New best Gen Owner

Hey fellas,

Jake here, the forums newest first gen owner!


I picked this 2000 AC 4x4 up a few days ago for a smoking deal. Its got 272,000 on the clock and I am the third owner.

I've got a ton of parts on order to dive into the timing belt, and Im curious if I am overlooking anything.

Parts list:

Timing:
AISIN Timing belt, water pump, and component kit
AISIN timing cover seal
AISIN thermostat
VictorReinz camshaft seals (some evidence of leaking)
GATES upper rad hose
GATES lower rad hose
GATES serpentine belt
GATES tensioner
GATES idler
3Gal zerex toyota red 50/50 coolant
Toyota FIPG black

A/C stuff:
DENSO compressor
-dryer
-seal kit
pag 46

Valve lash:
VR Valve cover gasket set (some evidence of leaking)
DENSO plugs (8)

Crank pulley shows no signs of leaks, but I'm on the fence. Now would be a great time to do it.
Not going to swap a functioning alternator, just because. same with the power steering pump. Truck has new Toyota injectors in all 8 holes, and one new coil.

I have a .pdf of the FSM (thanks dudes!) and the ol' reliable Haynes.

I will be doing suspension next, so try and supress the urge to scream out "OEM TOYOTA BALLJOINTS ONLY BRO". I gotcha.

So what am I missing?

 

Welcome! Read this whole thread and most of the comments and you'll be an expert.

 

Nice find. Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you are already on the right track. In addition to what you have listed I would plan on replacing all the fluids.

 

May as well get the pulley done while in there.

I personally like NGK plugs over Denso, but only if I'm buying them from an in-person retail outlet, not online. Too many counterfeit issues with online spark plugs.

Welcome to the family.

You didn't bother to tell us whether 2WD or 4WD or maybe I missed it. I'd like to know which, before I give advice.

 

What? Jake from State Farm? Welcome!

Stay away from Mevotech LCAs. My two cents.

Nice truck, BTW Bro.

 

Thanks for the welcome dudes!

@JasonC. I have read that sticky a few times. Good info.

@FirstGenVol Definitely doing fluids.

@shifty` I cant taste the difference between the NGK's and Denso, I think they both make a nice product. 4WD, I'll edit the original post to include that.

 

Whats everyones preference to replacing the front seal?

Pull the oil pump, remove/install seal on bench, reinstall.

or

Claw it out like a caveman in situ slam a new one in.

 

Might as well do both diffs and the TC also, FGV beat me to it. LSD or non LSD rear? Have you hit the Toyota Owners site to pull your build sheet and see what all the truck came with?

 

Nice!! My '00 AC 4X4 SR5/TRD served me very well, and I have no doubts she's taking good care of the guy who bought it when I got the '19 version of the same thing.

The only hiccup was when I apparently didn't listen when she told me she wanted some new "OEM TOYOTA BALLJOINTS ONLY BRO"!!

Turns out you really wanna' replace those BEFORE they fail, after is not nearly as good.

First gens are great solid trucks... mine didn't even mind being driven/dragged like this for a little ways to get outta' the main drag.

 

I will be doing fluids in both diffs, and the TC. Trans fluid is dead on the marks and looks great, I won't bother with that for now. Ill sneak in a drain/refill sometime with an engine oil change.

TC needs a front output seal
Its the only leak on the truck beyond some valve cover/timing dribbles.

When im doing the drivetrain stuff it'll get new u-joints and a carrier bearing. Cheap and easy, so might as well.

I have looked at the build sheet, nothing really special. It does have the tow package. No mention of LSD on the sheet. I haven't physically inspected the diff yet to verify.

 

Sweet rig!

Here's a few shots of the Tundra's predecessor

The truck is a 1979 Toyota 2wd. She's done 10k rough miles over the last year or so. The camper is a custom built (by me) foam core fiberglass build. It will be going on the Tundra asap.

 

That's pretty cool... got some pics of the inside? How does one build their own camper?!

That's way up high to get the SUP on/off!

 

Thanks! The interior is nothing special, A trifold full mattress over the slide out kitchen is basically the only amenities as of yet. It has 200w of solar, a 1k watt inverter, and a 100ah lithium battery. I still need to wire in a pile of interior/exterior lights and start working on all the little details.

The camper build is mostly covered on YT if you are interested.
https://www.youtube.com/@ThatJakeWorldWide/videos

Getting the sup on the roof is some good cross training!

 

Welcome from the valley

 

That '79 is awesome.

you done your homework, dont forget to document the journey with pics. We kinda like pics and storys.

 

Thanks Bee. Im always shooting pics and video for reference so I'm sure I can put together the highlights for the forum.

 

Yours has the ultra rare hoover craft option based on looking at the pic

 

I had to photoshop out the methlab in the background

 

Your 'toob channel is great! Show up, set up, cook some stuff, explore. Love this video of Palo Duro Canyon. Fond memories of visiting there with my grandfather many moons ago.

 

Ugh indie music has gotten so obscure

 

Thanks Jason! PDC is 12 minutes from the shop door to the gate, so needless to say I spend a ton of time there. 2nd largest Canyon in the us only superseded by the Grand Canyon.
YT has been a fun way to document my life . I've probably built a dozen different cars/trucks and done countless adventures that never had a single photograph taken of them. If nothing else it will be fun to have some records of this stuff in years to come.

Im looking forward to making some Tundra vids. Ive been drawing/planning a "ute" tray in cad all afternoon, and I have some cool bumper ideas for after I chew through all this general/preventative maintenance.

 

Throwing this out here for anyone that comes across this thread in the future. Im going with option (b) but I do have the additional seal, o-ring, and extra fipg black if I decide to change my mind and pull the oil pump.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

I thought of another thing. Check your rear differential breather to make sure it's still breathing. Most of us added an extension to the rear tail right area in case we hit deep water. If the breather clogs it can blow your rear axle seals.

Also, check your carrier bearing. Spicer makes an OEM replacement for a lot less than Toyota.

 

Good call, I just rolled under the truck and the breather was pretty gunked up. I'll add an extendo hose to my driveline list. The carrier bearing is well on its way to being clapt, and it's already on my parts list. P/O obviously didn't read the sticky with the grease jerk locations, so I have the u joints on the list as well.

I really like spicer driveline parts. I have a ram 3500 on 33's that will absolutely eat low quality suspension and driveline components in 6-8 months. Spicer u joints are the only ones that hold up.

 

Breather part is pretty cheap, I think yours may use a diff't p/n but mine was 90930A3001 and at $7 direct from autoparts.toyota.com ... I wouldn't bother with extending unless you plan to get full-on axle submerged regularly (boat launching, river crossing).

Are you saying this b/c of driveline vibrations, because the rubber boot is torn all to hell, or b/c of play? Play is natural, I can push mine 1/2" vertical and horizontal.

 

It has the mentioned 1/2" play.

In that case it may be that I'm not accustom to it, but it seems out of spec sloppy to me. I guess that's part of the smooth ride these trucks have.
Older Toyotas that I'm familiar with have almost 0 play at the carrier bearings.

Driveline is tight, and free of vibrations. Planning on swapping the joints because they suck to do on the side of the road.

 

Dunno which of the above it is, but we've chatted about this a few times on here. My truck (as of my last gas fill-up 45 minutes ago) has 75535 miles on it. My carrier has the play I've just advertised. Other low-mile guys with different cab types have found similar.

I dunno, I'm all about proactive maintenance, but I've seen people cause themselves more woe replacing it when not problematic than I've seen folks fix a problem by proactively replacing. We've had at least one recently who didn't clock the shaft(s) properly after install and it caused shimmy, IIRC.

 

LOL you only make that mistake once!

Along the same vein:
I know a guy that poured 12 quarts of oil on his driveway because he forgot to reinstall the drain plug. Luckily I got to learn from his mistake, and I think about it every time I add oil during a change.

I'll keep an eye on it before I fire up the parts cannon. I have changed some absolutely trashed driveline components that didn't fail in normal operation.

 

If you're 12 minutes from the gate you're probably 5 minutes from my house.