Group Buy: APRIL 22 DEADLINE Wheelers Offroad 1st Gen Leaf Replacement

Got mine in last week. No squeaks here, the old springs sang like canaries. Also, any vibes I had before have gone away. Kinda reverse of Steve-o's deal.

 

Yeah, since I made those spacers, the driveline vibes went away, but I think one of my rear tires is slightly out of balance still. I will take it back in when I go to rotate them.

 

My new tires are in, but I gotta get the front end done before I have 'em mounted. Think I'll have the shop use those beads to balance the tires, instead of traditional weights. I hate having to paint weights.

 

Yup... surface rust only. Damn..
But it gave me an excuse to paint the frame now... sigh... more work.

 

500 posts ago back in October 09, I didn't even know what a Bilstein 5100 was. I didn't even know what a group buy was! I didn't even understand just how f'd up my suspension was...and now I just finished installing the leafs and Billies!

It's pretty rewarding. I did the rear by myself last night after work and this morning, but I had a shop do the front because they were going to align it too anyway, and I was beat and needed it done fast so I could leave for the Bay Area...like...in about 20 minutes from now...

HOLY CRAP DOES IT RIDE BETTER! I am no longer terrified of cat's eyes diverting me into adjacent lanes, only to be force back by slight crosswinds...

No vibes. No squeaks (yet). Alignment is awesome (thanks to a great shop who has my business for life, Radial Tire Service in Sacramento). It tracks great. Responsiveness vastly improved. Ride comfort vastly improved. Body roll vastly diminished. And this is on a windy day...

I'll post pics and details and my typically way-too-wordy thoughts sometime soon. For now: 37 1/4 in the front, 37 3/4 in the rear. Perfect.

This site made it possible. Thanks Tacomaman06 for your moderating wisdom, and thanks YotaDan for offering us the 15%!

 

FINALLY!! lol

 

I know, huh. My torque wrench came back from Snap-on all nice and calibrated last week, so I now could do it...and last weekend my fridge decided to take a dump, and I had to spend all my time shuttling ice cream and steaks to my GF's house and then tearing apart the fridge and swearing a lot...but I managed to fix the damn thing so I didn't have to spend another $1000 dollars on a stupid appliance.

 

Well don't feel bad, I still haven't done the steering rack bushings.

 

Well, she's lifted. No measurements yet... I was having WAY to much fun after all that work to bother. You guys are lucky I snapped any pics at all.

Think the front is a little higher than the rear.. which at this point, I don't care... The ToyTec coilovers are set to their stock positions from the factory.. new skins.. I'm good to go. Well, mainly.. tomorrow (Sunday morning) I'm hoping to do the LR UCAs and then Monday is the alignment. She tracks left a bit, but it's much MUCH better than with the old setup. And yes.. very.. very responsive. Only one problem.. 255/85/16 tires.. = power loss.. More in acceleration ability and holding speed on a hill.. definitely have to kick it out of OD now to keep speed. But damn, I am happy.




This is only... an hour after I got the new tires.


And yes, I will be removing that sticker.. think I'm de-badging her next.. probably going to paint 'em black.



The tires do rub slightly on the back of the rear wheel wells when stuffed.. easy enough to fix.

 

Awesome! Are those maxxis bighorns? My coopers rub in the same place but Im not really sure how to fix it so I can deal with it.

 

Awesome! Looks good! Hey, we made it, Mr. Number 2 on the GB list and fellow whip-cracker!

Oh, man, now I will have to call you Number 2 all the time! Bwahahaha!

Black badges will look good on the green, IMO. It is subtle.

 

x2, and also the sway bar bushings. Both are still on the workbench. (Oh crap, so are my Redline hoot struts!) I wanted to do those first before the OMEs etc. to see exactly how much they were a factor in handling, but sheeet, life just don't always work how I want it to...in fact, it rarely does...

 

Yes, they are Maxxis Bighorns. There's two ways I see to fix the rubbing in the rear. Either get a plate to move the center pin that 1/2-3/4" forward again so the axle is center, or just modify the fender. Guess which I'll probably choose.

MT, yeah I was messing with the ECT today, it does help. But she does take a tad bit more time to get up to speed if I don't floor it. Which is fine, I was figuring on some power loss due to the size of the tires. I'm plenty happy with how the truck performs now and I'm not even done yet. Still have to do the rack bushings, LR UCAs (didn't get to 'em today) a tranny cooler, and some other minor stuff that I've got sitting around waiting to go on the truck.

Only bad part about the lift & tires? Gas mileage suffered... hehehehe

 

Thank you. Number 2 eh? That's fine.. so long as you don't start attempting to imitate Picard's voice.

I'm definitely going to be de-badging so I can paint 'em. The Tacoma badge on the tailgate has lost most of it's "chrome", so it's just that ugly plastic underneath that shows. And yes, I agree, the black will be subtle. Better than some of the damned rice-mobiles around here.. you know I was actually behind a Honda Accord that had STI badging on it, today? What the ****?

 

Sweet... thanks.

 

So, did all you knuckleheads and the Princess of Montana remember to re-torque yer U bolts after 100 miles (and 500)? I know Steve-o did, because he is all, like, on-the-ball and such.