Gaskets, Seals, and More

I'm on a mission to get my 1st Gen as mechanically sound as possible.
For all you experts, what seals and gaskets or other maintenance repairs, no matter how small or big, easy or difficult, would you recommend doing on my 06 DC Limited 4.7 Tundra with 250k miles.
I've done a lot of the major maintenance items fairly recently. OEM LBJs, Water Pump, Timing Belt, Struts and Shocks, Spark Plugs, O2 Sensors, Radiator, and some others.

 

Cam seals? I don’t own a VVTI engine so I don’t know the details of how it’s done.

Valve cover gasket seals as well. Those eventually leak.

 

Steering shaft seal, steering rack bushings

 

Until it leaks, there's not much point in replacing seals and gaskets. Sounds like you've got the major stuff done. I would suggest replacing rear diff oil, and greasing the drive line. Check suspension bushings for wear.

 

Painful as hell...

This is the correct answer. Basically run around the truck and check everything rubber, all the bushings and gaskets.

There's not a ton of proactive maintenance for consequential to be done, and you already got the super big ones: Radiator, Timing belt, LBJ.

Given you're not 4WD, count yourself lucky: Less stuff to do. Much easier to manage.

And I don't think your truck year is in the scope of the TSB for the transmission crossmember, so you're likely golden there too. But if you really wanted to go overboard, maybe install new Dana/Spicer zerked U-joints, and a new Dana/Spicer carrier bearing?

The only other thing I can think of is, if you haven't done A rear differential fluid change yet (if you have LSD, use Lucas 80w90 to avoid chatter you'd get with most synthetics), and you should probably swap out the diff breather, and while you're at it do the PCV valve if it wasn't done. Be prepared to replace the coils eventually but if you're not misfiring, I wouldn't bother unless you have $500 burning a hole in your pocket.

 

Dammit. I knew I was forgetting something when I did my diff oils. Thanks. Guess I have a project for this afternoon.

 

If you're not in the rust belt or you don't dunk your axle under water (i.e. launch boats, cross rivers), it's probably not a big deal.

Side note: Expect to hear a "gasp" of air when you pop the used one off. It's perfectly normal. It's a one-way valve, hot air is pushed out, and when the air inside cools, it creates a vacuum.

 

I'm not in the rust belt, and there's not a lot of river crossings in AZ, but I'm going to give them a look anyway. Thanks for the reminder.

 

This is what I'm talkin' about!
So I believe I could in the scope of the TSB for the transmission crossmember. After searching for what that is, I read about hearing a ticking noise every time when going on and off the gas, which is one of the things that I do notice in my truck.

One thing I haven't diagnosed is that my truck gives small lurches or jumps sometimes after coming to a stop right before reaching a full stop, and then sometimes when letting off the gas from a stop, and sometimes randomly when I'm sitting completely still at a stop light, it's almost like someone has rear ended me very lightly. An every so slight jerk that feels like it's coming from the back of the truck. Any ideas on this?

 

I thought that TSB only involved '03-'04 but I'm too lazy to look. If you need it, the TSB is linked in the 2nd reply of this thread, I believe: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

As for the lurch, I'm not sure, but I'd surely be thinking it's related to your brakes before anything else ...

 

I've had the same "lurch" happening on my 06 DC. Thought I was going crazy looking behind me to make sure I didn't get rear-ended. I plan on re-doing the rear brakes any day now (have everything to do it, just waiting for a nice day), so I'll let you know if that fixes it. If you end up resolving it let me know!

As for the ticking noise, if it sounds like its coming from the engine it very well could be the steering shaft seal. I had it and after replacing my seal (old one was completely torn and missing chunks of rubber) the ticking I heard when accelerating is completely gone. There's a good thread on here about how to do that, though on my 06 it looked slightly different than the older model most of the pictures in the tutorial are from.