Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

I'd rather have the 4:10 gears and the rear e-locker than the 4:56 gears to start with, but otherwise can't complain. SCS wheels are super lightweight which is another reason why I wanna get a set at some point. A 235/85 tire that size is too skinny for my taste, but would no doubt help with minimizing drag.
I too wish that nice looking alloy rims weren't as expensive as they are. Part of me wants to just stick with some cheap steelies for the convenience factor (price too) and their ability to take an absolute beating without completely falling apart. It's all dependent on how flush I am when the time comes for new tires.
Even with a heavier ply 285/75 M/T tire wrapped on some SCS's, the weight isn't bad at all. Lots of other members on the forums run that setup and I have heard no complaints in regards to weight thus far. Although in the end, it's whatever works best for your needs whether that be an aggressive heavy M/T or a more tame A/T.

 

San Jose?
tbh I haven't had much time at all to go wheeling outside of work since I moved back to the Bay area. I still have yet to check out Hollister, but I have been to Frank Raines OHV and some other not so legal spots in the east bay haha

 

This weekend someone pulled out right in front of me too quickly for me to respond in time. Waiting to hear from the insurance company and have an appraiser take a look at it. I'm guessing that he will deem it totaled.
Once I know more, I will further evaluate if I will rebuild it or move onto something else.

I lost control of the passenger side front tire because the tie rod was completely detached from the spindle. In order to get out of the middle of the freeway, I had to get out and lock my driver side hub and limp it to the side in 4-low. The other car was able to drive away.

From what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be any frame damage. But I will take some measurements at some point to see if it got tweaked at all. I think the rack and pinion might be salvageable by just replacing the inner and outer tie rods on that side, not sure though.

Not how I wanted to start my weekend at all, but things happen and fortunately both drivers were okay.
Can't help but think that I should have gotten a steel bumper sooner than later...

 

DAMN! That sucks man! Did the officers write it up as their fault?

 

Officers were not on the scene. There wasn't much the other person could have done either. It was just one of those situations where it getting police involved wouldn't have been worth it.
I was checking over my shoulder to the left to make sure I was clear to merge and by the time I turned my head back, the guy was on his brakes hard and there was nothing I could do.

 

Damn. Bummer man. I hope it works out ok for you. Sucks to put all that work into a truck to have it get totaled out.

 

tie rod is jacked but your lbj still looks intacted, if you're good you can swap in another, align it best you can and get it home.

 

Thanks. It'll work out one way or another. Been pondering potential options for rebuilding it in the meantime. Depending how the insurance works out, I'll evaluate from there.

Ended up forking over more money than I would have liked to the tow company since I had to get it hauled 30-something miles.
After I got it home, the tire was also flat, so no telling how far I would have made it. There was a smaller gash in the sidewall and the rim was dented in a decent amount.
I had just got back from a two week work trip, so wrenching on my truck on the side of the road was the last thing I wanted to be doing at that moment.

 

hm, Feel you on that work week.

 

Duuude. That sucks. Man. Looks fixable though....idk exactly how that all works but maybe you could buy back if they total and fix it? I've only carried liability on mine.

BTW, triple A is awesome for stuff like that. Free tow up to 100 miles. Thankfully I've never had to do that, but have it just in case.

 

Yea not sure how its all going to pan out, but hopefully I hear from insurance today.
It's definitely something I could fix myself minus getting it painted, but i'll have to evaluate the parts cost and all that. (maybe buy a scraped tacoma with rear end damage and swap over the front end parts I need and then sell it back?)

Yea I almost got triple A recently, but didn't end up pulling the trigger. Definitely something I will have for the future after I get this all worked out.

 

So I got the quote back from insurance and they fortunately didn't total it. Can't say the same for the other guy's car.
I ordered a trail gear baja tube bumper with filler plates since I won't be getting another OEM bumper.

The tire that went flat was leaking from the rim where it got bent during the impact. So I just took a hammer and mashed it back and now it holds air just fine. Cheap steel rims for the win!



Once the payments clear and all that, gonna start ordering new body panels and parts to rebuild the front end. Gonna have to make some trips to a few scrap yards as well for the stuff I can't find online. Specifically the metal inner fender well. I can't seem to find it anywhere online so i'll have to hunt around locally to see who has one that's intact. Also gonna have to cut off a front body mount from a donor frame at a salvage yard and weld it onto my frame since it got bent pretty bad.

 

Things are moving along. I ordered new passenger outer fender, radiator core support, anzo headlights, passenger marker light, and a baja 2.0 All-pro bumper with fill plates and stinger.

Gonna have a local guy work on pulling out the passenger inner fender apron, rework the corner of the hood, reposition the passenger front body mount, and get everything to align up properly. The inside won't be perfect on that side, but it's not that big of a deal to me as long as it looks good from the outside.

After the body is all done, I will prep the whole body of the truck to get painted at a Maaco for cheap. Depending on how ambitious i'm feeling, I might try and fix some dent spots or places that need some work on the body. From what I've read online, it's better to do the prep work yourself when doing a Maaco paint job since that's where they usually skimp on.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what color I should do? I was thinking a quicksand or some sort of tan, but I am open to suggestions. Maybe a better tone of red? Or grey?

Edit: After looking around some more, I'm learning toward Impulse Red. Would lead to easier prep since it's a similar color and looks great imo.

 

I think the Quicksand in a flat finish is awesome.

 

First of the parts to arrive for the rebuild was the bumper.
I'm impressed with the build quality of it and can't wait to get it powder coated and installed on my truck.

Hopefully the fenders and other panels show up early next week so that I can get it off to the body guy and actually drive it again.

 

Chopped the front frame rails and prepped for welding the inserts in and mounting the bumper.
I pulled out the front passenger body mount a bit, but it still need some work. I was limited to a tree and a tow strap as far as body tools go. I didn't wanna pull it any more than I did and risk bending the frame rail.



After moving the body mount and sliding the bumper on with the aid of some jack stands and my floor jack, I realized that it wouldn't sit flat with the bottom of the frame rail. Since the core support got bent and that's what the radiator mounts to, the radiator is no longer vertical and perpendicular to the frame. The bottom moved forward while the front got tilted back. So I won't be able to mount up the bumper until the new core support gets put on and the radiator can sit where it should.

I was at least able to prop it up and get a rough idea of what it'll look like (minus the rest of the body panels and front end).

 

Got most of the body work finished this last weekend.

Some things that I still need to finish/get fixed from the accident are:

• relocate blinkers to side markers
• get new antenna, fender mount, and cable (scrapyard probably)
• install bolts and nuts on a few spots where the rivets pulled through on the core support
• align and reinforce the front nutset on the passenger body mount "wing" to bolt to the bumper
  
• weld in all-pro bumper frame rail inserts & fasten w/ supplied hardware
• mess around with hood alignment & lath so it closes easier like it did before
• bridge gap between OEM fender snorkel & airbox
• get new passenger side marker bulb & socket (scrapyard probably)
• windshield wiper reservoir relocation/fabrication
• Figure out radiator alignment issues & contact with lower bumper
• new A/C line O-rings & refrigerant charge
• align headlights
• fix dashboard airbag light (probably the sketchy broken key switch in the dash - potential scrapyard item)

 

Nice work!

 

Looks like everything lines up pretty well

 

From the outside it looks decent which is all that really matters in the end, but a few things are off on the inside causing alignment problems with some stuff. I'm still working it out, but should hopefully have it dialed in soon.