Topic: new to me taco ???

[redneckcustoms13]

I guess I'll start this off by saying, don't flame me up for getting a pre runner lol
Now to the point. I have a wife and 3 year old son. Our daughter was born last month and I've really been toying with the idea of a crew cab truck to make it easier to go around town and things like that.

The 98 dodge works just gets old shifting an nv4500 with a dual disk, and then opening the front door enough to get the rear doors open isn't always possible in some parking spots.

A friend works for a ford dealership and they took an 06 tacoma on trade in 2 years ago. He got it for 5k plus his trade in because it had 300k miles on it and had some dents and a leaking rear main. He replaced rear main, balancer pulley, headlights a few odds and ends. They later got one in on trade with a 3" lift spacer and uni ball upper arms they told him to remove so he stashed them away and installed the lift spacers on it. He then noticed the rear springs were sagging pretty bad, replaced them with stock 4wd rears. He's driven it since and it's been good to him. He decided he's tired of it and would like to have one that is 4wd.

My 98 has a ton of miles as well but otherwise is in good shape. It's sr5 3rz 5 speed ext cab 4wd. The head either is cracked or has a burnt valve, not sure but sounds terrible on idle. It's been run like this for over 100k. He offered to trade me his truck for mine and some cash to get a new head for it. I told him that was very nice of him and we started to hash out a plan.

Last week I was attempting to figure out why my 85 runner is acting up by adjusting the tps. It didn't fix it, my fuse got lit and I said fork it I'm tired of it I'll just sell it. He came over a little later and we got to talking and reached the agreement to get where we are now. He will be receiving the 85 runner in my signature and the 98 tacoma. I will get his 06 tacoma and we will be even. (Of course we will help one another in any repairs needed cause that's what we do anyhow).

Here starts my questions. For folks that own one of these 1gr trucks.
1. Has anyone ran 4" spindles in the front of these tacomas? likes dislikes?
2. Has anyone ran a shackle flip in the rear? Likes dislikes?
3. Anyone re geared for 33s from the factory 3.73, what worked best for you?

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

No one here has any input on these trucks? I know many of you dd them.

[Sparkplug]

Wouldn't re gear. No need. I wouldn't do spindles. I'd keep it stock. It will drive the best. All I've driven in that had large lifts drove like . 1gr is good engine. Crappy mpg for what it is tho. Mine is dbl cab 4x4 I get about 19 highway. Good power tho. The automatic shifts great. There is a recall on the rear springs. Quite a few. They are actually working on one now. Prob going to just give everyone new leaves is what people are saying. I wouldn't do anything to the rear leafs. They will tell you to piss off come recall time if they do then for 2wd. Also the rear leafs are junk so adding leverage could be dangerous. I'd remove the spacers in the front and just get bilstein adjustable coilovers. It wI'll align better and drive nicer. You can only lift these trucks 2 inches and stay whin alignment specs. Otherwise you need new uper control arms. Great trucks. Love mine. But I dd my 94 dodge srill fo some reason ?

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

I dont see how spindles will change the ride quality ? It will definitely need to be re geared for 33s it has had 35s, 33s,and now back to a 265 I have driven will all and can say it lost a lot of torque with the 35s and 33s. So im probably just going to grab an 8.4 4.10 from the junk yard. Already have the tubular upper control arms with uni ball ans the guy that owns it now has replaced all the bushings. He is one rhe best alignment guys I know and he said he has done Tons of these trucks for customers without trouble.

[Sparkplug]

It's pretty well known they can't be aligned into spec above 2 inches. Mine is 2.5. Drives good. But couldn't be aligned to spec. Les Schwab tried.  It's why the larger lift kits weld in a whole new lower piece. If you have the new uppers, that changes things. I just am a little sketch on tubular control arms. Mine pulls 285 just fine on stock gears. I'm at 2100 rpm at 70 mph. 19 mpg.  It kicks down 1 gear for big hills like it should. Maybe the prerunner gearing is different? I've owned mine for little over a year now. Put 25k miles on it. I did all the work besides the alignment.

And spindles wouldn't change ride. I've just never seen any lift spindles I'd trust my life with. They always look insane to me. But they are probably engineered fine.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Not sure what gear your has. I know this one has 3.73 and it is a dog with 33s on it so it will be getting 4.10s. I'll see how it aligns once the spindles are on. Hopefully it will all go well.

[AlohaDave]

ALOHA REDNECKCUSTMOR

U SAY THAT IT'S AN '06 TACO BUT U'RE LOOKING FOR INFO ON A 1ST GEN TACO.  '06 ARE 2ND GEN. NO BIGGY.

WITH AN AUTO TRANNY PUSHING ANY OVER STOCK SIZE TIRES & RUNNING STOCK DIFF GEAR U WILL SUFFER SLUGGISH PERFORMANCE.  SORRY . THAT'S JUST WHAT HAPPENS.

TTORA IS A GOOD PLACE FOR INFO ON THE TACOS.  THAT'S WHO I FOUND OUT ABOUT STAYINNG UNDER 3.5" ON THE FRONT END TO KEEP THE AXLES FROM OVER FLEXING.  IT'S WORKED ON MY & I JUST HAD IT ALGINED WITH NO PROBLEMS. 

I DONT KNOW IF ANY OF THIS HELPS U BUT GOOD LUCK & ENJOY UR DBL CAB !   I LOVE MY '02 ! !

       😎🌴

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

This is a pre runner so it doesn't have axles to worry with. I guess I'll just see how it does once I get it put together. I've seen; and this is no exaggeration, 6 of them today on the interstate running the same spindles and upper arms I'm going to run.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Got it yesterday. Right now it's on 33s and doesn't do too bad. Hopefully I can get the spindles, control arms, and rear shackle flip on soon.

[Sparkplug]

Mine rips with 285. Which are basically a 33. It keeps up with a tuned dmax. Gets good mpg. And does great passing. An 02 tacoma has an entirely different front suspension than a 05+  not even comparable at all.

My buddy has a spindle lift, and the new bracket they welded to his frame. His looks sweet, but again it doesn't drive as well as mine. Maybe it's that bracket or his tires or something. I've done all the black Diamond trails ar shasta ohv in mine, which isn't saying much, so I don't see a reason to go taller for me. I'm sure spindle lifts are fine. They wouldn't be selling them if people were breaking trucks left and right. Congratulations on your new truck. They are pretty sweet. Better than the 2016. I test drove one when I was gonna buy a new truck, and decided the older tacoma is better.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Thanks, main reason I got this one is because I traded a 98 taco and 85 4runner for it and needed a little 4 door truck. Hopefully it will work out.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Last week I threw the 4" spindles on it with the 3" level kit up front as well as tubular upper arm. Out back a set of 4" tapered steel blocks cause they were free.
 


Buddy that hooked me up with the w56 and the car ramps gave me this 2011 grill so plugged it in to.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

While I had the steam cleaner out cleaning the w56 for the brown turd I cleaned up the engine bay a little.

[SqWADoosh]

Looks like an engine bay. 

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

It was filthy, had 327,000 miles of grease and grime in there also mixed in was some red mud from the previous owners trip down a few dirt roads. 8-12 days until wheels show up.

[Sparkplug]

The 4.0 has 327k? Truck looks good

[Dingman.]

Looks good!   I was thinking of getting a small steam cleaner myself

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Yeah sparkplug 327k on it. Still runs like a new one. The oem spark plugs dodnt get changed till about 315. Actually didn't look bad. I like it so far. Good little family wagon for going places not having to shift an nv4500. The double cab makes loading the kids easy.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Looks good!   I was thinking of getting a small steam cleaner myself

They are very handy, can clean things much better than a regular reassure washer. I have a 5000 psi cold water Jenny that is ok but the steam cleaner is much better.

[Sparkplug]

Good to know. Mine has 212k at the moment. And it's been beat hard. I actually changed the plugs myself for the first time at 180k. They were so bad they were causing random cylinder misfires. I'm glad to know I prob got another 100k to go for mine before she goes boom. I recently developed a intermittent pulley noise tho.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

The only issue with this one is a cat that rattles. Hoping that rumor of warranty will handle that. It put them new headlights in free of charge.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

NEVER!!!!!! Never order anything from custom offsets. I ordered the on February 18th. The salesman to me 3 times after I asked if they had them in stock that they did indeed have them. I should see them between 8 and no later than 12 business days. Nothing but excuses for almost a month and they finally came in today.

[SqWADoosh]

NEVER!!!!!! Never order anything from custom offsets. I ordered the on February 18th. The salesman to me 3 times after I asked if they had them in stock that they did indeed have them. I should see them between 8 and no later than 12 business days. Nothing but excuses for almost a month and they finally came in today.

Looks good though 

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Thanks andrew. My wife likes it, she seems to be driving it more than I do.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

About 2500 miles on it since the new tires. Going to rotate ans balance them soon. Still looking for a 4.10-4.30 diff. Got tired of the nasty grey carpet. I hate any color carpet other than black or tan anyhow so i spent last night swapping that.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

Had to go to pensacola today for a service call. While in the area on lunch break i swung in a salvage yard with quite a few toyotas. Got a clean 4.30 diff for this thing. Hopefully that will wake it up.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

No pictures of the install. We were too busy trying to get done to do so. A friend came over to help; actually the previous owner. Everything went smooth. Went to connect drive shaft and learned something new. A diff from an 02 has a smaller bolt pattern on the flange. Simply swapped the old flange onto the 02 diff that is now in the truck and rolled out. Raised rpm a couple hundred rpm. Should be perfect for towing the boats at 65-70mph with converter staying locked now.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

As hoping for. Towing the boats at 70mph is perfect. Tq stays locked around 2500 rpm. Much better than before.

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

No real updates to this thing. It do get some weather tech floor mats(those are nice). A few oil changes since last post. And my wife seems to be driving it more than her 4runner. 

[redneckcustoms13 [OP]]

339,458 and i replaced the factory inner tie rod ends today. Not a horrible job but not nearly as easy as replacing some on a solid axle truck. Man these little things are a cheesy design. It appears they have held in there though. Just not so well in the last year of hauling donkey down the dirt road.