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

I finished up the CB radio installation. I bought one of those plastic hump mounts you see all over the Internet. I also bought an extra female aux power socket. I drilled a hole alongside the built-in speaker in the hump mount and mounted the socket. I got a male aux power plug and connected it to the harness of the CB and also ran a pair of cables to the new aux power outlet. I plugged the power plug into one of the factory aux power outlets and it all works including turning on and off with the key.

 

I think I've put about 2,500 miles on mine in the 16 months I've had it. I've for the Tundra, and a Toyota Camry, and I probably drive about 8,000 miles a year between the 2. Gas mileage is better in the Camry (obviously) and I had to go downtown several days last week, and the Camry is also easier to drive down there.

 

Yeah. Where I live it's no problem to use a F350 six-pack long bed as a grocery-getter, but still...for little errand trips around town, it's nice to hop in the Suby and let the Tundra rest. I not confident yet in the Suby for out of town trips, but I hope to be able to use it for those occasionally too. I'd really like to cut down on the miles I log onto the Tundra.

 

If you end up going the lift springs/4600 route, I'd be interested in buying your new OEM coils.

My springs are completely shot but I've got 4600s with less than 10k on them. New springs would be perfect to hold me over until I can buy Kings.

 

Before I had the Camry, I had a 2008 Subaru Legacy. Certainly is a handy little car, but not without it's own issues. The transmission went out in mine at 126,xxx miles, and at that time both my headgaskets were leaking too. I ended up pulling the engine and transmission at the same time since the transmission had to come out anyway. I sent the transmission out to be rebuilt by a shop in town while I swapped headgaskets. The transmission shop couldn't get the transmission right and I had to take the transmission back to them several times. 1st time they said they mis-assembled something with the pump but they "fixed" it. 2nd time it wouldn't shift out of 1st gear. 3rd time they refused to look at it again and told me to pound sand (still wouldn't leave 1st gear), so I had another shop look at it with the transmission in the car and they told me it needed a transmission. I was tired of pulling and installing transmissions at that point, so I sold the car for parts.

 

8/10 encouraged to merge.

 

I like the boxier generation of Outback. May've been the one prior to that one. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Forester. I dunno.

My buddy Matt, who has a small fleet of classic and sport vehicles, had an Outback nearly identical to the one in your pic. Man, he had fuckall of a bad time with it once it got up into the 120k mile range. Seemed like every month something new was going wrong.

I also continually see Subaru Legacy, which I wanted one of at one point, they look sporty as hell, listed with "new engine" / "new trans". Especially the turbo ones, but usually seems to be transmission on those. I know very little about them, but what I do know is, I'd be reticent to own one.

 

All true. I owned a badass GL wagon back in the day. A true 4x4. 2wd normally, but a gear shift for 4hi and 4low. Unstoppable car. I also had a Loyale. Same body style, but top-of-the-gear-shift 4hi button. Annoying auto shoulder belt seat belts. But they were all quirky. The best snow car out there for a long time (maybe still), but plenty of problems.

I also see a ton of this age-range (1999) on FB marketplace for dirt cheap with major problems.

This one has 200,000 +. Tranny feels good. Headgaskets done ~100,000 miles. Who knows. It's a decent car but there's a reason it was free. Spent most of it's life down a dirt road and has the rattles to show for it. Speedometer only sometimes works. Which means the odometer only sometimes works. I'm a maintenance believer. But I'm trying very, very hard to just change the engine oil and do nearly nothing else to this car. Can't afford true maintenance on two vehicles.

For however long it lasts, it takes pressure off the Tundra, including allowing me to take my time on Tundra repairs, since I have a backup vehicle. Right now I've got the registration cost (under $100), insurance, oil change and antifreeze sunk into it. Hopefully it lasts plenty long to make those expenses pay off.

 

I will let you know! That's helpful to know.

I agreed to seclude myself for the holidays and house sit/pet sit for friends out of town. That'll come with some money. Ideally I throw that money into savings to replenish what I've robbed from there recently, but it's also just about the right amount for a suspension upgrade...so there's a slim chance this could all happen sooner than spring.

 

Direct translation- if everyone is doing it, it might be right

 

that’s a big 10-4 good buddy

 

I also took advantage of the Desert Does It Black Friday deals and got seat jackers for the driver's seat. I had forgotten that I ordered them until they showed up. I snapped a few photos. These are machined aluminum and substantial. One thing I noticed that I think is an improvement over a prior version, the seat jackers are wider than what all of the photos show and more closely match the width of the foot of the seat. I've driven a couple times since install and these are definitely more comfortable. I'm 6'5" and these provide more support under the knees.

 

On it Shifty, this Forum helped me so much in planning and building. I’ll provide whatever I can to help others with the same thoughts.

You should have seen my carharts, just filthy but 100% worth it.

I really don’t know exactly why I didn’t get more rear end lift. Under 1” with approx 250#s in the bed including topper. If it’s possible to throw a new spring on the 4600s I’d do it. It might be worth the 5100s in the rear though. Do the rear 5100 and 4600 share the same extended length?

 

I only got about an inch in the rear on mine with the camper shell in there. I'm level on the passenger side and have a slight rear end sag on the driver's. Probably gonna get the RAS since I tow often.

 

Looks just right, with your oversize tires.

 

My 03 was leaking there too. Replacing the hose clamp fixed it for me.

 

Last two months have been fun. First, my alternator just died on me, without any indication, no lights flickering, no rough starts. Just one day on the drive back from an appointment, my battery light came on and I luckily was about a mile from home and made it before it died. Easy enough install once you get the right angles.

Then I started chasing down a front end whurrring/wub wub noise that began maybe a month ago. Started with tires, rotated them, and no change. Boots on the CV's had torn so I finally got in and repacked and rebooted both sides with Kartek Porsche boots, replaced my LBJ bolts while down there. Noise remained. Then I finally got out there today and did the wheel bearing 12-6 test. Plenty of play in the bearing. No idea how I missed it when I rotated tires and then again when I did the CVs. Oh well, now the fun begins.

Here is a question for the experts on how to tackle this one. No way I can do it all myself, I don't own/know anyone with a press, and I also am having trouble finding what other parts I need to replace with the bearing if any? I read the inner and outer oil seals, and snap ring at minimum, the hub only if the bearing explodes pressing it out. Does anyone know the part numbers for those? My local go to shop is going to call me tomorrow to get me a quote to do it. Should I bother getting the extra parts or just let my shop handle it all (and tell them to use OEM/Koyo parts?). Wasn't looking at spending this much right before Christmas, but such is life!

 

Oh, and while I was checking, my steering rack/tie rods had some lateral play, which I suspect could have contributed to the bearing wearing out. They are originals with 167k on them. I have Energy Suspension bushings waiting to be installed in the rack, so I wonder if that would help with the slop? If not, what is the latest opinion on Moog inner/outer TREs? Still OEM or bust? (
pun intended)

 

I've decided when my front bearings go that I'm going to buy new spindles from Jim Smola with bearings already pressed in. At least that's the plan. I haven't actually priced them out so I don't know what he charges. Look him up on Meta and Instagram.

 

Thanks Vol, I was actually considering going pick n pulling trying to find a compatible spindle to toss in and run it while I could. Getting a whole new one already done seems like a worth-while consideration...

 

+1 (864) 205-6175. Here's his cell.

Pictures here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-...-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/page-3#post-3056399

 

Any ideas how unsafe it is to run the bearing like this? I work remotely most of the time, but have to head into work next week (50 miles each way). Wondering how much risk I'm putting myself and others in running it like this until I can get it swapped? LBJ failure level? Worst case, I'll steal the Sienna from the wife, but then her and the kids are stranded for a few days.

 

It's not ideal, and "How" it fails ultimately would answer your question. You have no way of knowing, will it explode? Will it seize the wheel? Will it get red hot and melt something down?

As long as it's lubricated enough to keep friction down, it could stay intact for thousands of miles. But if the bearing is using a retainer, and there's enough play to jog the retainer, destabilizing the load inside ... That could get ugly.

Is it making any coarse sounds when you spin the wheel? How much play is it showing?

 

@KNABORES didn't you drive on a bad bearing for a few years? Pretty sure a few weeks won't hurt.

 

Years, yeah we’ll call it that

 

With gussets???

 

I did too. I was told they were due when I got the first regear, 2.5 years ago. Didn't actually get em all replaced until a few months ago. Drove to T2S and back and all over Texas in that time.

 

Where did you find OEM springs? Maybe my memory is scattered but thought Toyota OEM coil springs were NLA for our trucks.

Also, does anyone know if the same springs (Part #s) were used across the 1st Gen Access Cabs (2000-2006)? I imagine the DCs used a different front coil but don't really know much about it. I'm running stock on my suspension.

 

I'm pretty sure there's SR5 coils and TRD coils (progressive) for AC/RC. I assume DC coils are the same, but I'm not sure.

 

I can totally relate, not in height, but in uncomfortable seats. My 2005 scion xB seats always felt like my butt was sliding towards the front of the seat. I didn’t know anything about seat jackers at the time, so i just sectioned out 3/4” of the rear seat mounting brackets and then rewelded the two sections back together. That little bit made all the difference in the world.