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

No. Different mounting brackets. Bilstein 5100's are cheaper and better unless you're going to get take-offs for almost nothing, but yeah they won't work - 2nd and third gen are the same for suspension more or less, but completely different from first gen.

 

Oh trust me he has a whole list still, just needs the $$$ (don't we all haha).

 

Did this today

 

Replacing u-joints today and found I have a ton of play in my pinion flange. Tightened pinion nut but no improvement. Drained fluid and found dark oil and a little metallic sludge on drain plug. Hoping I just need new carrier bearings and pinion bearings, but expecting my teeth to have undesirable wear. If so I'll be ordering a whole new 3rd probably from ECGS.

 

Made a little USB charger outlet thing. Now I need to paint it.

 

Interesting. Fun Fact: That blank is for the Power Mirror controller on trucks that came without power windows and locks, but with power mirrors. It was a rare option, as you could imagine.

 

Tell him to repaint those fender flares, its cheap and will make the truck look better. He's making my truck value go down with it looking like that

 

Well tickle me upside down and call me Nancy...clean af.

 

No Toyota branding?

I didn't want to say just get some Kings since OP looked like he was trying to do it on the cheap with some take-offs like I've done with my p-runner, but I've read a lot of people say that 5100's are an improvement over their TRD shocks. FWIW I've had Kings, TRD take offs, and stock non-TRD shocks on my 08 and the TRD's and the Kings both feel better than the non-trd's. Based on what people have written about liking their 5100's better than TRD's I thought they'd be a good alternative to take offs.

Here's a comparison with stock TRD's off of a first gen to Bilstein stock replacements and I was surprised to see the change in diameter:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/can-you-verify-what-kind-of-shock.507114/#post-15880308

But yeah, I've skipped over that price bracket when it comes to shocks besides the good deal I got on take offs. Waiting to find some used Kings or foxes and have them rebuilt for my first gen rather than put money into new shocks. Just read a lot of good reviews on 5100's but definitely can't speak from experience.

 

OME is far better than 5100s, a little more expensive but worth it. But I say get Kings anyways

 

Good to know

 

Alright my bad. FWIW he was asking about a 3rd gen set which wouldn't have that many miles. My 2nd gen set only had 14k on them.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the 5100's - I won't be as quick to recommend them from now on. What was the issue you encountered? Harsh ride, shock fade, valving etc?

 

I'm assuming it was shock leakage after a few thousand miles, as that's what I've seen as well

 

I have 5100's and I love them. I used them to replace stock TRD's, but those stock TRD's had 199k on them. So obviously the new 5100's are gonna ride miles better.
I also replaced my sagging leafsprings with a used leafspring set that had 100k miles on them and a 3" add-a-leaf that had sagged to 2" or so. They were only $50, otherwise I was looking at Dakar's. I haven't taken this setup off-road because I've been doing other work to it, but I have purposely taken speed bumps without slowing down, and the front absorbs it really well, then the back sort of hops over it.

 

Yep - new springs and some weight in the back should solve this. Depending on where you live, a cooler full of beer and a few friends could be your answer to the weight issue. Sandbags always work in a pinch.

But yeah the rear suspension on these trucks and pickup trucks in general is the limiting factor in how fast you can go over things like speed bumps. Even $7000 rear suspension setups are prone to bucking on stuff the front glides over.

 

I do have a topper but I don't use it cuz I prefer the look of a bed. I got a set of LBJ's on the way, and that'll be the last of 'suspension and steering' work for a bit. Well, I may do the steering rack guide mod.

But from there, I'm moving on to the interior - speakers, sound deadening, and some underseat subs.

 

I'm going to do that rack guide too. The topper can be used to hide said friends and beer when going over speed bumps in town.

 

On 40's but firewall is still in tact because SAS. Damn beast man!

 

Bummer. Hopefully it turns out to be a cheaper fix. Mind giving more details on your dual transfer case setup? Where is that avatar pic taken?

 

Party truck! I also have an airbedz truck bed mattress. So far I've only used it to go the drive-in, but it's fairly comfy.