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

I can send you a spare OEM pair (used, gently) if you want.

 

Last two days have been loaded to the hilt.

Yesterday, had to drive up to Helen GA to wrap up one of the two businesses I'm wiring up, so they can try to open in the next week or two. Fortunately, I'm not the holdup. 2 hours drive up, 10 hours of straight-up labor, then 2 hours drive back

Meanwhile, some good news. It appears if I drive virtually nothing but highway, less than 1-2 miles of city driving per trip, I can get decent MPG. With correction (15.24*1.06) that's 16.154 mpg. Fair enough

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Got back late last night. The Tundra earned its keep today by helping a friend of mine move into their new house down the street. Still have some bikes to move over the next week, and need to help them with some electric in their basement(ish). Got about 45 minutes of free time, then drove out to meet up with @TMan02 as he was passing through the west side of ATL to hand off and install my BAKflip Fibermax on his truck. I've had it visqueen'd and set aside ever since I got the Leer shell, I didn't think I was ever going to use it and, frankly, could use the money more than the clutter - looking to make @FirstGenVol proud here, offloading my glut of parts

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The truck was overdue for its summer wash, so it got cleaned up today as the piece de resistance. Now off to shred a pork but and whip it up into some taco fixins.

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Found LAPS springs didn't fit as well as OEM. Paid $2.45 to the dealer for an OE set of two packaged like this:

https://parts.olathetoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-disc-brake-anti-rattle-clip-set-49470c010

Disc Brake Fitting Kit Front
(aka Disc Brake Anti-Rattle Clip Set)
Part Number: 04947-0C010

You can get pins at Advance, order online with 20% code and pick up at local store.

There's these too:

$8 Dorman HW14023 Front Disc Brake Caliper Bolt Compatible with Select Lexus / Mazda / Toyota Models, 2 Pack

 

Those the GX upgrade ?

 

Raybestos sells some on RA that fit our truck and are stupid cheap. Not a bad item to put in your cart if you're ordering other stuff; I have a few extras.

 

What are inspections? I keep hearing people talk about emissions inspections too. Wtf?

 

Is that the only perk of living in the panhandle? Pretty good perk, but I think I'd rather be in the hill country or west Texas to unlock it. I'm so over SETX

 

I live in west Texas dood.

 

Panhandle... I ain't seen no border patrol up there.


I mean the real West Texas. Out toward El Paso, Big Bend, Davis Mountain, Pecos, Marfa, etc.

Omw home from T2S, the drive from El Paso to San Antonio was my favorite part.

 

I think that depends upon what county you live in for TX when it comes to emissions.

When I was there it was a 2-3 minute safety check of headlights, taillights and blinkers as I recall. Maybe parking brake?

 

Plus lugs, seat belts, under hood, under carriage, windshield wipers, dash lights, high beams, horn, tire tread, brakes, mirrors, window tint

 

They look underneath? They don’t even do that here. I’d be 100% screwed.

 

Few actually do. But when I was a state inspector we were trained to do it. I never did. It's mostly for emissions to check the exhaust, but now days the computer jist plugs into the OBD

 

What are you supposed to be checking under the hood? (I always wondered why that was done)

 

Just for anything the jumps out at you that's wrong. Like disconnected wires or vacuum tubes

 

Superchargers and headers...

 

We didn't do a great deal today, it was mostly "a day off."

My wife and I went out around 4 PM to weedeat and mow. We only had to haul the weedeaters and small mower so no trailer was needed. The wife unhooked the short trailer by herself, chocking its wheels and locking it up with a chain and two padlocks we use.

We weedate two properties and mowed two. We got home about 9:30 PM, just as it turned dark. At a gas station, I got a compliment by a friend we go to church with....."is that a new truck?"

 

No vehicle safety inspections as on 1/1/2025 in Texas for non-commercial vehicles, but…..
residents get to now pay $7.50 during annual vehicle registration for an Annual Inspection Replacement Fee - Nice.
Somehow we now have emissions testing in the largest counties - Bexar, Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Ellis, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis, and Williamson - basically DFW, Houston, Austin & San Antonio metro counties. Over 70% of Texas population live in these counties.
Appreciate that diesels are exempt from inspections. Makes my 1997 F250 7.3L Powerstroke with deleted NOx cat & muffler happy!

.

https://www.statesman.com/story/new...2025-fee-costs-emissions-testing/77434595007/

 

IMHO "vehicle inspections" are just another tax. If those were really "for safety" those would be done each day, before each drive, as anything can happen after the inspection is over.

The guy I go to, this is what he does. You show up and hang out for 30 to 45 minutes until he feels like "doing the inspection." During that time you listen to the jawing in his waiting room and / or join in. He makes some personal funny insult jokes to you / about you and you laugh as it is funny. He asks "how many miles?" and you tell him. He takes the money, removes the old sticker, and puts on the new. HE CHECKS NOTHING---just as it should be.

When I first went to him he made me do the lights thing and blow the horn. He said "your tires are legally bald." I replied, "I know but if I have trouble this winter I'll just put on my chains." He replied "oh that's a good idea, here is your sticker." That's the only time he's checked anything.

I put my chains on that evening as it snowed and got slick. I put my chains on every day that winter actually. I got new tires in the spring.

 

Nice! What are the two things to the left of the charge controller? I have solar and a bunch of electrical I need to install but lack of knowledge is stopping me.

 

What’s the correction to MPG for?

 

Bigger tires. Stock 31” tires to AM 32-33” tires changes the Odo and Speedo. So gallons used per mile is off, cause the miles is off. So correct for the mileage being off, get more accurate numbers for MPG.

 

Looks like a negative bus bar, and a positive terminal block. Instead of the solar stuff going straight to the battery, the solar stuff goes to these instead. The positive terminal block goes straight to the battery. The negatives go to the bus bar, which go to the frame for grounding, or the ground at the battery.

With this bus bar and terminal block where he has it, you can add another solar controller, or bolt accessories to the terminal block/ bus bar if you want powered accessories in the bed.

Bus bars are different than terminal blocks, each stud on a bus bar is connected, while each terminal on a terminal block will be its own circuit. You'll notice how there's nothing separating terminals on the negative bus bar, meanwhile the positive terminal block has separate circuits.

Depending on the way the terminal block is built, I really like this style fuse for the positive leads.

 

As much as I hate to admit it as you get older there are things you were able to do just a couple of years earlier that you no longer can handle. So, I farmed out the replacing of the two exhaust manifolds. Next up new LBJ's. I already have new Toyota balljoints and bolts so as soon as weather permits I'll get started on those. Doing this stuff out in the driveway in near 90 degrees is no fun. However, theoretically, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Once the BJ's are done I should be caught up on the big stuff. Just little stuff like a front end alignment, readjusting the headlights since the new suspension lifted the front end a bit, and finally getting to Cerakote the truck.

 

Huh, I thought we were getting LESS MPG with bigger tires not more…

 

Thanks bud. So seems I know even less than I originally thought lol.

 

We are but the bigger tire throws of the actual calculation

 

The way i calculated my MPG was I tested 100miles distance on dash vs actual miles traveled which was 94 miles so I reduce MPG by 6%.

 

Yeah, two factors in the calculation. Bigger tires are usually heavier and have higher rolling resistance, which bring down the MPG. Bigger tires also travel more revolutions per mile which throws off the ODO calculation since the ECU expects stock tire size.

 

What size tire are you running?