Crunchy Taco? - 1st gen on 35s BS

I put some miles on it and it's a raggedy POS with plenty wrong with it but it's perfect for getting around town in the weather we've been having. Might even wheel again someday

 

Taking inventory of what needs to be done to make the truck less of a rattle trap. It turns heads for all the wrong reasons

• I need to trim the front fenders near the bottom of the door and weld on a tab to attach them to the cab
• The hardware fell out of my ebay headers crossover pipe for the 3rd? time. This time I'll probably weld the hardware together so it can't rattle loose. The one bolt that couldn't fall out entirely sounds like a loose bolt in a hamster wheel
• Headlights dust boots are gone so they lenses are filled with dust
• Tcase ebrake is loose and rattles

Comfort issues:

• 15" steering wheel need to go
• Need to rework the factory seat mounts
• Stereo needs to be rewired

General shit

• Delete the fender intake and cut a hole in the air box so it pulls air from the engine bay and stops filling up with ice/sand
• Spare tire mount is loose
• Need to cut the hi lift mount off the bedside, it cracked the bed again
• Rework how rear shocks are mounted, I don't expect it to hold up long term

The low range elocker harness is not well crimped and pulled wires out of the connector despite having plenty of slack at full droop



Proof I made it out of the shop

 

I thought you had given up on this like my teachers did on me in elementary school

 

Nice progress, but that harness is a bummer! You definitely expect more from a bought not built part, and it’s so annoying with crimped contacts like that.

Nice to see the Taco getting back in action, tho!

 

Hey the cycle of giving up for a while before getting motivated and doubling down and committing to way too much is important.

My health is kind of fickle. Sometimes I get mad that I can't fix that so I turn outward and fix trucks instead. Sometimes I don't have the energy so we both sit and rot

 

Yeah, I didn't want to bother with making a factory elocker harness work or making my own. It seemed like a pretty decent off the shelf option. Turns out half the shit you buy needs to be rebuilt anyways

If I was confident that I wasn't going to explode the thin elocker side gear I'd just leave it locked full time.

 

Cleaning up some major annoyances for driving noise.

Pulled the captured bolt out of the crossover pipe after some creative wiggling. The flange is welded on the crossover in an angle that requires the bottom right bolt to be tightened before installing. There's not really enough room between the head and the bottom right hardware to get it tight tight. This is the 3rd, 4th? Time it's come loose and fallen out.

No more, 1/3 is enough, right?

Probably still leaks like a mofo but it won't sound like a fork in the garage disposal while driving around anymore.

Never buy ebay headers never buy ebay headers never buy ebay headers



I dug through my spare hardware and grabbed something to weld to the cab so the fender isn't zip tied to the cab mount at the bottom so it was attached somehow. Never got around to it before but the rattling is pissing me off now.

Yeah it looks crooked but I promise it's square to the body



I need to do the pass side still

 

Hacked out more of the same for the pass side



Picked up some LED retrofits that replace the entire 5x7 housings. I think they look shitty but not the hill I'll die on. I'd love to do a proper retrofit in my glass H4 housings but I'm also trying to be efficient with my time and energy. These are DOT approved and going back to sealed beams ain't it.

Hopefully I'll get them installed tomorrow.



Truck is much quieter but still sounds like there's a keychain hanging off the bottom due to the tcase brake

Also looks like I've torn a CV boot

 

Exhaust manifold bolt & spring kit?

 

Maybe. I was checking out locking exhaust hardware kits the other day. the bottom right in the above picture is in a position between the crossover and the back of the head that makes it difficult to get it tight enough :/ i have a stubby HF service wrench ground down to fit in there that I've been using because this is a recurring problem. it's not cutting it for me haha

I took the truck to an exhaust shop at one point and they suggested cutting the flange and rotating. it's not worth it, if I pull these out to rework them something else has to go in

 

Just run open headers, all the rattles won't be noticeable anymore and back pressure is way overrated.

 

I'll buy another driver side header and flip both so the exhaust goes out the hood

 

I sent a self tapper into both sides and ran that for years now. A welded stud is prob a much cleaner option though. Always worried about how much corrosion is eating up that little hole

 

Hopefully you bought the dual relay harness since Toyota headlights are ground side switched and the LEDs will not abide by that.

 

Ive had a dual relay harness for many years to support the 100w H4 incandescent bulbs I run but they don't last very long. Having a cracked core support probably doesn't help them out

 

Best LEDs I ever ran and will be running again are these...

$87 BICYACO 1 Pair 105W Rectangular 5x7/ 6x7" Led Headlight High Low Beam Headlamp Compatible with Jeep Wrangler YJ Cherokee XJ Kenworth T300 1997-2010 Replacement H6054 H5054 H6054LL 69822 6052 6053

https://smile.amazon.com/Rectangular-Headlight-Headlamp-Wrangler-Replacement/dp/B074LT5B1M

 

Those look nice. I ordered the Auxbeam ones because I've had decent luck with them. I actually suspect I got an knock off though. they came in a plain black box with zero branding when the Auxbeam stuff is normally slathered in their orange and black logo. I paid $6 for the 3 year warranty from the Zon so I'll probably slap em in anyways

 

I thought about it when I was dragging the welder around. I'll let you know if it was worth the extra effort next time my fender gets mangled at the mall

 

I need to remeasure to be sure before I order but I think I can use this Stage 8 kit meant for a jeep.

https://www.stage8.com/product/5554-ball-and-socket-collector-kit-w-3-8-16x3-6pt/