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

Yep it's almost 7 ft. And even when it's collapsed, I could almost stand up fully. I hang out down below a lot without popping it up for short lunch breaks at work. Getting a ton of use out of this thing besides camping. I love that it sits on the bed rails instead of slide in campers. Super easy to load big items like the kids hockey bags, coolers, etc. And I have the downstairs modular so I can pull everything out in 5 minutes and load up some big cargo. But I really don't plan to LOL

 

I’ve got some first class northeast rust/ mangling for you guys

The old rack came out, but only by cutting the rubber between the two parts of the coupler (45230). It had a tear in it after all the heat/bang/pull. That part is 75 bucks from McGeorge and on the way.

Old rack failed leaking from the steering shaft input, but you can also see there is some metal cracked off where the lower fluid line goes in. Pretty of thread there, and it didn’t leak from that fitting. There is evidence of some other previous mangling too.


Now my mangling and current dilemma. The upper half of the coupling (45219) had two rusted/rounded bolt heads, so I ground them off expecting to then knock the nut off the other side, the parts diagram shows a regular nut…the ones on this coupler are welded, and I can’t get the grinder around to grind then off.

So now I’m pondering my next step. I think I’ll either;
A. Go buy an Air hammer and see if that’s the ticket to getting this part of the coupler moving and sliding off the shaft. At which point I could replace it. I have no idea whether there is any chance that’s gonna work, I do know I can’t generate a ton of force swinging up while laying on the ground.

B. Weld two studs on there and bolt the new lower coupling onto there.

Parts diagram because everyone loves those.

 

How much to replace that upper coupler instead of fighting it?

 

@Jack McCarthy , $40 MSRP. If I could get it off I would replace it. That’s where I’m thinking of buying and trying an air hammer. So far I have not gotten it to budge.

 

Just had mine replaced last August, I think it was right around $280. I HAD glass coverage $0 deductible.... but State Farm fucked me and totaled it before It was replaced.
Fuck State Farm

 

Is there a tool that can open up that channel you removed the bolt from and get it off the shaft? That would allow it to slide out.

Edit: I’d just use the impact hammer with a wedge tip to get that channel open enough to get the coupler off the intermediate shaft.

 

Is this your O2 sensor harness? If so, holy hell, how'd it get that mangled, and is the sensor actually reading correctly?

​

 

@Jack McCarthy I have had a pry bar in there to no avail.

@shifty` Yeah, its the O2 sensor. Either it’s a mouse chew, or I melted it out with sparks from the grinder. Either way ill take care of it when putting this all back together.

 

Well, I think winter is finally over for us. Steelies with the Blizzaks are now in the shed, and I got a brand new set of LT245/75R17 Wildpeak AT3Ws mounted on the factory wheels today (also swapped out the original spare from 2004 for one of the take-offs). First impressions after a ~3 mile test drive up to 70mph, they're so much quieter than I expected!

 

Looks good but let's see the front view. Curious to see how skinny they look

 

Here you go.

 

Not too bad. I've been enjoying my 255/80s. 245 might be even better for fuel saving and acceleration

 

Man, that lower balljoint looks so anemically skinny. Is that OEM?

 

As far as I know, yes. The truck had 80k miles when I purchased it, and the history report didn't show that any suspension work had been performed during its life. It currently has 93k miles, and I have a new OEM ball joint kit (the recall p/n) and new bolts ready to go in once I get around to installing the Bilstein shocks in the next few weeks.

I am running Spidertrax spacers, so the ball joints are more exposed than normal. Might be why they look odd?

 

Awesome! I wish I had a set of these OEM wheels.

 

Yep had a chip in the Taco that hasn't run for years but wish I sealed the one got on the bestgen before it floated all the way across to the other side.

 

The company is called Truck Covers USA, never heard of them until i picked this up. apparently they're out of San Diego.

Boy, I guess if it were me i'd try as hard as i could to not do option B.

Maybe unbolt it from the other end, where it attaches to the steering wheel in the cab? This video seems to explain it well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYbqTla_i-0

You can also see how your steering shaft seal is looking
https://www.tundras.com/threads/diy-steering-shaft-seal.48664/

 

This ^^^

Awesome suggestion for “while you’re in there, since you don’t want to do this again later, and I’m sure your seal is probably blown out by now.

 

After last weekend in the wash, my brakes felt spongy and not grabbing in the rear. So today I got probably ten clicks on each sides star wheel, adjusted my lspv up some more. Parking brake engagement is way sooner on the pedal and a quick spin around the estates proved to be much better

 

@shifty` I have a steering shaft seal on hand, I sealed up the old on from the inside before, it was almost non-existent. I’ve read a lot more here than I’ve posted……

@Pnwtundy I did remove that coupler and got the whole thing out from the top, had to pull the whole panel that the steering/transmission cable goes through though.


It’s all out now and can go back together once the new coupler arrives. Also got some wire wheeling, rust reforming, painting done under there. New OEM LBJs, outer tie rod ends, rack, coupler, and steering shaft seal. Glad I didn’t have to weld studs on and this is going to come out clean!

 

Sorry for the delayed response this forum moves fast.

done, and agreed it was best.

This is a must, especially since he turned down free money on principal

Yeah it’s absurd, my insurance is $200 for replacement and I would have done that myself, but I didn’t own it yet so not covered, and I didn’t want to drive 10 hours through thick deer country slouching to see around the ding. It was bad. His insurance was $500 deductible, so yeah I don’t know why I was being asked to pay more, his brother was the installer and I saw the invoice for parts was $460 so maybe he was trying to get his brother more money? Or just didn’t want insurance involved?

so close, I didn’t realise there were so many similar usernames.

 

I was just messing with you, if you tag someone @Bed Tundy
You can then go back and edit your post of their username but it still tags @YOU

 

Serial killers in every bunch, @Ted Bundy!

EDIT: Obligatory JA because Bed, Just Admit It.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVp0HSAt6Tc​

 

He might have been a car guy, changing all those tires and getting lazy lol.

Ted Bundy once said, "You learn what you need to kill and take care of the details. It's like changing a tire. The first time you're careful. By the thirtieth time, you can't remember where you left the lug wrench."

 

I was living in Poway when they lit him up. I remember, the radio on the bus was playing some local station (that wasn't 91X or anything cool, sadly) had some people talking about how they turned him into a "Bundy Burger". I dunno why that stuck with me.

My friend Clint's mom was, per his admission, killed by David Allen Lucas, in SoCal. I'll never understand serial killers.

 

Don't forget your ball joint maintenance. Get it before it gets you

 

Bought some things for upcoming convenience stuff, and some preventative stuff.

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So ten clicks is too much? What's ideal? I just counted 8 clicks and mine feels spongy after installing the RAS

 

rotate the starwheel until the tire turns with the slightest sound of brake shoe drag on each side.

 

In theory, you should not have to manually adjust the star wheel. They are supposed to self-adjust when you use the parking brake. In reality, that doesn't always work.