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

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.

 

Yes.

 

Attaboy

 

Wheel spins freely, no grinding or anything. No cat noises when driving other than the wub wub underlying the tire road noise. Play is maybe 1/4" when I push at 12 oclock.
When I rotated my tires I also noticed the same front wheel had outside shoulder wear indicating alignment is needed, but only from that wheel. probably all this tying together. Hopefully caught it soon enough, tires have tons of tread left, only about 15k miles on them (Falken wildpeak AT3). Bearing, inner/outer TREs, alignment. Oh and the wife's van needs new tires before winter weather really arrives.

 

Exactly where I was with mine. I went 6125 up front and as small a lift as possible. Got about 1”.

 

Yeah, it's a fairly new clamp. I think I didn't have it in quite the right position. Will drive it more over the next few days then check again.

 

Lookin good. Like those wheels on FGTs. Like the factory version of my 8 holes.

 

When I replaced my front wheel bearings, I used OEM bearings, and I also swapped out the snap ring, and inner and outer oil seals. I did have 1 bearing "explode" on me, but the hub was nearly out of it when it let go and I was able to reuse both my hubs.

20T Harbor Freight press worked just fine. Could you buy one of those, use it, then sell it on Facebook or Craigslist when you're done? The loss on that would be much cheaper than paying labor to a shop to do it.

 

The 20T HF press goes on sale for around $170-200 several times a year. I used a 12T HF press that appeared to have the 20T I-beam frame and added a 20T jack to it that we had from lifting the house beams.

 

If you start a Harbor Freight email account, make a purchase and wait 4 months or so they will send you a 25% off “we miss you” coupon usually.

 

Just got off the phone with the shop, they quoted $600 parts and labor. Asked about the parts, they said their agreement is with Carquest, and they sourced National bearings (China?). I said I prefer OEM if they could do that, they said they could but that only is a 12 month part only warranty. If I went with theirs its 2 years/24k miles parts/labor covered. Unsure which way to go.

The redneck in me says yes, but the "this is your only means of transportation right now don't mess around" says no . I'll consider it.