What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

I like this shot:

 

Looking awesome. I agree about the wheels being a nice contrast. Love the yellow led fogs too. Are they half flood and half spot pattern or what? I just have yellow halogen bulbs in mine

 

I see little bits of red

 

I was bored one day.

 

Those red calipers would look sharp behind teflon black wheels.

 

Oh, I thought you meant the red tow hook.

 

Self taught here. Years of breaking stuff as a kid just to see its breaking point, then rebuild it better than before. Kinda like the $6 Million Dollar Man.

 

Speaking of that. I tried do replace the ash tray bulb yesterday. It's now FUBAR'D... Destroyed the old bulb and can't get it out. I guess that's learning.

 

If it were me, I'd use a die grinder with a cutting wheel. And +1 on taping it first.

Self taught here. Years of driving vehicles 10+ years old and learning as I went. Eventually the internet came to aid with forums and YouTube. What I wouldn't have given to have that when I started out...
Also, a mechanical inclination and patience go a long ways, though when you need something back on the road the latter can really be tested.

 

Its tight in there. Had to straighten my fingers and push the bulb back clamped between fingers while pulling the ashtray forward. The bulb base is just tension fit in there. Are you saying you broke the old bulb off inside the base? Try using a needle to pry it out?

Be careful drilling out the green lens as the tray frame is light gauge metal and very bendy. Let the drillbit do the work.

 

Most everything I know I learned from my old man, that coupled with over 10 years of wrenching on my own vehicles.

 

I'm a journeyman welder, so working with tools and fabrication is my day job. Mechanical stuff is just an extension of that for me, but I'm all self taught. I have no automotive background. Youtube and the internets are how I bumble fuck my way through it. The hardest part for me is figuring out what goes where, what's tied into something else and why the doohickey works fine even though I have 3 extra parts after putting it back together.

 

We call that weight reduction

If you've never ended up with spare parts you didn't try hard enough.

 

Is that how you became 2wd?

 

FYI, I should be working with Victory in the spring or summer to build a rear bumper for my truck similar to the design they have for Tacomas.

 

My truck got faster when I did!

 

Ya its perma f*cked. What's left of the old bulb is buried in the base. I even tried tweezers to no avail. I should have just left it alone. What sucks is that I actually use that ashtray for my garage opener since the visor is too thick to hold one.

 

I tackled the lower control arm (LCA) bushing replacement job this weekend, I used daystars poly bushings, their directions are very limited. This is not meant to be a comprehensive step by step guide, most folks with some mechanical aptitude can do this in a few hours with the right tools and parts.

Driver's side alignment cams and mounting bolts came apart easy, passenger side were rusted in place and required a sawzall to cut em out with lots of new blades (8). The metal used in the old bushing and cams is very hard. Those of you with first gen trucks should exercise the alignment cams regularly or better yet, take em out and grease them regularly Cutting the pass side cams out added at least 4 hours and killed my schedule and now I have to wait until the new cams come in so I can replace them. Another word of advice order these ahead of time because it is very likely yours are rusted in place too which makes me wonder how and alignment tech can adjust them for camber and caster? .

In order to access the eccentric cams and mounting bolts on both sides, you will need to remove all of the bolts on the steering rack so that it moves freely, be careful of the hard lines connecting it to the pump, they are slightly flexible. Disconnect the sway bar and end links, front skid plate, lower shock bolts, tie rod ends and lower ball joints from the lower control arm. Once you disconnect these components be prepared to support the spring, shock and upper control arms because they will droop a lot and over extend the CV shaft joint.

Once I removed the lower control with the lower ball joint still attached I was able to burn out the old bushings with a propane torch, do this outside, it creates a black rubbery mess and noxious smoke. Once the rubber bushing is burned out, you will see a metal sleeve still inserted in the ends of the arm, leave this in the tube. The daystar instructions were clear about this and it is needed for the new poly bushing to fit correctly. Greased up the new poly bushings and metal sleeves with the supplied silicone grease and they slid right in place. The flanges on the bushings go the outside edges of the tubes. The tubes on each end of the arms are different lengths too and it will be obvious to you which poly bushing goes in which tube. The eccentric cams and bolts will all be heavily greased and installed when I pick them up today from the toyota dealership. The last step is re-installing. The adjustment bolts on the cams go to the inside of each arm due to the rack being in the way and they will run into it once the rack is re-installed.

Once everything is back in place tighten all bolts to the torque specs listed in your chiltons or factor manual. I usually go through the manual and write down each value on a piece of paper I carry so I can run through this process without going back to the manual for each value. Make sure the suspension is loaded before torquing any pivot joints like the lower shock bolt and Luca pivot points.
I am happy to provide more detail if requested

 

You don't have the overhead console for the garage opener? Mine does but I just have my opener clipped to the visor. My scangauge sits in the ash tray for now.

 

I do but the internal bits are broken. It looks like the PO put some velcro there as well. Maybe I'll screw around with it and see if I can get it to line up.

 

Sweet! The basic replacement design doesn’t do it for me. I’m ether going BFF high clearance swingout or simple custom high clearance.

 

Ah, gotcha. Thought I'd throw that out there.

I kind of like the high clearance option, but I don't want to hack into my bedsides, simply because I don't need to give the truck a reason to start rusting. That plus I don't want to have to relocate my spare tire.

 

Ouch! That is a lot of time and a lot of blades. Might an angle grinder or die grinder make for an easier job?

 

I don't see one for the Tundra. Would you modify to fit a BFF Tacoma bumper or am I missing it?

 

Good info @mtntop those alignment cams are a pain for sure and mine were totally stripped on one side. One of the 4 was rusty and I live in California.

Let us know how those poly bushings work for you, I was afraid of squeaks.

 

Here were mine before a quick touch up on the wire wheel. A little rust on the passengers but definitely reuseable.

 

They make one for the tundra but no pics on their website. It’s the exact same styling as the Tacoma bumpers. @toyotech2016 has one.

 

The time included a trip to the big orange box, and Dewalt sawzall blades which advertise they last 2x longer means they last 3 minutes instead of 1.5 for the std before they dull out LOL

I have a grinder with a cut off wheel, but the wheel was only a 4 inch and the distance to the cam sleeves inside the bushings is longer than that. You can cut through the cam sleeve on the end of the bushing but that also means you will be removing metal from the mounting tabs attached to the frame even if you try to spread the tab away from the bushing (tried it). I chose to cut through the bushing itself until I went through the cam sleeve which then fell out of the end. No need to cut through the whole bushing.

 

my driver's side cam sleeves looked like the better ones, my passenger sides front and rear were rusted solid and fused to the internal sleeve in the bushing. I tried a number of things to loosen them and ended up cutting them out with a sawsall. I am picking up new ones today and will have it all back together tonight. I have heard rumors Toyota assembles these without lubricant, but it seems to me 14 years of Colorado weather and mag chloride have taken their toll regardless of lubricant