb hammer to install. Hopefully they go on OK :/

Also have my OEM upper ball joints ready to go. Now I just need to go rent the tools and find the time.

Oh yea, I also bought a used Steering Rack from another member here. Hoping to redo the seals and get it installed this summer. My power steering is a bit noisy and the rack has some serious rust. Running on borrowed time.

 

Got around to replacing the driver's side UCA. Will do passenger tomorrow night. I somehow managed to remove the UCA bolt with a crescent wrench and a socket wrench. Was pretty surprised this worked. I did clean off the bolts and hose them down in liquid wrench a week ago. Maybe helped? Idk, most often I feel like that stuff doesn't help when the rust is as bad as it is. But I got the bolt loosened up and off. On to the ball joint nut.

Of course every cotter pin on this truck is fully rusted and seized. I removed enough of the ball joint cotter pin to allow for the Milwaukee Torque wrench to bust the nut free. Ended up using a combination of a tap and drill to clear out the rusted cotter pin. Then onto freeing the UCA from the ball joint. I couldn't rent the right type of puller locally and figured I was replacing the UCA anyways so might as well try a 4 lb sledge hammer. About 50 heavy blows later and I got it free. After watching mechanics over the past year and a half I've come to realize you can really fucking beat on these things. Not my preferred method but it made sense here. The ball joint seems to be in decent condition and it almost looks as if it isn't original. The wire around the boot is not rusted and the rubber looks to be in good condition but I haven't seen any indication in the records that this occurred. I have new OEM ball joints on hand. Either way, I'm putting off the upper ball joint replacement because these jobs are just intimidating and time consuming. Easier for me to shorten into smaller jobs rather than do everything at once while I'm taking shit apart.

Now to remove that UCA bolt. I had to remove the battery, the airbag sensor and the coolant reservoir to get full clearance. Also used a hammer to pull back on the body just to clear that initial fender lip. Definitely a real squeeze.

My bushings sit out further than the OEM bushings, hopefully this won't end up being an issue. But you can see how the washer doesn't sit up against the bushing lip. Not sure if it is supposed to or if it will over time as the bushing ages. Should be fine. Idk?

Was tough to get the UCA torqued while having the wheels on but I got it done. Overall this was an easier job that I thought it would be. But then again, I'm only half way :/

 

Trying to utilize the lifetime warranty (2 year) through AutoZone for my brake pads and rotors so I did another brake refresh even though they had plenty of life left. Also used this opportunity to get dust shields on. Drivers side was totally rusted away, passenger side was about half there. Saw a post about cutting the dust shields in half to get them installed without pulling bearings etc. Honestly the only reason I'm putting these on is to prevent fluid film getting sprayed going on the rotors when do my annual application. Had to fight (torch) a rusted dust shield bolt on each side. Otherwise was a pretty easy job. Shop supervisor felt like testing his luck napping underneath the truck...

 

Well the truck decided to take a shit while gone on a work trip. Started misfiring on Friday and by Saturday night she started making some real loud slapping noises and I had to pull off the road. When I pulled the truck over it was smoking with oil on top of the passenger side valve cover. Noticed that the coil pack nearest the cab was melted. After getting it towed to my in laws I found that the spark plug was also destroyed. I was scared the engine might be toast. Towed it to a mechanic and he found that the thread holding the spark plug gave way. He cleaned out that section of the engine, put in a new thread, coil and plug and she runs like new. I'm still confused as to how oil got out. My assumption was that the tube seal melted and it came from there but apparently they never touched the valve covers. So thats a bit weird. I'm planning to replace the cam plugs sometime soon anyways so I'll be back in there soon.

 

Wow glad it was an easy fix.

 

Same!

 

Well after getting my truck fixed I've been getting P0300, P0301, and P0420 codes. Had some surging while in neutral as well the other day. Idling is currently around 1,100 RPM while warm. Checked all of my spark plugs and they look fine, all gaps are where they are supposed to be. Checked the resistance on the two old coil packs and they were fine. Given that the cause of the P0420 code is more limited I figured I would see what I could resolve for that. Luckily I found some obvious leaks. One between the exhaust manifold and first cat and another crack before and after the second cat. I'm gonna JB Weld these holes and see where that takes me. To be continued...

 

The JB Weld on the exhaust manifold seems to have resolved the misfire and 420 code. However, the exhaust fell off behind the second cat so now I'm getting that repaired. I feel like I've been here before