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

Quick question

Has anyone who has the @TOTAL CHAOS Lower Ball joints ever actually replaced the uniballs?

 

Still haven't replaced mine yet. Going on 2 years, no play in them.

 

Did a little test fit on the new front fenders last night. Looking good even though they are the wrong color right now. 6.5" flare and a 4" rise. Can't wait to get the bed off and do the bed sides too. Very happy with the work that Advaced Fiberglass Concepts did.

 

Finally was able to tackle some work on the front end last weekend - new Bilstein 5100s and LBJs. Unfortunately the top nuts on the old shocks were married to the bolts, so I had to hire a guy to come cut them off. But the difference now with the Bilsteins is night and day.

 

I've done this to every truck, and when I'm done I'm never sure if I really like it or not. But LED cluster lights.

 

Which ones did you go with? Hell what size? Mine have been burning out lately, no longer just flickering sporadically. I guess 12 years was all they could serve. Figure when I rip things apart soon I should pop in new ones.

 

1 pack of these...

$11 AUXITO 194 LED Bulb 6000K White 168 2825 W5W T10 Wedge 14-SMD Interior Car Bulbs Replacement for Dome Map Door Courtesy Trunk Parking License Plate Lights, 10 PCS

https://www.amazon.com/AUXITO-194-168-2825-W5W/dp/B08VS52KCG/

And one pack of these if you care about doing the idiot lights and the HVAC

$8 AUXLIGHT White T5 37 74 2721 PC74 PC37 LED Bulb, 3030 Chips Super Bright 12 Volt Replacements, Interior Dome Map Dashboard Indicator Instrument Panel Gauge Cluster Lamp Lights (Pack of 10)

https://www.amazon.com/AUXLIGHT-Replacements-Dashboard-Indicator-Instrument/dp/B08RJH2VMY/

Just make sure before you button it all up that you test the lights because you might need to turn the sockets around because obviously LEDs care about polarity whereas the old incandescent bulbs did not

 

Thanks for the link. I don't care about the HVAC lol I do need to fix the dead spots and flicker and kill the boost gauge, bright blue at night is brutal.

 

Do these dim? That's my biggest complaints about the superbrightled ones I've had for many years is that they don't adjust.

 

Yeah they dim modestly but not a crazy amount. Enough so that they're not blinding though and typically if I'm on the highway at night for a while I just turn the dash lights off entirely.

 

I wonder how dim the HT IC7 and UC10 get in comparison

 

The IC7 gets very dim or bright, it self adjusts nicely but you can set the ramp on which it does that too. As of yesterday you can integrate a reverse camera into the UC-10 tho... so that's pretty neat. I'm a fan of my old gauges though really, I just added a couple extra CAN screens for my Haltech vitals.

 

Got some new meat.

 

I like those they've been really good for me. Mine are almost dead though

 

yeah my st maxx’s have seen some serious abuse over the years and the armortek sidewall never gave in despite tons of visual slices. Decided to give the mt a try just to try something different but still the same you know? Hopefully will be the last 35 the Tacoma sees before I go dirty 7’s one day. Considering I had the maxx’s for 8 years I think that’s a realistic goal

 

Does anyone else feel like you work on your truck more than driving it? Headed a few hours out of town for the weekend and hit some forest trails. Tons of damage from Helene still.

 

Glad you enjoyed our gravel roads in the Sumter Nat'l Forrest. They were terribly dusty until the recent rains, mostly dust free now. There are a couple old hand-dug wells out there plus a few cemeteries, but you have to know where to look for them.

 

It was great meeting you! For that leak if you look back through my post history I’ve got some pics from what I found/how I fixed it.

 

Spent the day at the shop working on getting my new fromt fenders fitted and primed. Few more tweaks to make but the old truck is looking good. Will have to wait to fit the full front end until after the 2UZ swap.

 

CEL come on, code P0420 (260k), freaked out about doing the CAT, started putting the mid-grade fuel in and then the CEL went off, yay.