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

Someone was leading me to energy suspension for steering rack bushings. So TC makes some that are better?

 

WAAAAAYYYY better than the ES bushings. I bought some of those and they are floppy POS bushings. TC ones are way better. Don't even bother with the ES ones.

 

That's pretty interesting. Stopping feels great when it hits that point but takes 30% of the pedal to get there. I wouldn't have thought that the MC design would be a likely culprit.

 

Yeah I got the tall version because of that. Roof rack is kinda useless now but looks cool, I had to drill holes into the roof or else it probably would've been removed.

The only clear windows I have are the front and back so I can see where I'm backing up to. I paid ~$8k shipped, I did get a decent amount off due to buying during the first set of run where they took off $1k as well as gave me a % off of certain adders like solar and a few other options, it also cost about $2k to ship so looking more like ~$6k. So I'd take that price with a grain of salt.

They offer full installation if you drive up to Washington but I didn't want to put the mileage on the rig for that. But they shipped it fully built and I just installed the wiring and the shell itself.

 

Yeah you'd think. But it kind of makes sense. Dual diaphram should have a softer feel as its helping more. And then there is a volume vs pressure for the size of the MC.

here is my post about it: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...kensteins-helper.390488/page-12#post-14150175

 

That's one heck of an adventure. Realized I never bled the LPV so was gonna thread the speed bleeder onto that and do that today. About a year ago I replaced my MC too but just with a Rockauto replacement.

 

Yeah was interesting for sure. I haven't driven another 95-00 with tundra brakes to confirm this theory. So probably take it with a grain of salt. But is my going theory at the moment. If I get a 2nd set of 16/17s for my daily 95 I'd put tundras on it maybe to see.

 

I'm gonna spam this around this morning, if you wanna take a minute for my communications class.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5iiKEpfsqUsAFi83BYetKprpewkr8bnDPiuLoThgx3nZZKA/viewform


thanks

 

Hmmm, I didn't geta very good score.

 

That's average

 

Awesome, thank you for the info-

I’m about 2-1/2 hrs west of Wenatchee so the drive is easy, I paid ~$7100 for mine after tax with the drop down front slider, bed ladder and grab handles, and will probably add the interior lighting and the controller for another $800

Because of a reflection it looked like you had clear sides, I see now you don’t.

I’m stoked, headed out end of this week for 4 days in the woods, and maybe a few more before summer is over and can go get my Lone Peak in mid September. I won’t miss the tent, even though the CVT was a killer deal when I got it, almost 10 years ago to the day.

 

Unless I missed a post, did you end up getting a radiator yet? For what it's worth I bought/installed the MVP 16410-AZ025 but it's only been about 7-8 months so can't really say anything about how they hold up over time but's it's been doing it's job fine. I can tell you that the fitment on mine was not good. I had to oval out some of the mounting holes of the radiator to make them work with my truck.

 

Do you have a picture of your MVP rad and who the manufacturer is noted as?

Toy parts was nice enough to pull one of the MVPs out of the box (not necessarily for Tacoma) and said it was marked Denso made in Taiwan.

So venture you've got what is actually a

$163 Denso 221-3138 Radiator

Denso 221-3138. That is what I put in previously, and had the same issue you note with fitment, with the front apron mounting holes being about 1/4" too wide to fit the bolts in the radiator mounting brackets.

Solved that by swapping out the aftermarket brackets for the OE brackets mounted to the replacement core, instead of widening the mounting holes in the apron.

Here's the details....

That rad apparently began leaking about 2 quarts sometime this past 3000 miles since the last oil change, noticeable across a couple days just shy of 2 years after purchase/install (turns out it was purchased/installed July 2022 not 2020).



So picked up one from the LAPS this time.




Found again like you did that the rails from the LAPS rad like the Denso seemed to be about 1/4" off alignment with the front apron mounting holes.



Modded the way the rails mate to the top tank due to the difference in the rail cutouts.

The LAPS replacement rails had a rectangular cutout for the top tank mount



But the OE rails fit an angled cutout for the tank mount.



Note the LH side has angles on the top while the RH side has angles on the bottom of the bracket cutout.

So a little contouring to the tank detent allowed the OE rails to slide on (black tape is temporary to protect tank while tooling). Finished with a big washer to capture the mount just for good measure.



Then the mounting holes lined up.



Previously on the Denso, solved this by cutting the plastic detents clean off the sides of the tank mount with a hacksaw blade then reshaped them so they captured across and on the inside of the bracket notches to limit side motion ... held in place with the OE bolt/washer like this.



The mod this time around was simpler and much faster to just leave detents in place and reshape a little.

Hope this helps!

 

No problem! Let me know if anything else comes up in the meantime! Oh yeah if I was that close I wouldn't hesitate to go have them install it, they'll do everything besides wiring up to your rig. I had bed ladder, 4x grab handles (help with install), solar, interior lighting with controller, roof fan, side lights, diesel heater port & power plate. So pretty close to a fully decked out one. But again I got in early so I saved $1,000 off the camper and then another $1,000 off accessories.

That's awesome! You'll love it, a huge upgrade compared to the RTT. I too have had mine for about 10 years so it was time for an upgrade and it helps a ton with the pup and whenever it decides to rain. So far no complaints here!

 

Bump

 

a little bump like the rest of the oil industry

 

We've been running low on gas prices for a couple months, not that you can tell with the price at the pump and your gas bill last winter

 

Did another brake bleed after putting 100mi on the Tundra swap - this time did the LPV then everything else again. Didn't see any air come out anywhere still have a pretty soft pedal (engages around ~60%). Might just be how it is now but it isn't very enjoyable.

Also got my 1st estimate for a rear main seal... oh man is it rough. First time using a shop for anything beyond an alignment. I don't know how people afford it!

 

It sure explains the number of leaky shit boxes you see on the road

 

I was having this issue after my tundra swap. Turned out I needed to advance the brake drums a bit, the fluid flow wasn't moving them as much as before so they needed slightly less clearance.