My '79 Hilux Body Swapped First Gen Tacoma

Shes beautiful

 

Im digging it man love to see updates from this thread

 

I like it. Are you planning on bobbing the bed any?

 

It could probably use 5-6" cut off but i dont plan on it at the moment.

 

Old shitty rack


new hotness


Im waiting on some Prothane bushings to come in from Amazon to swap out on this rack. The bushings on the old rack were nonexistent.

 

What part of Texas are you in? Looks like maybe some cotton fields in one of your pics.

 

East Bernard. About an hour SW of Houston. Yep im surrounded by row crop.

 

i have never changed a rack before... what was causing the need for a new rack? age, issue while driving, or it just looked busted?

 

Leaked like a sieve. Boots wore torn. Had 334k miles on it by the looks of it. Bushings were shot. It was time.

 

makes sense..i have a horrible bouncing issue on my '87 between 15-60 MPH ( had to get home somehow and was 90 miles from home) after 60 it ride fine, when you apply the brakes it damn near throws you out of the truck and the wheel shakes real bad...any guesses?...thought i'd ask since you have more experience it seems than i do...

 

Like throws you forward or pulls left or right when applying the brakes? Does it bump steer when hitting a bump in the road? Sounds like something rubber wore out completely. Jack the front end up and have someone steer the tires left and right and look for a gross amount of movement in the tie rod ends, idler arm for the steering on the frame, etc.

 

it throws left to right..not sure what bump steer means...i was thinking it could be idler arm and or something like that...the truck hasn't really been taken care of and needs the clutch bled, brakes changed ( have the rotors and pads) and bled and the e brake looked at, it barely holds in neutral on a slight incline

 

Bump steer is when you hit a bump and instead of going straight afterwards, you steer (usually violently) left or right.

 

oh, makes sense....no, no bump steering...you can follow the solid white line on the right side of the road without touching the wheel for as long as the road is straight...hit a huge bump and it just drove right through and bounced like a old yota does but kept it straight for the most part ....didn't mean to hijack your thread

 

No worries. Id imagine you have a wear item wore out with the steering. That would be my guess.

 

thats kind of what i'm thinking too...wonder if just replacing the whole front end would be a wise choice, instead waiting for the next thing to break or fail....i looked and a 14 piece front end is $115 on rock auto comes with all bushings and ball joints...so pretty much everything i need to rebuild the front minus the steering box and a few other pieces is a good piece of mind for me, just thought i'd ask if it was necessary..

 

Depending on the condition of everything, id say thats not a bad idea. It would let you see what was really causing the issue. Or you could swap a solid axle in there

 

How ironic would it swapping your "1979 Toyota Tacoma" with a solid front axle.

 

yeah the more i jump into it the more i find lol...a solid axle would be great but finding one near where i live you have a better chance of finding someones pet kangaroo.. thank you for the help and i'll let you know how it plays ou.. continuing to watch your awesome progress