All About My First 1st Gen Tacoma

1998, SR5, 4x4, Evergreen, Access Cab, V6, Auto Trans


Just purchased this Tacoma earlier this week for $3,250.00. Had about 248,300 miles when purchased. Reason for buying, wanted a great daily driving beater truck to replace my 2nd gen Tacoma for when I sell it. Main reason for selling the 2nd gen taco (its paid off, no lien)and buying this 1st gen taco, want to boost my savings for a down payment on a house. Most people would think their is something wrong with me, but I could give two sh#ts, doesnt bother me anymore caring about driving around in a nice car/truck in the meantime while I save money. Figured if it is going to be a beater vehicle why not try to get the best beater my money can buy for around 3k. Needs to be a truck cause I haul things a lot and other than that, anything extra would be a bonus, such as 4x4 . Only concern was mileage, but was willing to give in for a high mileage truck at a low price as long as nothing major is wrong.

So I found this Tacoma. Recent owner used it for work, actually had farm license plate on it, mostly highway miles. Forgot to snap a picture of the title before I gave it to the tag agency to keep for my records, dont remember what the mileage was when the previous owner bought it, oh well. He bought the truck from someone in Texas. Anyway, whenever it needed servicing, he was able to bill the company he worked for. I didnt have anything to look at, receipts wise, so didnt really take his word for it, just let the truck to the talking. Did my inspection and determined it to be a good buy. Bought it and now its mine.

Went on my toyotaowners website and claimed the truck, and looked at the service history. The most recent dealer servicing was about a year and half ago. He had mentioned there was some engine work done to it, but not really sure he knew what everthing was that got replaced, didnt really seem to really know much about automotive stuff. Below is a picture of what was changed out. Pretty happy that all this was changed and happier that Toyota did it because I know or at least hope that they did a good job, if a shop did it then I would be pretty doubtful of the quality of work and rechecking their work, then again the techs at Toyota can have sloppy work too.



The only issues with this truck so far are:

Loose Steering - just ordered new inner and outer Moog tie rods and Energy steering rack & pinion bushings, I like my feeling tight.
Rear Differential Pinion leak - Just bought a new oil seal to replace this weekend.



A possible Rear Main Engine Seal leak - As of now cant really seem to tell cause the engine was caked with oil (dry baked, not wet). I had degreased some of it and rinsed, needs more degreasing and rinsing. Below is a pic of of the bottom of the transmission bell housing. Hasnt gotten worse, seems to stay looking the way it is. For now just gonna keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse.


Brakes - Havent had a chance to look yet, just know they need attention, the rear drums im sure need new pads, or adjusted.
Body - There are some dings and scratches, but the major body issue is the tailgate. Previous owner backed into something and left a dent and a good size ding. Also the cross beam support for the rear end of the truck bed is dented, because of all this, tailgate wont shut smoothly. Will work on this later, as of now, not a high priority. Also the front bumper needs some aligning, never been hit upfront and dont see any damage. Overall body is decent, Paint is actually in good shape, just one area on the driver side fender, clear coat wore off.





As of now those are the only major issues I see/know of.

The frame and body is extremely clean, pretty must rustless, couldnt believe it. Havent had a chance to clean anything, much of what you see is just dirt.Take a look...















Pictures of the whole truck, interior and engine, again havent had a chance to clean yet.
























Would like to put Factory Plug wires on so they fit around the engine like they are supposed to.





In this picture, you can see the firs coil pack was replaced as the previous owner stated. Would be nice if it was a Denso pack, I think that is factory brand...


Accessory belts replaced during the last dealer servicing.




Edit: forgot to add these are my lower engine guard pans. Took off to search for leaks and to clean it.


Thats it for now. Will update as I work on it.

 

Just finished changing out the Rear Diff Pinion Oil Seal. Forgot to take pictures until I was half way through.
Old Oil Seal still in, just had taken off the pinion flange. used a 3 armed 4" pully jaw to take the flange off.




Pulled it out using my seal puller.



New replacement oil seal.





Some notes I wrote on the pinion flange for when it goes back on.


So I found this thing in my metal scrap pile, fits perfectly around the oil seal, going to keep this in my tool box.






Everything oiled up for installation. That Redline oil in this pictures isnt what i used to put in the rear diff, just had some left and was already opened to oil up the parts.


Seal installed.



Used the socket to take the nut off as a punch to hammer the pinion flange back in.



About how far the threads were sticking out before I took off the flange.


Nut put back on and indented the edge of the nut. Just an FYI, dont recommend using a chisel to indent the nut other wise it may cut it like mine. Just used a flat head to indent what was left.


Rear Diff cleaned and drive shaft put back on.


While I was under there, decided to go ahead and grease up the drive shaft joints.





Also decided to go ahead and check the brakes and bleed them. Truck jacked up on stands.


Rear drums looked great!! Lots of meat left on those pads and better yet, no axle leaks. Only problem was that they needed adjusting, way to loose, all better now.





Nasty brake fluid pushed out.


While at it, took the rear diff breather off to clean it. May end up relocating it, but this is just a daily driving city truck.


Both front brakes were good, lots of meat left.


So after all that, I filled the diff up with Redline 75w90ns oil. Instead of pumping, was able to get a bendable funnel to fit.


Thats all I have for now. No more leak.

Trying to get a hold of a guy to buy his Topper, not sure what brand it is...

 

Cleaned the Interior as best I could without taking anything apart.








Changed the Tranny fluid, a hell of a lot more than a couple of qts as the Owner Manuals recommends putting back in.


Redline Auto trans fluid.


About where i felt comfortable filling it up at.


Changed out my Steering rack bushings and inner and outer tie rods.



Outer rod removed from the knuckle.



Removed the clamps holding the boots on.




So the driver side inner tie rod came off with out much of a fight, however the passenger side gave me hell. I didnt have a wrench/adjustable wrench big enough, so I had to get creative with using what I did have available.



All the clamps, bolts, nuts removed.


I removed the bolts holding the steering lines from the driver side frame and in the front to give me more room wot work with the steering rack.



Bushings came out alright, didnt have a bushing remover tool, so again had to get creative to get them out. Ended up cutting the lips off the old bushings, heating them up and spraying PB Blaster to soak in, then hammered them out. Worked great and didnt put up a fight.


Getting the Energy bushings preped.


Old on top and new on the bottom inner and outer Moog tie rods.




Everything put back together.




Took my truck in today to get it aligned and the shop I took it to was unable to align it.... I really hate taking shit to automotive shops to get stuff worked, always some kind of issue and not only that in my experience the techs have no respect for other peoples property. My steering wheel is all crooked, My passenger side steering boot was all twisted when I got home to look things over. Had my a/c blowing on highest setting, why the fu#k do you need the a/c on all the way up blowing on highest setting when working on alignment? I am scheduled with my local Toyota dealership to get it aligned for about $100. Here is what they handed me, they didnt charge me, just said come back and we can try to align it again... ugh screw you.


Weathertech floor liners arrived today, fit nicely.







The driver side floor mat that was in the truck when i bought it


Thats it for now, Another issue I am going to address is the loose shaking auto shifter handle, so damn loose I can literally push the handle from D to N with out holding down the button and from R to D aswell...

 

Took my truck in to one of the better local Toyota dealers to get the truck aligned. It cost me $104. In my experience they did an awesome job and the truck feels like it should and the steering wheel is actually straight... Service rep I talked to said the previous shop I went to probably had lower quality alignment equipment and the calibration of their equipment may had been off. Showed me a before and after specs, DAMN!!! previous shop fuked my shit up. Just glad everything is good now. Ordered some automatic shifter bushings from them as well and they even price matched.

Gathered all the stuff for a tune up, front diff oil, transfer case oil, engine oil, oil filter, air filer, fuel filter and plugs.

seems like a lot of engine oil...

seeds in my air box?



To get started on changing out the shifter bushings, unscrewed the center console cover screws bolts and 4x4 shift knob.




These are the bushings that wore out (nothing taken apart at this time).




You probably dont have to tak everything apart like me, I just did it for easement. Started with underneath the truck, unlinking the linkage.
I took it apart from here. Just be sure to put it back on in the exact spot if taking apart from here.



Took the wiring apart and shifter.








The lower bushings literally disintegrated.


Upper bushings looked alright compared to the new ones.


Bushings installed, they are not pressed in tight so they just slip right off. I also lubed up the bolts.



So this small little metal spring fell off. took me a little while to figure out what it went to and how it worked.


It goes to this.


How it goes on.


Never knew what this was for, but now I do. when this is pressed towards the rear of the truck, the lever its attached to presses in a "button" which allows you to shift into gear without the key in the on position and brake pressed in.


here is the "button"



When you press the lever it contacts with the "button" and presses it. The spring just forces the lever to stay away from the "button"


Everything back together.

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Shifter feels brand new. All I have for now and I think thats it for fixing any problems and maintenance this truck had.

 

what is the part numbers for the new bushings for the automatic transmission shift lever?

did you change all the bushings? do you remember what the part numbers were for all the bushings?

need to replace all the bushings on my shifter as well.

thanks

 

I am in

 

Nice write ups! Keep 'em, coming!

 

You wouldn't happen to know the inside and outside diameter of the shifter bushings? I can machine them at work if I know the dimensions.