What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

I had thick red going to factory white lol. I'm so confused

 

Also I'm worried about the smaller 2" pulley on my new alternator as I could barely fit the old one in with my tower gussets. And I mean barely. I know the smaller pulley will be better probably what I should have in the first place to keep good idle voltage.

Wondering if I should get a smidge smaller belt so its not so close to the gusset. I have a 4040425 belt on now. Thoughts?

 

Thinking about just ordering some new heads now so just incase my heads are indeed cracked and it’s not the HG, I can just throw them on right away instead of having to order them in a hurry and wait for them. And if it is the HG and heads are fine I could just return the new ones. I’ll only have about a week for the whole project so time is money. Literally, I have to go back to work right after.

 

That is fine. I explain this in that post:

The red wire is the sense wire which technically goes to the white wire in the Toyota harness. It's not 100% needed which is why I just tied it right to the alt so it is "sensing" its own voltage

 

Speaking of alternators, I've had an intermittent overvoltage situation going on recently.

It's not so persistant that I'm worried yet, but I'm betting alternator service is in my near future. I've heard rebuilding isn't worth it, and also that reman units are a waste of space. Not sure which direction I'll go yet. Haven't done too much research on it.

 

Check the wiring to your plug first, one of the wiring making poor contact will do that. But you can also just order and change the voltage regulator, it's very easy, just screwed in. I have mine apart right now for a new brush set but you can see the voltage reg isn't held in by much.

 

Wanted to get my oil changed and lube job yesterday before the rains came today. Was refilling the oil (Mobil-1 synthetic) from the 5qt jug and when it was all in I noticed that I had bought 5-20wt instead of the 5-30wt I normally use.

My question is, should I bite the bullet and drain and refill with proper viscosity or run as is till next oil change? Which could be a year from now based on how many miles I usually drive. Also wondering how 5-20wt would do when the hot weather comes next summer. Or skip the usual oil change interval and do it again before it gets hot.

Thanks

 

If the OCD kicks in, pop the 40 bucks + filter and change it again after the storm passes. 5w20 isn't going to kill, especially in CA during the winter. My opinion only of course.

 

You could put an oil additive in to thicken it up. Using an oil that's too thin in an older or high mileage engine would concern me. It's probably not going to kill it, but it might spring a leak or something annoying like that. I've also heard good things about delo (diesel engine lubricating oil) 15w/40 for this sort of thing. Get a full synthetic if you go that route, so it plays nice with your Mobil-1.

 

My Land Cruiser loves the Delo 15-40, and it's the cheapest stuff with so much zinc which is a bonus

 

5 20 is thinner than 5 30. If you think you'll still be running that oil in the summer (in CA) change it. I wouldn't go thinner than 30 in the CA heat.

Maybe it wont make a difference. But I wouldn't do it. I'm telling you what I would do... dump that oil now and replace it with 5w30. That way it doesn't get forgotten about.

As others have said, thinner oil may give you a leak, or a seep, somewhere. But the thinner oil could do worse than that in the hotter months. It's not worth the 50 bucks... just replace the oil.

 

Truth big time. With all the multitasking, especially when it comes to the truck and its various projects things can slip in priority.

 

If it were me, I'd put some kind of detergent in there like Marvel Mystery Oil (do your research) and take it on a trip up to Tahoe or something, then change the oil and filter. It'd make me feel better to turn the mistake into an opportunity to clean out some sludge.

 

My pops ran Delo 15-40w in his 1957 Cummins 335 engine in his old Kenworth. Got a million miles on the camshaft when we changed it it still looked like brand new. Cummins actually gave him a new camshaft and gaskets for free. Because they wanted the camshaft back to analyze the makeup of the hard facing on the cam shaft lobes. The found that there was nothing special about it. Just good oil and regular oil changes.

 

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. Just bought another jug of 5-30wt and will drain and refill. At least I won't have to change the filter if I do it now. Chalking this up to old age, I should have caught this.

 

^ This is not a bad idea ^

 

Made a parts run today.



Mine is top left (those trusses are just sitting on the housing, I asked them to leave everything off)



Winter project pile is getting bigger.



No, I'm not leaving it standing. It rained on me all the way home. Letting all the water dry off. Then I'll shoot a little WD40 on it. (3/8 wall tube isn't really going to care if it stands there though)



Made a second stop as well.

9.5 Full Float FZJ80 3rd member (will send this as core to ECGS for the Harrop and 5.29 re-gear)

 

Interesting, so ruffstuff housing with the 9.5 chunk? Easy to get equal sized shafts made I guess? does running this setup make it cheaper to setup the spindles to something cheaper than toyota parts?

 

I'll go with RCV shafts here, but Longfield and others make shafts, basically to length for builder axles.

I wouldn't necessarily say this is a cheaper way to go by any means. LOL... It's actually A LOT more expensive than getting an FZJ axle assembly and making it fit. But this will be a lot stronger than an FZJ housing. The diff is centered. And the brake assembly I'll be using is better.

I think I've narrowed it down to using the D-rotor kit from Front Range, that uses a 4th Gen 4 Runner disc with E-brake drum inside. The 4th Gen brakes are better than the FZJ brakes.

The hubs will end up being Toyota mini truck parts.

https://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/drotor-backing-plate-kit/

 

Speaking from experienced, I would preferred the LC brake over the 4th Gen. Owned both vehicle, the LC brake holds a lot better than the 4th Gen 4r on inclined. The LC is much heavier and the parking brake actually work, not like the 4th Gen. Even my DROTOR now still slide. Yes, the parking brake are adjusted properly.