1st Gen Taco Kit

Took the old rack out and could not get the lines off of it to completely remove the rack from the truck ..... I made the decision to cut the lines and buy new ones.

 

Called the DEALER and the high pressure line was $800 !!!!!!!!

Tried local parts shops no dice
Went to hyd shop and they put a new end on the high pressure line and gave me hyd hose for the return.
Old line with new end does not fit into the rack !!!!
Order a High pressure line from the internet .......
This is while my truck was sitting at work in the garage 3 weeks

I was very lucky that work allowed me to do this in the shop

FML

 

Sure why not ....... 2.5 Bilstein lift shocks 5100 for the front.

 

Painted the new rack, took the old tie rod ends off the old rack

Did the Rear diff mod, if you have not done this to your truck DO IT !

 

Anyone following this ?

 

Few Random Pictures, I like to call some of these Tailgate Killers .....

 

Me!

 

I got a friend

 

I like your determination to keep this thing on and off the road. It's nice to see someone overcoming obstacles since owning an older truck is a new experience for me. I guess it's just keeping up with the right things at the right time so that it feels like a new truck!

 

Thanks ! I love my 1st gen

 

^^^^^^ apparently i forgot my words ...

Pictures of NEW parts, new hand brake cable went in along with two new tail lights. I had a hard time getting the steering shaft off the rack so i split it at the rag joint. Took the res off the power steering pump and gave it a good cleaning. Took the sway bar bushings off and installed new along with sway bar end links ....

 

Upper Ball Joint time ....





all joint fun

Upper ball joints are a pain in the (@&!#) second time doing all 4 ball joints, replacing due to torn boots or dry rotted boots, getting new tires so I wanted a front end alignment . This means rack pump tie rod ends and ball joints.

HOW I DO THE UPPER BALL JOINTS

I crack off the coderpin and bring the nut to the top of the ball joint and give the side of the controle arm a good smack with a hammer. UPPER control arm comes off, remove old boot and snap ring. I use a 3 jaw puller socket washer bolt and nut to pull the old joint out. To put the new one in I use a pitman arm puller (I think that's what it's called) two 1/4 nuts and a thick bar of steel to pull the new one in. Once the joint is seated and the lip is up to the puller I change the nuts out to 1/2 and tape them to the puller as you will need to turn the puller to make sure the ball joint seats evenly to get the snap ring in. Lower balljoints...... brake loose the 4 bolts, crack off the coderpin again bring the nut to the end of the ball joint install jack putting pressure on the lower and taking the weight of the truck. Give the lower control arm a smack on the front flat spot and it should pop out. If they are stuck you might need to use a pickle fork. Any questions just ask

 

Most guys get their truck back from a Toyota frame replacement and say it is like brand new.

Unfortunately, I don't think you had that experience. It seem like everything broke at once on your truck.

And, your truck was a low-mile rig.

 

Toyota had the truck back in 2012 everything that was at the end of its life started to fail as it had been distributed.

after the few issues were dealt with the truck gave me many years of service

 

Ok lets do this ........

Got the wrong sway bar bushings, Re order, Bottom of rag joint spline was hard to come off and all Ball joints and tie rod end boots are leaking grease.

 

Put new OEM Toyota belts on when I reinstalled the pump

I also toke the opportunity to rust check the whole truck with a gallon of fluid film

Installed new upper ball joints (as you know) looked at the CV boots and they are puking grease also ... put the spindle back on with the old lower ball joint as i will have to take this apart when the cv axles get installed and I don't want to risk damaging the new lower boots.

Cv axles are in sitting in my basement next to the 5100 fronts
265 70 16 General Grabber AT2 tires bought and paid for sitting at the tire shop

Just need to find a spot inside to do last bit of work required to be able to put new rubber on the front end alignment

 

Truck still waiting on the install of the above listed parts

My tail gate decided it was time to smile time to find a fix for this !

I loaded up my sled and put 2x10 under it so it was not resting on the tailgate.

you can see the need for a front bumper and the damage to the passengers side box from the run in with the crane .....

 

Kijiji Find !

small amount of surface rust but its not ) more like |

 

Damn if i was out that way id buy it myself. I think aftermarket ones are super cheap tho just the same. Under $200 last i checked