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

May 26th is last date of activity. I saw a truck on I-40 North heading South that looked very much like his. I thought there was no way it was him up in Eastern Tennessee, but it made me think about him is all.

 

Switched from missiles to guns and saw some decent progress with the gorilla glue removal. It may be salvageable after all.

 

Maybe you “wanted” to see him so bad, it happened………. If your on that level haha. Today I had like a 43% feeling of that. I wanted to see @robabeatle at Home Depot, and then this pretty nice salza red AC rolled by, coulda been him but then no bed cover and the paint was rechidt! Haha

 

I promise you, that I was absolutely not thinking about him until I saw that truck. Lol

 

I don't actually. I didn't know that was a thing lol. I was thinking ratchet straps would suffice. Any ideas? I've definitely seen more sketchy stuff on the roads before.

 

Yeah, you gotta watch, I learned that many of these trucks parts are VIN-specific and not necessarily easily interchangeable between models even in the same production year due to mid-year changes, etc.

 

It's cool to have and satisfying to empty.

 

Haha there is such a thing, I’m not a yakker so I don’t know how necessary they are? But all the cool 4runner kids have them. They kind keep the yak at an angle vs laying flat on the rack, again not sure what the advantage of that is.

 

Looks good. Better than the last time I saw an image of it. What have you been using to remove the hardened glue?

 

This picture from your T100 thread is what sparked my initial thought way back when.

 

Goo gone to start, then fingernail wet sand. It's going to look like a white patina I think once it's dry but at least it won't be super sticky. I may have to relent and get a 01-02 replacement but I need to get the radio working for my wife to drive to the airport on Thursday or she will laugh at me.

 

Understood. Is primering and painting it in a satin finish not an option for you?

 

A custom MGM look might be fairly fun. I could see that possibility. I'd probably have to mask the acrylic panels and remove the buttons and then give it a good sanding. The vents themselves would be the trickiest.

I'm not certain I care enough but that's certainly a fun topic to consider. I think I want to get this thing up to basic levels of competence before I try to get fancy. But I'll definitely consider that.

 

Yes, painting it would present some challenges. Just a thought.

 

Was noticing that when compiling...
1st Gen Tundras New Features Chronology | Toyota Tundra Forum

 

lol, surprised it wasnt me as I have been basically living at HD lately.

 

What's the difference?

 

The lower coil mount on the Tacoma model has more rise to it so that it clears the brake lines when you turn lock to lock. These coilovers for first gens had a flaw from day one.

 

If you know for a fact it's Gorilla Glue, use acetone. Put it on something absorbent and rub vigorously in a circle. It'll dissolve. No haze. May also strip OEM paint, but ... que sera, sera. Won't melt the plastic.

However, this is one of those cases where I'd replace the panel BUT after my experience with replacing my center console panel, I would recommend finding a good used one that matches on fleabay or something. Swapping over the vents is a breeze, but the buttons and misc other stuff is a biblical pain in the rectum with little room for error on some parts.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I was browsing them more last night. Some wood panel ones for up to $200. Most have the requisite buttons and many even the electronics. I do almost wonder how compatible the various electronics are, assuming the two main connectors match up clean. Looks like the passenger airbag disable got automated with a pressure sensor sometime after 2002?

Some of what I see panel-wise doesn't look that awesome.

Most of the glue is gone now, I'll get a photo of it once it's totally dry. I've been baking them inside the truck.

I didn't mind the labor, it wasn't too bad. Goo gone is as far as I'd go with it but I think water and fingernails worked best really. Then again, maybe the goo gone softened it up a bit.

I have to do the panel for the seat belt anchor too, that one is also a mess. Then the rest of the cleanup has to be done inside the truck. Hoping the ozium arrives so I can knock that out first. I think the glue makes for a bit of an overly sweet interior smell but it could also be coming from the seats or carpet.

 

Oh wow, does Ozium still exist? Everyone I knew in high school back in the 90's used that stuff to get rid of man-made smells in cars from burning things rolled up in paper. A good steam cleaning goes a long way. Removing the carpet, bathing it in carpet cleaner and scrubbing with a stiff brush before pressure washing it out works wonders to eradicate smells, especially in trucks that belonged to smokers.

For consoles.... check this thread. https://www.tundras.com/threads/wood-grain.72908/

Link to my woodgrain swap is in the 2nd reply and may be worth checking out.

Yes - connectors are virtually identical as long as the truck you pulled your panel from matches, option wise - traction control, 4wd vs. 2wd, air bag sensor vs. not are a couple of things to watch out for.

 

So, yeah, looks like I’ll attempt to flip the one I bought and eat the difference. It’s an ‘03-04 and no board so I don’t think I can use it unless I source the electronics.

If I buy another one I’ll make sure it’s an exact match. Which I guess means staying with double din for now. Which is fine. I’ll hunt for replacement radios at some point.

I do kind of like the idea of trying to paint it but the button disassembly did look painful and having you confirm that makes me wary. It’s probably fine scuffed down. One fun thing about a used truck like this.

removing the carpet, is that a big effort? I somewhat wanted to replace with vinyl and no floor mats. Empty lord says that’s slippery. But it would protect the hump which is nice with my filthy animal children.

While I have your attention, you mentioned seats, any chance you have pointers for bench seat options? My cloth is in good shape so it’s probably best just doing a steam clean but if I could get aftermarket leather and heat I’d do it.

 

I have two less-furry and one very furry kid, I get it. I will say, while fitment for the front isn't great for our trucks, the Weathertech mats were a good buy to control many spills and crap.

Bench seat options? Don't have one. But across the dozen or more trucks I've owned, restored, converted, rodded out, a few of the ones that came factory with bench, 60/40 bench and captains chair options were pre-provisioned to accept either type of seat, although in some you needed to remove a cap or cover here and there.

That said, I'm not sure what's the case with your specific 1st gen model. I know there's a gaggle of threads on Tundras.com about this and probably also on the TundraSolutions forum. If nobody reading this can link, you can do some legwork.

It's tough to find used leather captains chairs for these trucks where the old leather is not coming apart at the bolsters, if that seat was actually ridden in. Even my low-70k-mile truck has the driver side coming apart at the bolster. I'm waiting for my preferred OEM seat cover manuf'er to release OEM-match covers to redo my fronts, after which I'll sell off my covers, the passenger side is near-mint and the driver can undoubtedly be repaired by a shop for under $200-300.

But yeah ... if you have a bench, you may just be able to find a used pair and bolt it right up. Removing carpet would probably give you more clues as to whether provisions exist. Removing carpet isn't hard, just tedious. Make sure you unhook negative batt cable 10-15mins ahead to avoid ABS issues. Then remove bolts for seats, remove seats. If you have center console, the bolts are usually underneath its floor. Last part is to remove seat belt attachment points, and unclip any cables, I think? I like to tag anything I remove with frog tape so I have an annoying 'tab' on the wires, making it harder to miss something.

 

Looks better. Not awesome but not terrible.

 

Turned out pretty good considering….should be good enough for trip to airport tomorrow !

 

I got a quote for $1300 for katzkin. Which wasn’t extreme. I went with $300 Clazzios for my Tacoma and would do that in a heartbeat if they had a Tundra option but having a very custom fit kit would be key I think. Though the factory cloth isn’t in bad shape at all so maybe the first step should be steam clean.

I really would like to know the specific source of the smells. It’s a sweet sort of stink, but my nose isn’t highly calibrated.

Looks like RuffTuff has some options as well hmm

 

Sumo Springs showed up today. Truck is scheduled to go into the shop on Monday:

- new steering rack
- polyurethene steering rack bushings
- new muffler and exhaust pipe
- new carrier bearing
- replace accessory belt
- new block heater
- new leaf springs
- sumo springs
- parking brake bell crank actuator
- repair leaking rear seal on front transfer case

 

Is there a difference between the side mirrors as far as fitment between the years? I found some color matched mirrors on ebay for a 2004-2006 and they look like they should fit my 2003 fine. Thought I would check first.

 

According to McGeorge, the part # for my 04 is 87940-0C030, which fits quite a few 1 Gen's, if that helps any.

 

YIKES!!!!