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

I mean shit, it’s $20 a gallon. It’s just barely more expensive than gas up here.

 

May find it helpful to swap the brackets from the original radiator to the new one so the bolt holes in the front apron line up with the bracket...like this person.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-2313#post-3887336

You'll also find a link in that thread to mods for when the slots in the old bracket didn't match the plastic retainers on the tank.

Depends what rad so YMMV.

 

I'm a fan of the Rupes dual action polisher, used it a lot more when I was sorta a detailer, although it's a bit pricey. I've heard great things about Griots for a lower budget option

 

Got home from a 10 day vacation on Sunday. Went to start the truck Monday to load up the trailer and lawnmower, and upon trying to start just got a click, didn't try to crank at all. Jumped it off and good to go, started back on its own again later.

Hoping my battery hasn't bit the dust yet, really just interested in seeing how long a 8 year old basic Walmart battery can last.

 

Just make sure you drain it into a clean container, and run it thru a basic screen to filter out any sediment/garbage.

 

Bigfoot or Mini Bigfoot model type or both?

The Mini one is kind of interesting.

 

I mean, anything over 3-5 years and I'm feeling like I got my money's worth. I'm at year 5 or 6 on my NAPA gold battery, it's going strong. I had to buy it in a pinch when my alternator died on the way to work not long after I initially got the truck.

My last click-click situation was due to a tight-but-not-tight-enough-I-couldn't-force-movement-by-hand positive terminal. I have a professional tester, which showed the battery was toast once, but also showed it was good. That should've been my first sign.

That said, if you don't have a tester that will test for volts/CA/CCA, stop by the auto parts store and have them test for free. Only takes a sec.

 

I bought this one on biggirrrl. Easy to use, needs no batteries (other than the one your testing)

$30 KONNWEI KW208 12V Car Battery Tester, 100-2000 CCA Load Tester Automotive Alternator Tester Digital Auto Battery Analyzer Charging Cranking System Tester for Truck Marine Motorcycle SUV Boat

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MPXGSGN

 

This is the one I scored on Goodwill's site for ~$30, with carrying case, instructions and misc goodies. Sadly it didn't come with the handheld printer.

​

 

The

$130 FOXWELL BT705 Car Battery Tester 12V 24V, Automotive 100-2000CCA Battery Load Tester Analyzer, Digital Cold Cranking Charging System Alternator Tester for Heavy Duty Truck Boat Marine SUV ATV

FOXWELL BT705 on Amazon was on sale Sunday for less than $100. Couldn’t really justify buying one considering how infrequent I’d be using it to check car batteries and the availability of free testing at auto parts stores. @shifty` Talk me into buying one.

 

Nah. If the one I got wasn't $30, I would've never bought it. But I'll tell you, it's come in handy a couple of times so far. Sadly, more for friends/neighbors than myself.

 

Same. I've used it quite a bit when battery trouble arises. The CCA test is invaluable at home. Saves me the trip to the LAPS where some chucklehead will try to tell me what's wrong. Or not, because he doesn't even understand the equipment he's operating. Or what a battery does.

 

Porter Cable 7424, I've had mine going on 25 years and I made a lot of money with it. Good overall, versatile and a decent price. I moved onto a Rupes Bigfoot 21 a few years ago, huge upgrade but also a pretty big price tag.

 

I need to get a proper battery tester, mine doesn't do CCAs and is more for smaller batteries, but it gets me by. I do have a Foxwell scan tool that I got awhile back and it does pretty much all the diagnostics on the truck I need it to otherwise. It does even more on our newer vehicles than it does on the Tundra/ Corolla.

 

Like this?

 

Oh I agree that I've gotten my money out of it (considering the PO bought it) but I just figure I'll run it till it doesn't run anymore. I have a small jumper and jumper cables and whatnot that will get me out of a pinch.

I do have a battery tester but I don't think I've ever put it on the Tundra. Should probably do that soon now that I've had the issue. I'll probably remove the terminals to do the test just to verify that it isn't a terminal issue causing bad readings.

 

Whatever the expensive battery is usually lasts 5-7 years in my truck. My experience has been that upon the first symptom of a slower than normal crank, replace immediately. Back in the day it seemed that a car battery would limp along for quite a while, even months, before totally giving up. Modern batteries seem to die a quick death.

 

Exactly, fancy man....

 

sweet shop and truck pic!

 

Wow, in ground post lifts. I haven't seen one of those since I worked at Midas 26 years ago.

 

Hey, look! It's one of those Obnoxious Shit Head Assholes!

 

Putting more trust in that parking brake than I. No chocks.

 

It's not relying on the parking brake alone. I imagine it's also in park.

 

He also got out and slapped the hood and said “that ain’t goin’ nowhere”. Solid.

 

I just bought my first DA polisher ( ) last year. I have no idea how it stacks up against others, but it worked great on my niece's Accord.

 

My rears are dialed in and yes, it's also in park.

 

Thanks for the replies, @shifty` and others! Yesterday, I got my wife to stand outside while I pulled the truck out of the garage. Yep, it was the front brakes that were squealing after all. The 02 AC LTD is too tall for my Craftsman 2-1/4 ton floor jack, so I ended up using the OEM jack. Took me like 45 minutes to get the OEM jack to fully extend. It was stuck or something. Anyway, I pulled the pads and the backs of them were dry and gritty. That's really odd because I recall having to stop work and make a special trip to Autozone for some fresh brake grease when I installed them last September. I put a coat of brake grease on (shims were pre-installed) and re-installed. This definitely reduced the squeal, but it didn't completely go away.

I take pictures when I'm working on things like this so I can (hopefully) put them back together exactly the way I found them. Only now am I noticing that the anti-rattle spring is on the bottom when it actually appears on the top in the FSM. I'm going to pull the wheels again in a few days to try the additional squeal fix that shifty mentioned in the quoted post. During that process, I'll also swap the anti-rattle springs to the correct position. I'm starting to feel like I need to join the "We do it right because we do it thrice" club.

 

Plexus!? I love that product. After a multi-year hiatus, I'm finally starting to see it back on the open market. The best price I've found so far is

$35 Plexus 20214-1PK 13 oz. Plastic Cleaner Protectant and Polish Single Can

sold by / shipped by Amazon. I used to pick it up in person at my local Cycle Gear, but they're not yet back to selling it in store.

 

Today? Got out my safety glasses and put those back.

Yesterday: delivered the now-repaired riding mower to the client. Since I like driving the Tundra so much I went on a drive, even though I was pulling an empty trailer. Just a 5 mile loop, the long way back home.