What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

do you need one of these batteries when you are running Arb front /rear lockers???

 

Took off the rear mudflaps which was long overdue and ordered some sliders

 

I used Mothers. It was my first time doing it but it came out real nice

 

Got email from AVID, my steps and light bar are on the way :-0

 

Over the weekend;
installed my double din pioneer; integrated to the oem camera video for reverse
installed my viper remote start
Anytime fog light mod

 

You have any direction on tapping into the rearview camera to attach it to double din. I've been wanting to do this but didn't know where to tap in

 

Not today, but over the weekend.

 

how much where the rear shocks???

 

Tried to install URD short shifter...tore everything apart, realized I received the wrong spacer plate. Truck is still sitting since Thursday.

 

that sux man hope it works out for you :$

 

Correct spacer plate should be here today...fingers crossed!

 

Got 11MPG with her! .. Got back last night from a Weekend at Syracuse, towed a pop-up, 2 full coolers, 4 extra cases of beer,5 burner grill, 3 people, and my 4 stock wheels and tires(was supposed to swap with someone on here but they never got a hold of me..).... used 7/8 of a tank going there, and almost half on the way home(Coming home is all downhill, empty coolers, no extra beer)

Got home, had some Nokya 2500K fog lights waitin for me to replace the HID fogs, and a bed cargo net(not sure if ill ever need it but seemed like a neat thing to have)

 

Had sliders welded on today...the lift is next. About to order some fox coil-overs, upper a-a, brake lines, etc

 

that is even better .

 

Used mine on Wed to haul home a new pellet stove for the living room. Since we now have 2 of those we'll be primarily heating the house with pellets and avoid oil as much as possible. So the taco will be hauling pellets each month now, 1600lbs at a time unless I can borrow a trailer or pay to have them delivered.

One of the reasons I bought a truck. Makes me less dependent on someone else to deliver fuel to keep my family warm during the winter.

 

Busy Thanksgiving...I guess giving thanks to my Taco!!!!

-Gave her a bath and wax

-Installed Illuminated 4X4 switch, this is a great addition!!

-Installed Spring silencer kit (TSB)....This has finally solved my squeaky rear spring noise. Only took about 20 minutes to change all 8 "pucks"! what a difference in the thickness and overall size ....Nothing left of the old one

-Change the oil and filter....Mobile Synthetic with OEM filter...greased all the yerks

She's good for another 8000K!

Here are the pics of the old and new leaf spring silencers....

 

Is there any way to determine cost for heating with pellets VS oil

 

Jacked it up, rotated the tires (after 10k) and fixed a metal-on-metal squeak in one of my Toytec coilovers under full lock and driveway bump condition.
Also added a bit height on both coils to compensate for the settling of the spring after the initial install. <insert happy face>

 

Eh, I've found calculators that sort of compare oil and pellet BTUs to compare gallons to tons, but I don't remember the number.

With my 20+ yr old pellet stove (high/low/off, no thermostat or heat setting ranges) I found through personal experience it burns approximately 1 40lb bag per day. (Roughly. We topped off in the morning and night so it didn't run out while at work or sleeping, so it was never exactly 1 bag per day put in. Also a bit harder to figure out how much is burned in 24hrs, but that's the rule of thumb I go by.)

So, with that in mind, here are my numbers. Minimum oil delivery is 150 gallons, COD, no budget plan, no automatic delivery (due to credit score and inability to get on the budget plan). So just to start the season it's about $600 up front! Just to get the boiler going since it's around $4/gal. Those 150 gal last about a month to a month and a half depending on how cold it is.

A ton of pellets is $200 at Lowes. A ton is 50 bags. So you could say the ton would last *about* 50 days. Even cutting that short saying 1 ton per month we're looking at $200/month for pellets vs $600/month on oil worst case.

In the past we've spent $2,000+ on oil for the winter. Spending $1,000 on the pellet stove leaves me enough money for 5 tons of pellets (more than enough to get through the winter I think). So the stove will be paid for THIS WINTER if we don't buy any oil. And next year I could save $1,000 buying pellets and not oil.

These are mostly shirt sleeve guestimates as the stove we got is brand new, has 5 "heat settings" instead of high/low/off, is installed in our living room instead of 50 ft away in a back room at the end of a 20ft hallway, and has the ability to be hooked up to an external (programmable anyone? ) thermostat. Hell, even if I don't do the thermostat, I have the option to actually turn the heat output down a couple notches during the day when none of us are home, and back up when we get home. (Unlike the old stove that must run on high 24x7 to keep the downstairs around 70-74, and upstairs around 60.)

As it stands, I can pay $50-60 for 10 bags and heat the house until one of us gets paid before buying more. With oil it's $600 until we run out (if I don't noticed the tank's crappy fuel gauge being low and order a delivery), and then another $600. Usually we run out, and I go to the gas station to pay $50 for 15gal of kerosene to run on for 3-4 days until a delivery truck can make it out. So I'm out $50 + the very MINIMUM of $400-$600 for an oil delivery. Versus $50-$60 every 10 days or so until we buy a ton. Or just buy a few each week as needed. And I can get pellets at Lowes, Homedepot, Agway, Tractor supply, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, pool/spa companies, or have them delivered by the ton. Compared to Suburban Propane or Economy Heating for oil. All the oil prices are pretty close while there's $40/ton price difference on pellets if I shop around.

I can look at my stack of pellets and say "hmmmm 5 bags....5 days of fuel....need to buy more" whereas with the oil I say "hmmm fuel gauge is at 1/4 tank....do I have enough to last 1 week, 2 weeks, 2 days? or is damn thing really sitting at the bottom of the tube?" I know about how long I can heat the house with the number of bags I decide to buy on the way home from work. Oil has always been a freaking guessing game. And Suburban Propane doesn't know where the fuck their trucks/drivers are, or when they'll be able to get to our house. Economy heating knows they are in my area Mon, Wed and Fri so we used them more often, but it's still ~$600 up front vs $235 (delivered) for pellets. I don't know how fast delivery is, but I can still pick up 10 days worth of fuel on the way home to hold us over until the delivery comes instead of the same $ on kerosene and hope their truck comes in a couple days.

And that doesn't even count the fact I need to bleed the fuel line and restart the furnace. That's fun at 6:30 am in below zero weather after dumping 3 fuel cans into the oil fill port outside, freezing my hands off. Before work. In my work clothes. That now smell like kerosene. Because the house was 50 degrees that morning after running out over night. And the wife/kids/pets are home all day.

All in all, picking up a few bags on the way home, dumping one in the hopper, emptying ash once a week, and saving $400 or so per month is a LOT better IMO to dealing with heating oil. We changed to an electric water heater 2 years ago so we don't need the furnace for that. That really helped liberate us from oil. And that was all because the indirect water heater failed and the heating coil needed was more than the complete electric heater that was twice as big.

 

Took my front emblem off today, prepping it for paint