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

LED upgrades for the dash. From low range off road.

 

Started the 99 in prep for the storm Tuesday, first time since June.

 

It's kind of fuzzy. Not sure if it's the lighting, the smoke from the fires or both.

 

Whole bunch of stuff.
- Installed new spark plugs
- Cleaned/oiled my air filter
- Detailed engine compartment
- Oil change
- Flushed radiator and refilled with Toyota's finest vintage coolant
- Replaced the crappy drivers and passengers door weatherstripping. No more flaky black paint staring at me when i open the door.
- Installed a BedRug (this is nice, much nicer to crawl into the bed now.

Next to wash and polish exterior and detail the interior.

Like a new truck!

 

Forgot to include the bottle of Stone IPA as part of the wrap-up of the day.

 

Finished the overhead rack for my flatbed project. Still need to add a door on the underbed storage bin, and replace the temp filler panels along the sides, under the edge of the bed. I am going to use some scrap stainless for those filler panels. I am also going to make a small tailgate type piece that can be added/removed as needed.

The front and rear sections are 1"x2" and the side rails are 1"x1". All of the tubing is thick walled. The rack is tapered from full width at rear down to 24" in the front. It's a bit overbuilt, but you rarely hear anyone say 'I wish I hadn't made that so strong', so... Anyway, I like the beefy look and I wanted it to match the side rails (1"x2"). Six bolts (original tailgate bolts) and a connection at the toolbox are all that needs to be removed to lift it off.

Since I have a 6x10 tilt trailer (and another 95 Taco) I can use for tradition truck bed hauling needs, I think this flatbed is going to be handy. I like the look too.




Going to put the rack to use tomorrow morning. Old school whitewater/downriver kayak I have had for many years. Tomorrow just flat water on a cypress lake.

 

Yeah, not for everyone, but I wanted to improve my metal working skills, and my bed was rotted out, so...

 

Yep...it’s the third box I’ve built for this truck

 

Added a switch to the cable for my winch, just after coming out of the battery. Been worried about a short out ever since I installed the winch a couple of years ago. Bluesea switch for the win (and peace of mind).

 

This weekends project. New lower ball joints and spindle gussets. Finished the ball joints today and spindles tomorrow.

 

Here's a few pics of the truck bed after I removed the Plastic Bed liner. what a pain in the ass the get out. I have some paint issues to deal with were the bed liner rubbed it down to bare metal on both corners. I wonder if the paint on the bed rails will buff out.The last 2 pics is one of the drivers side rocker panel below the door, and the last one is the door latch or catch rear passenger door. Just goes to show how long it's been since I opened that door. I'm thinking about using some Herculiner or Rustolium bed liner and not putting the plastic bed liner back in. Anyone know what a used Carolina Classic Toyota short bed liner might be worth.

I'm open to suggestion to fixing the paint issues.

 

@Tour991 , do those spindle gussets bolt on or do you have to weld them on. just curious. I hope those are Toyota OEM lower ball joints. I just replaced mine earlier this year right before the weather turned HOT!!.

 

Where did you find the Bedrug?

I’ve looked a few times over the years on CL and could never find one.

 

Spindle gussets get welded on

 

for us ignorant people, These are used to reinforce the spindle to make it stronger.

 

Yep, bent spindles aren't uncommon if you offroad a lot, esp doing harder trails or the go-fast variety

 

New corner light housing things on the 99, lost one on the free last winter.
Probably should just wired the blinkers into them as mine aren’t currently functioning.

 

They are weld on. Just adding some support. This is how they should look when I'm done. (Not sure my welds will look that good)

And the lowers are Sankei 555. Almost as good and for the 4,000 a year I use the truck will be plenty strong enough.

 

https://bedrug.com/bedrug-classic-bed-mat

$100 bucks now. You have to get the universal, they don't have a custom for Tacoma. But there is enough left over to also cover the tailgate. Trims easily with a box cutter blade.

 

@Tour991 just out of curiosity where did you get them and how much did they cost. I have a next door neighbor who can weld.