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

Installed the rear Bilstein 5100's today. Rides much nicer now with 5100 front and rear.

 

How much were they?

 

Knocked out lbj's yesterday after hearing a clunk a few weeks ago while turning out of the driveway. While I was in there, I noticed my clunk was probably coming from my upper bj's instead, lowers actually feel like they have some life left in them. Retired them to the trail spares box and hopefully never need them. Upper bj boots are so trashed I can see the ball joint and they are looking worn to shit. Decided to go big on the replacements and just upgrade, ordering some MCM uca's later this week!

 

Is the breaker not for the fuse box? Electricity is beyond me, but my understanding is the breaker protects the cable to and fuse box and the fuses protect everything downstream.

 

The breakers there to protect the wire from bursting into flames. I’d just run a break for the amperage that the fuse box specs as max. The idea is for it not to trip unless it has to. You must also make sure the wire gauge can handle the max amperage the fuse box allows.

 

Yes. But its still wise to keep everything relative to how many total amps youre pulling.

Say for example the total of everything you want to run is 50 amps. Id go with a 75 amp panel and breaker that way you have some room for another circuit or two, but its still not overly huge to the point where the breaker will never trip if it has to.

 

I found them used in good condition the set of 2 for $75....
so I'm selling the 2 old ones I removed for $25
knowing that at least the rear ( skinny one) is worth
the front one bitted up is just a plus not that good looking

 

First, in the beginning of April, this happened:

So I decided to remove the bed and replace it after trying to bend it back into place. I figured that replacing the bed would be cheaper than body shop shenanigans anyhow:

Turns out that turning the bed bolts off would prove verrry difficult. I think half of the 6 came off mostly no problem, but 3 of them took most of the day at about two hours per bolt. That includes PB blaster treatment the day before and the morning of. But finally, the bolts all came out except for two that I just cut out of the old bed:


I was going to wait until summer to do the leaf springs upgrade, but since the bed was off, a leaf upgrade would be much easier, so I replaced the very flat and worn out stock springs with OME CS046RA; CS046RB (with extra leafs):


Originally I had a 3 inch body lift, so the stock Bilsteins were good, but with the OME the lift is 2.5, needless to say the shocks were now too short. So I searched far and wide for shock extensions for the rear shocks, to no avail. I decided to try my hand at fabrication, this is what I came up with:



It’s not permanent, it’s just there to get me by until I can get the 5100s for the rear.
Lastly, and it’s only minor, but the muffler hanger was too high and the new springs were in danger of smacking the muffler pipe in flexion, so I took the two bolts that were holding it on out and dropped the bracket to just one bolt holding it:


... so that’s all for now. I’ll try to remember to update the post with new info as it happens. (sorry that some of the pictures are sideways)

((update))
I pretty much finished all I can do at this point... a buddy came by and we socially distanced putting the bed back on and shortening the gas fill tube... instead of putting the 3 inch body lift blocks back in I decided to go with 2” plus the 2+ inches the OME give me... it looks a little funny with the front being lower than the rear, but it’s good for now:

I have that extra bit underneath because my bolts are 4” bolts and I needed a way to make up the rest of the length. It’s just a piece of 1” aluminum tube.
Here’s the ‘finished’ product... ‘cause I’m never really going to be finished...

it’s around 4” of lift, any lower and the bed wouldn’t match the cab at all and it would just look even more off. It’s a compromise to have it just an inch lower.

I like the black and white, but I think I’m gonna paint it all black.

 

Good luck. Mine are pristine and I can't even give them away...

 

Finally got around to repositioning my front shock reservoirs. 1st pic is where they ended up so I could at least drive on paved roads with no "enthusiasm." Low and in harm's way.



To get them in the nice, upright, protected position they are in now (pics #2) I had to loosen the nut where the hose attaches to the reservoir and rotate the reservoir 180 degrees so it would fit. This is a delicate operation as there is 200 PSI of nitrogen and oil behind the O-ring on that nut.



I'll fine tune the position later but, for now, I can feel confident enough to Send It!

 

you may sell or donate yours ..... he's looking for them

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wtb-oem-skid-plate-for-2004.138211/

 

That post is from 2011...

 

you right...I'm

 

It's the little things that get ya...

Before

After

Installed

 

do you have better photos of this?
Mine are like front gatling guns pointed out front; they are begging for better protection

 

Define "better." Tell me what angles you want and I will put down my mimosa, go out front and take those specific pics

 

Looking for how it was mounted onto something solid
I have the washer fluid thing in the way at the moment

 

I would think that not loosing any nitrogen pressure would be the trickiest part. Did you lose none when you did this?

Also see that your compression and rebound adjustors are way up high, on top of the resi now. Are they an easy reach?

 

Ah, I removed the OEM washer fluid reservoir a long time ago and replaced it with one that sits in the engine bay. For the passenger side shock reservoir mount I removed the thin plastic shell that would have protected that washer fluid reservoir and bolted the Fox mount to the metal wall that on the engine bay side. On the other side I mounted it on the metal wall that faces the grill.

 

Here are two "better" pics. 1st of where it is and showing the hole the neck of the old washer fluid reservoir went through and the 2nd holding the plastic piece I removed.