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

I've put about 600 miles and two full tanks on my truck since doing the 4.88 gears, 250cc 12-hole injectors, and catback exhaust. I am averaging just about 12mpg in mostly city driving. About 100 of those miles were on the freeway. I was not expecting a miracle on the mpg. The driving experience, however, is quite satisfying from a purely seat of the pants perspective.

This weekend I'll be hitching up the boat and towing for the first time. With three decent mountain passes to ascend, I will be able to put the new gearing to the test. We'll see if all this was really worth it.

 

What size tires are you running again?

 

265/75/16's. Maybe someday I'll go bigger, but this works for now.

 

With 32’s and 4.88’s, you should have plenty of grunt towing a boat.

 

But if all the fuses are corroded, then the socket they are sitting in is likely corroded too. Probably some dielectric grease is a good idea.

 

Would ya look at that!

 

Who makes those red valve covers? I like em!

 

He had them sprayed. They are nice!

 

From my inspection it seemed as if the corrosion (light brown haze) was contained to just the fuses. Hard to tell though as its hard to see inside those contacts. Anyways, the electrical grease is a good idea for any electrical contact as it prevents corrosion. It smooths out the conductivity too.

I think many electrical gremlins on our 1st Gens come from a bit of corrosion somewhere. The components test well, but the corrosion make them act odd. Its a theory anyways.

I’ve slowly been using this grease on any of the connectors that I’m working around during the repairs/upgrades. Only takes a short time and a little of the grease goes a long way. This small tube has lasted me for years.

 

Be careful with the grease, many weather proof connectors are meant to be dry and the grease can compromise the seals.

 

Factory powder coated by a local place

 

Using this stuff frugally on the metal to metal. Some of these connectors, like say under the truck chassis, I’m leaving alone mostly because they are hard to disconnect. Leaving well enough alone as its not worth breaking something that is working.

 

Those are the ones! The Katanas. Couldn’t think of the name yesterday, but this one reviewer said he compared the two (SuperNova vs. Katanas) on his buddies vehicle and the SuperNovas were much better.

Of course, we are going on words and different test settings (yada, yada), but many of these reviewers seem to have tested many of these LEDs as they’ve come through the evolution of improvement over the years.

 

Its worth it. Those gears will perform nicely on those mountain grades. ‘The Driving Experience’ far surpasses the need for MPG.

 

It's all about the SMILES per gallon!

 

Whoa!

The corner auto store wants $22 each, which is what I paid last year for their ‘free installation’.

You guys must have to make millions up there just to pay for ‘everything’. Its starting to get out of control in the USA, too. Prices are climbing.

 

Dont get me started on cost of living here...

 

Yeah everything I read said they were the same so I took a gamble on them, but I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the Super Novas have upgraded internals with better reliability. I’m really pleased with how the beam pattern is from the Katanas, I’m sure the Supernovas will be at least as good if not better. They are incredibly bright, especially compared to the crap halogens. I still haven’t done much driving at night since installing them, but the 30 minutes I did that night saw no flashes from anyone so I’m hopeful that they’ll be good to go for a long time.

 

Have two 2006 Tundras Feb 2016.
1st one. Bought 130,000:
New TB/WP
total new front end, oem bj all 4, lcas, cvs, steering rack, ome 2.5" coilovers with AAL,
1.25 wheel spacers,
ARB front and rear lockers, 235/85r16 michelins

2nd one: Feb 2019
121,000:
TB/wp
moog lca, 2.5" coilover ome with AAL, 1.25 wheel spacers.
TO COME:
front and rear ARB lockers, winch 235/80r17 BFG

Why the repeat? Sold the first one to my son who had a T100. The one I sold him was so awesome I had to repeat it. Might say tires are too thin, but it is phenomenal wheeling with the ARBs and when it is deep snow we just chain up all fours thus the 1.25" wheel spacers to get them on the front without hitting the uca. With the wheel spacers 265/75r16 tires stuck out and flipped mud all over which I hate.

 

The change from the gearing is very noticeable. I am just curious to see how it handles the load of towing my rig, and if I get even just a little better MPG when towing - that would be a nice bonus. Keith was saying that the gearing change does something to put the ECU in "open loop" programming more often, which I think leans out the A/F mixture just a little, resulting in slightly improved MPG. He referenced averaging 17mpg doing 70mph on a cross-country trip in his '03 with 4.88's and stock-sized tires, which he attributed to spending more time running in open-loop. I'm by no means an expert on any of this, and frankly, would be perfectly satisfied if my mileage even were to stay the same as before the regear. I just don't drive this vehicle often enough to be overly concerned about mpg.

By the way, the BAMuffler catback exhaust sounds great. I went with the most mild/quietest system, and it delivered exactly as promised. You can hear the motor, but it's very unobtrusive, and there is zero drone.

 

I would think it would be the opposite effect going into open loop. open loop means your engine is not adjusting A/F with the O2 sensors, and instead is relying on preprogrammed mapping, which is richer to prevent major damage which occurs when an engine is running too lean. if what you said is true, people would be getting better MPGs with bad/unplugged O2 sensors rather than drastically worse. Instead, I believe Keith's MPG gains are from the reduced engine load by running a higher gear ratio.

 

Like I said, not talking to an expert here... so probably best to ignore me. I could very well have misunderstood what Keith was trying to say. He did mention reduced engine load as being another contributing factor.

 

Got any pics of those skinnies on your Tundra? I'd love to see them.

 

Got front calipers, rotors and pads in from Carid, pretty fast , will have shocks at 4:30 today but not from shockwarehouse , new correct cover in on its way (dread having to redo the dang hog nose and rods to attach cover to cushion again), driveshaft/ disconnect will be here tomorrow and it will all get put together by weekend I hope. Still gotta get correct dye color for seats but should be no problem. All in all truck with 150,000 has new timing belt / waterpump, new serpentine belt and idler with pulley, new rad hoses , new stereo , bluetooth dvd tough screen, new door speakers, carpet removed , cleaned ( about 95% but much better. New, ac/heater damper cable, New brakes all around with all new on front including rotors, calipers pads, new boot or bellows on rack/pinion , new shocks all around, new mich tires , new tailgate handle, new weeathertech floor mats , then gotta attack paint, several scratches I will attempt to buff out where only thru clear coat, recoat some that went thru to basecoat , I ordered a new touch up gun ( got rid of all my painting equipment except my ole devilbiss and Binks # 7 I have for 45 years ) , will try touch up base and blend in clear ( that's a lot of fun) or re shoot clear over entire panel where needed. , been a while since I have done any painting and without proper booth and all my ole stuff , tools, compressor filters heat lamps and soforth , I am not even sure I will do this.

 

I will get some Pics. It has black Tacoma 16x7" TRD rims on and really can only see a difference from behind or in front. The 1.25 spacers put it out to about stock setting toward outside of wheel well. I think BFGs will look better, but I like michelins for smooth ride and gas mileage. The newer 06 has 17x7.5 wheels, so will be getting them here in the near future.

 

Hi, where are you?

I'd also love to see pictures!

 

Confirmed. No Charcoal Canister.

Also, a pic of the fuel filler set up if you want to copy.

 

I am north of Denver, CO.