Rivethead242 04 Tacoma

[rivethead242]

2004 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 5-speed TRD SR5 3.4L

So far:

K&N Intake
Flowmaster Exhaust
Camburg UCA
SAW 2.5 C/O
Deaver custom 9 pack
Icon resi
Gas tank skid beefed up
ALL metal work is home made
custom tube doors
Rear Diff breather
Cobra CB
Grey wire mod
Energy steering rack bushings
BFG KM2 255/85-16
Sway-bar removed
Extended rear brake line
SS front brake lines, with low profile banjo bolt
4.56 Nitro Gears
ARB in front, Elocker in rear
Marlin Crawler "taco" box (4.70)


and some pics:

completely stock

and how she sits now
Calcio

Rubicon

Slick Rock

Calico

Cougar Buttes

Mottino Wash



more to come.....

[rivethead242]

well after a long weekend of bending, cutting, grinding, and welding finally got the front bumper fabbed up. turned out better than i thought it would have as well, which is always a plus! still needs a little bit of work (paint and some plating) but at least its 98% done. and thankfully i have about 18ft of tube left to go towards the rear bumper.

[rivethead242]

well got the bumper painted black, and cb tuned (thanks to SAR_Squid79) today. ill get pics of it painted soon.

painted...and on the trail

[rivethead242]

Took advantage of the deal ARB had going on for the free compressor. Got the rd90 for the front. Now i just gotta wait till i get new gears before putting her in! She sits and waits till the gears come in....

[rivethead242]

got the rear bumper all done. few things might change with it in the future, but as it sits now.





*edit. finally got the rear hoops fabbed up and put on.

[rivethead242]

Got a transfer case skid made this past weekend. Got the idea from TacoDells Transfer Skid
write up. I just modified a few things. Removed the center support mount because i used 1/4" plate. Also extended my skid just a bit further to cover up the cat completely. Just need to finish the plate that connects the front skid to the transfer case skid and call it a day.















on the trail:

[rivethead242]

The gas tank skid has had a few encounters with rocks. Nothing too serious, gas tank didn't get touched. But the skid sure had a few dings in. After hammering them out, i took some 1/4" angle iron and added some ribs inside and out. I am sure one side would be enough, but as usual i like to go overboard.

[rivethead242]

Had the weekend set on getting some hoops put on the sliders to protect my cab, but due to a slight issue of not being able to get into my buddies shop things changed. BUT there are still a few small things that need to be taken care of with prior projects. Ended up getting the front bumper fully plated.

[rivethead242]

Slider hoops on.

[rivethead242]

Finally got some real shoes put on.
BFG KM2 255/85-16
Beat the fuck out of the pinch weld, still getting a little rub at full turn.....haven't determined if it is frame or firewall rub yet. *edit- its frame rub on full turn....nothing i can do about that unless i notch the frame or get spacers....im just going to deal with it.

[rivethead242]

Another step closer. Ordered up some 4.56 gears with solid f/r spacers from Just Diffs. Jeff took care of all my questions and really defined great customer service. Just added another toyota to the fleet, wife got a corolla. But she doesn't have her license yet, so its my DD for at least a month. Should be tearing out the diffs here in the next few days and taking them over to Yota Masters in Corona to have the gears installed as well as the ARB up front!

Out and waiting for the gears to go in

[rivethead242]

Picked up the front and rear diffs from Yota Masters last night. Got the rear installed and wheels on by midnight. Finished the front in this morning. Removal/Installation of diffs wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I sure hope I don't have to do it again anytime in the near future. The rear was a breeze, it was the front that gave me all the trouble. It was hard getting the leverage on the front diff while finagling it in a tight spot. I ended up having to use 3 ratchet straps in order to get it positioned just right to be put back in. I managed to do the whole thing on my own.....yes, it can be done!

Alignment, bleed the brakes, wire the electronics for the ARB, and 500 mile break in period and I am ready to test all the new shit out!

Locked, lifted, and armored.....time for a break......

With the new gears, and ARB in front.

[rivethead242]

Break is over.
Ive got my work cut out for me.
1) There was a burr left over from welding on the UCA. Over time it has rubbed against my AC hose and it finally ruptured.
bit fuzzy but you get the idea.....

2)Just about 100k miles....time for some maintenance. Timing Belt, Water Pump, new belts all around, and seals. I ended up getting everything as a package deal on Ebay. Everything is OEM and it has the newer style metal gasket for the water pump.
(clutch not included with package deal)

3)The stock clutch has been showing signs of old age for some time, but has just recently started slipping. I ordered up my clutch from Trail Gear. It was at my door within 3 days of placing my order. Complete OEM replacement. I had no issues with my stock clutch, and it lasted me near 100k miles.

[rivethead242]

First...the clutch

Now getting the transmission out is a pain in the ass. I ended up getting a transmission jack from Harbor Freight in order to get the job done by myself. After raising it and lowering it, twisting it and shaking it, pulling and pushing, few beers, few cuss words.....I finally got it out. Now to have the flywheel resurfaced and get everything changed out. Thanks ShowStop, Jmoney, and Scuba for chiming in with helpful ideas!

[rivethead242]

Timing belt, water pump, crankshaft and camshaft seals complete.
I followed the instructions based off this write up.
Big thank you to Scuba and Sparky for coming up and lending a hand. Definitely learned a lesson or two....
Few tips for others:
1)Properly support the crankshaft pulley when removing it, it is a heavy it will cause damage if it falls....
2)Loosen the camshaft pulley bolts while you still have the timing belt on.
3)Keep the tensioner completely out until the new timing belt is properly on. Even if the pin is in, you will still need the extra 8th inch it gives you with it out.
4)Careful when removing the crankshaft timing gear to replace the seals. It is very thin metal...be sure to replace this gear if you damage it.


I ended up fabbing a spanner wrench to get the camshaft pulleys off, as well as torquing the crankshaft bolt down. It was far easier and safer than jamming something in the flywheel. Isn't the prettiest tool around, but it worked like a champ!


Only picture I have from being torn down. (compliments of Scuba)


Other than that, it isn't an extremely complicated job given the proper tools. If it is your first time doing it, I would highly recommend you spread it out over two days.

[rivethead242]

Have had a few people asking about the little red filter I have under my hood. Figure I should add it to here. I have replaced the factory rear diff breather with a breather that sits up higher, keeping sand and water out. I used the same union as others have used, only difference is I have brought my line up into my engine bay rather than the gas filler neck. I have a spectre filter attached to the end of the hose. (cheapo knn look a like from autozone, or one of those places). I intend on getting some t-connectors sometime in the future to bring the front diff, xfer case, and transmission all into the same line. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done. Made the bracket out of leftovers from chopping off the stock skid.

[rivethead242]

Got a rear diff skid fabbed up using prior 1/4" I had left over from the other projects. Pretty simple design that gets the job done. First time playing around with CAD programs, and CNC machines.

[rivethead242]

My front brake lines (banjo bolt) kept getting knocked loose from what I thought was rocks(having nicks/cuts in the lines supported this theory). Come to find out, it's the banjo bolt hitting the coilover's and getting loosened. Lost my brakes on more than one occasion, always at the most inopportune time. I have swapped out my stock front brake lines for some stainless steel ones with a low profile banjo bolt. Been out on the trail a few times with the new low profile banjo bolts, and voila I haven't lost my brakes on an obstacle!

out with the old


in with the new

[rivethead242]

Got some tube doors made recently using leftovers from prior projects. My buddy who has helped me with all my tube bending has since then switched jobs and no longer has access to a bender. So I had to get creative and work with what I had. A chop saw, grinder, and 110 mig welder. They aren't perfect but get the job done. I cut the pin on the hinges and replaced it with a bolt for quick release. The "slam latch" is simply a rubber stopper with to tabs to put a bolt through. They have absolutely no rattle in them, so I am happy enough. Sure beats replacing my AC line.



(hinges courtesy of Scuba, thanks again man!)



Tested and approved

[rivethead242]

As much as I like the smell of burnt clutch...the time has come for stupid slow. After getting burned on a local used deal, I called up Brendan (Freds40) at Marlin Crawler. Contrary to what some say about the poor customer service, I was quite pleased. Before ordering I was informed they were waiting on the input gear which would be a week wait, and 2 weeks to ship. The part came early and they were able to have it built and shipped to my door one week prior to what they had stated.

The cat had to approve first.....




I still need to take care of the drive shafts and figure out what I am going to do about reinforcing the mounting.

[rivethead242]

Had to design a GUI (Graphical User Interface) program as a final project for one of my engineering courses. With many thanks to Grimm Jeeper for leaving his source code open for all (as well as giving me written permission), I was able to figure it all out without too much sweat. As if I wasn't certain before, I am absolutely certain now that I do NOT want to do anything with computer programming. Way too tedious and boring for me to handle. Nevertheless, MATLAB is a cool tool to know how to use (aside from making programs). Still not done with it, but made sure to test it out on figures I can benefit from.
I'm liking these numbers

[rivethead242]

Got the crawler installed over winter break. Had a hell of an ordeal due to faulty (leaking) trans plate adapters and missing parts. Was a bit frustrating, but MC did a good job of taking care of the issues in a timely manor. Also had an issue with it puking oil out of the shifter. Problem seems to be resolved with a sealed shifter. More on that HERE
(don't mind the towel, it has since been replaced with a rubber and leather boot)

First run with the crawler, I managed to slip off my line and mangle up my rear ds. I know I know....crawler wasn't needed for this situation (and probably the leading cause for me sliding off my line) but being the first trip out, I couldn't resist.



Picked myself up a spare from a local junk yard (whole rear ds including carrier bearing) and had Todd down at East County Driveshafts in SD repair my mangled one as well as re-tube it with thicker sidewalls.

Next on the list is fabbing up a crawler xmember using 4xinnovations HD mount. For now I am just going to come off the stock xmember and tie it into my tcase skid xmember. Cheap and easy. Ill eventually clock it and flat belly it, most likely not till after I get a SA up front.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the tube bed fabbed up over break due to the complications with the crawler install. Hoping to get that done shortly after KOH. Figured while I have the bed off it would be the best time to box the frame. Ordered up some rear frame boxing plates from ballistic fab (not listed on there website, had to call the order in). I chose these over trail gears version due to the fact I can still use my factory shock mounts for now. I would have done them myself, but due to all the other shit I have going on and limited tools (buddy that has helped with all my metal work moved to Idaho lat month) I went ahead and finally purchased my first piece of "armor".

I will be basing my tube bed design off of Crolison's.

[rivethead242]

Another long weekend full of adventures. Got the frame boxing plates, and "sub frame" for the tube bed all taken care of. Ended up cutting down the frame plates a little because we didn't want to pull the tank, and fab up another cross member. Figure if I have to drop sometime in the future, I will add those missing pieces in then. Between that and my tube bed frame (which is welded to the frame) I don't think twisting is going to be an issue anymore.

Couldn't have done it without Jason (jmoney).

She's looking a lil naked and half assed at the moment. But it's only for a few more weeks. Good to go for KOH.



Don't worry, the 110 was only for the mudflap brackets.

[rivethead242]

Wheeln naked for the SoCal Cougar Buttes run


Got the camo paint job started and finished this weekend. Prep work is a bitch! Spent a good day and a half sanding,removing the side windows, and getting everything taped off. Still have a few touch ups to do, maybe rounding off some of the abrupt edges. Overall I am more than pleased with the way this rattle can job came out.

Paint used: Aervoe
Earth Brown (30099)
Dark Green (34102)
Black (37038)





Next weekend, tube bed

[rivethead242]

Got the tube bed done (for the most part) over the past couple weeks. Still needs two more supports to complete the X , and possibly one more (on the longer piece that spans from the cab to the rear) down to the fender, and plating for the fenders and bed. Probably going to go with expanded metal for the bed, and sheet for the fenders. Also have some trailer lights that fit perfectly in between the frame and tube bed frame. The main roll bar sits back a little further than I would like, but that's where my sliders leg was so I decided to deal with a gap for now. Tweaked the existing ca hoops to tie into the tube bed. Big thanks to Jmoney (and friend) for all the help, as well as Johnnie for letting me use his notcher.

Leaving Marlin Crawler leak free and even slower with 4.7's

[rivethead242]

Picked up the Q78's today. Will probably be a month or two before I get them mounted. Still gotta tub the firewall, trim the fenders, and get some spacers as well as finish up a bunch of other projects. Contrary to what others may say, these tires are being made again just not in large quantities. I got them through 4 wheel parts at 260 a piece. I did get the last set of 5. Lucky, because they are on back order for about 2 months. Just wanted to make sure I would be go to go for the Rubicon in September.

Bed full of rubber.



Time to collect some dust...

[rivethead242]

Just picked myself up a daily driver. 02 Corolla. Sure will nice to keep the miles on the truck low, keep from burning up expensive tires, gas, not worry about getting to school/work because of broken parts, etc. Thank you uncle sam for the financial aid for being a student

[rivethead242]

My cheapo Chinese LED's arrived the other day (more on that here) . I ordered them off e-bay from thamesmall as deal extreme has had them on back order for quite some time. I'm really impressed with how much light these things pump out for being so small!


I made a light controller as a final lab project for my microcontroller class. I will be incorporating this design with these rock lights. Currently it has 6 different sequences it can operate at, as well as a variable voltage input to control the speed. I will be making some changes to the sequences as well as changing some of the code and adding more electronics to handle the higher voltage of the LEDs (12v vs 5V). I won't bore you with all the details behind that, but it shouldn't be too too hard to modify. Will probably be a few months before I get them knocked out as I have a bunch of other projects on my plate to take care of first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvwwPBwVJEg
the end product will be something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oqGKHCa7E

On to the other projects. First up will be a rack and pinion replacement (A1 cardone with lifetime warranty). Mine has been shot for some time now, and is really getting sloppy. Figure best to knock this out before chewing up my new tires. With ugly betty being retired from DD and knowing that the front will be getting chopped off sometime in the near future I didn't feel like spending a lot of money on an OEM. Hopefully it will last me at least a year...before Next will be tubbing for the 35's. Got some 1.5" spacers to help clear the frame. My rear shocks are completely blown, I'm sure it doesn't help that they are the "limiting" factor for travel...I ended up going with some 12" bilstein 5125 and picked the u-bolt flip kit as well. Still need to get myself some bumpstops to limit the up travel so I don't blow these ones out. Thankfully Kartek down in Corona has a wide variety of bumpstops so I will figure that out when the time comes. Lastly I picked up a tool chest from harbor freight using the 20% coupon. Nothing fancy but it will get the job done and keep the dangerous/heavy shit out of my cab (in the event of a flop/roll). Also gotta replace all the u-joints, spare tire mount, fab up a "joe hauler" so I can go dirtbiking again...and a few other knick knacks if I can find the time.

Big thanks to Scuba and his team down at All-Pro for making it a quick and easy transaction (wheel spacers, shocks, u-bolt flip kit)!

[rivethead242]

Got some work done. Took a little longer than expected...ran into a few other issues that needed to be addressed along the way.