Vibrations (part 3) + New Tires

It seems that regardless of what I do, I may always have some sort of vibrations in this truck. I recently had to have the driveshaft rebuilt again. This tome I took the shaft to a guy in Pittsburg who was highly recommended (I forget where I got his info though). He even had parts shipped over from Japan for me. He has to replace the slip yoke entirely. The splines were all chewed up. But it is OEM and back to the condition it was in nearly 20 years ago. Awesome!

I also got some new tires: 33x12.5x15 ProComp Xtreme MT's. The road noise is loud and I love it. They also performed well at Hollister last summer. They balanced better than my old 31x10.5x15 BFG AT's which helped the vibration issue a little.

The front shaft still needs some work, but it's also only used in 4WD so it's not all that major of a concern for me. So far hasn't broken on me but contributes to the never-ending vibe issue. Time and money always seem to be in short supply. Ah well.

Corbeau Baja RS Seats

My Corbeau Baja RS seats were delivered yesterday. I was so excited to pull them out of the box and get them installed in my truck, but I had class. So I waited.

This morning, bright and early, I opened the box of seats and was initially disappointed. I really hoped that these seats would be all they claimed to be: the perfect offroad seat. And I figured, having spent a grip of cash on the "vehicle specific" sliders, that they would be awesome and would fit right out of the box...

The quality of the seat itself was on par with what I expected:

• They are sturdy
• The vinyl is excellent quality
• The inflatable lumbar support is awesome
• The width was perfect for me (and I'm only a 30" waist)

However! The following cons screwed up my initial response to this seat:

• The seat itself is really firm - like, numb your ass in an hour of driving, firm
• The sliders stick
• The handle for the slider isn't secured to the slider itself by anything but a metal tab
• The handle pulled apart from the slider when the necessary 15+ lbs. of upward force was applied to it
• Because of the sticky slider and the unsecured handle, the sliders like to slide independently of one another, which also happens when the seat is attached to them, but in order to attach the seat to the slider, you have to slide the whole thing forward first, which inevitably breaks the handle loose and causes much frustration

I really can't believe that this is the quality of Corbeau's manufacturing.

The worst part about this whole ordeal is that I spent so much time researching seats before plunking down the cash for these. I guess time will tell as to weather or not they do well after being broken in and the sliders see someone who can cut and weld them to fit.

Lesson learned: Don't buy anything that is a comfort piece before trying it out first. Even if the reviews you get are great.

EDIT JULY 2011:
So far I actually really like this seat. I sit at least an inch higher than I did in the stock seats. I also have less fatigue when driving long distances and I think this is at least partially due to their firmness. I was able to bolt up 3 of the driver's bolts but only the front 2 on the passenger side. The rear bolts on the pass side are inches off (which I still consider BS since they were supposedly vehicle specific). I don't have passengers all that often though, so I've still not gotten them adjusted (welding isn't something I have time or money to learn or do). I'm going camping soon though, so a nre write up to follow.

Acceptable Vendors

I thought I'd put together a post that highlights all of the vendors that I have used and how I personally - honestly - feel about them. This post will be updated periodically.

Vendor: Right Channel Radios
Website: www.rightchannelradios.com
Primary Business: Everything that has anything to do with radios
Rating: 4.5
Date: 10/2009
Comments: Found this site while looking for a CB radio a while back. I didn't actually buy the radio from them at that time (found one cheaper on EBay) but bookmarked their site anyway. A while later, after having completely forgotten about the bookmark, I found this site again while searching for a SWR meter to tune my antenna (since the only meters I could find locally cost upwards of $140 and were for amateur radio, not basic cb radio). I found the right meter for my job quickly; the package shipped quickly (though I did have to confirm via email that I placed the order which is both good and annoying); the right parts came; the meter and cable worked flawlessly; their customer service rocked (the provide tutorials, both in video and text formats and sent a thank you note before shipping and after the package arrived); they weren't the cheapest but they were close.

Vibrations (part duex) 11/08

I wrote previously about both vibrations and the lack of power in these trucks. So again, I did a ton of research and came up with a plan to correct both of these problems at the same time: Contact ZUK to re-gear the rear diff and install an Aussie.

I went with the 4.88 ratio. This was a little more expensive (I couldn't just find a replacement at the junk yard... not that I really wanted to anyway), actually gives me more power than I need and would probably throw my speedometer off even more than the 31" tires did. However, since I plan to upgrade to 33" tires when these wear out, I figured I'd "do it right the first time." I ordered them from JustDifferentials.com. Good service, I just called them up and ordered them. However! I ordered Motive gears and install kit and Zuk received Precision gears with a Nitro master install kit. That was a bummer. I really wanted the Motive gears. (Next time I'll definitely make sure to clarify and have them call me if they plan to send out other gears.)

Zuk is awesome. He gets great reviews from everyone (as far as I can tell) and nothing different from me. Though, at this point, I can't vouch for his work because my frickin truck still isn't mobile. That time is fast approaching though. (I usually support local shops and dealers, but couldn't find any good reviews of any shops near me to do this work and wanted it done right.)

I pulled my rear differential with a friend. She and I had so much fun under the truck that day. We really felt like we were digging in this time. Pulling the axles was easy, removing the brake likes was messy (I have gotta find out if there is a way to plug those lines), and disconnecting the driveshaft called for some serious teamwork (we're not very strong yet so we literally had to use all 4 of our hands to loosen those 4 nuts). When all was said and done we were missing skin on our knuckles and got good and drunk.

Total time to do all of the above: 4 hours with lunch and beer breaks.

I opted to have Zuk cryo-treat the gears (since they'll see a lot of miles and hard times in the future). I also opted for the Aussie in the rear since it gets such good reviews from the people that run them (not to mention the fact that it's cheaper than an ARB, which is just overkill for me).

All in all, a good $1000 well spent, I think.

Camping trip #1 6/08

When my truck was mobile, I took it camping in the desert. We drove off to Nevada during the horrible fire storms that we were having last summer here in CA.

During the drive out, two things happened. The first thing was that I noticed how little power these little engines have. Driving over the Sierras I was lucky if I could get her into 4th gear. Most of the time I was in the trucker lane, going 35mph, trying not to get run over.

The second thing was that I noticed that my headlights started dimming right before I hit the very top of the pass. I coasted down the pass and pulled into a liquor store right outside of Reno. When I got back in my truck, it wouldn't start. I had no lights, no clicking and knew immediately what was wrong: my alternator had failed.

I got really really lucky on that trip though. I called up AAA and had a very awesome tow truck driver come to my rescue. We had 3 dogs in the back of the truck (not to mention the loads of camping gear for a few days in the desert) and worried about where we were going to stay with them. I figured we'd stay at a Motel 6 and find a shop near there where we could drop the truck for the morning.

Our tow truck driver suggested we stay at the Sierra Grand Resort and Casino. I was floored. No way were they going to let 3 pit bulls into a resort. But we were wrong and he was right. The staff was more than accommodating and didn't blink an eye at our dogs. Our driver also suggested we get the work done at the shop that services the AAA trucks. Generally, I'm a bit wary of this, but he was so darn nice, I couldn't say no. He said that the shop was AAA approved and that it was within walking distance of the hotel. He drove us around and showed us how to get there before driving my truck up to the hotel on the flat bed and waiting for us to unload the gear we wanted for the night.

I had a brand new alternator installed and was on the road by 1pm the following day. We stayed in a swanky suite in the hotel (instead of setting up camp in the dark), payed almost 1/2 what I would have paid here in CA to get the alternator replaced and were setting up camp all in less than 24 hours.

Front End Rebuild (Part 1)

It didn't take me long to realize that my steering was super sloppy. And since I had embarked on a near-complete rebuild of this truck, I figured I'd replace a bunch of parts in my front end.

Again, I did a bunch of research. I found this kit that some others had used on Ebay. The box came full of Moog parts (at least that's what the packaging said). I took some advice from folks on Yotatech.com again, and got to work.

Replacing the idler arm was crazy easy. In fact, it was so easy that I opted to attempt to replace my tie road ends at the same time (inner and outer) since the boots were cracked. I got out my pickle fork and a hammer and beat them to death. After about 3 hours I managed to do nothing but worsen the condition of the boots. It didn't seem to matter which direction I hit the damn thing - it wouldn't budge.

My first conclusion was that I needed a bigger hammer. I made a trip to Home Depot and picked up a smallish sledge hammer. After another hour of banging on my steering components, I still didn't have any luck so I decided to give up and drain a few beers instead.

The next day I headed off to my friendly neighborhood Napa parts store and picked up a ball joint puller. I figured I'd probably need this to get the ball joints off after the tie rod ends, so the $15 tool was worth it. Turned out this was one of the best purchases I have made. I managed to replace all of my tie rod ends in a couple of hours with that puller.

Again, it took me a lot longer than it would probably take most people because I take all the time I need to make sure it's done properly - reading the directions over and over, drinking the right amount of beer (not too many I lost my head though).

I took her out for a test drive after that and realized that my alignment was wwwaaaayyyy off and one of my tires felt like it was dragging, not rolling. That worried me. Had I done something terribly wrong? I decided that a mechanic was probably the best bet here (since I don't have fancy protractors or anything to get the alignment correct and I was worried I'd screwed up).

I took her to the closest shop to my house and spilled my guts. I told the older guy that was helping me that I'd replaced my tie rods myself. He smiled and asked what tool I used. I told him I tried a pickle fork but after having no luck with that opted for the puller. He gave me a very approving look and had my truck back to me in less than 45 minutes. When he returned my truck he told me I'd done a good job. (How true that is, I don't know, but it did make me feel good knowing that he wasn't giving me a hard time for being a girl and attempting a job I knew little about.)

A little reflection led me to find my mistake. Apparently the steering wheel should be dead center and locked (if possible) when replacing these parts. I did measure the threads and put it back the way I found it, but swinging the tire around to get the part to fit might not have been the best idea. I might never know for sure, and this might have just happened anyway. Perhaps one of these days I'll get up the courage to ask someone. :)

New Shocks

While my truck was sitting, I decided to replace my stock crap shocks. I wanted a soft ride since I plan on mostly using this truck to get me out to campsites, fishing holes and places to put my kayak into the water. I'm not planning to do any crazy offroading right now, and I figure I can always swap out the shocks in the future if I get there.

I went with the nicest cheap shocks I could find: ProComp ES3000 - $100 including shipping!

I replaced the front shocks first. It was pretty easy once I found out how all the bushings fit on there. It took me a couple of hours to do both sides (including jacking up the truck, taking off the tires, removing the old shocks and installing the new ones).

Replacing the rear shocks was nothing like replacing the front shocks. I think it took me about 4 hours to figure out how to get them on. In the end I used lube. Not the kind that you buy from an automotive store, but the kind you pick up at Good Vibes. LOL Serious. Worked like a charm. I gotta say, I'm really really glad that I have a leaf sprung rear suspension instead of coils. There's no way I would have gotten coils off without killing myself.

Vibration at higher speeds...

After a couple of hundred miles I noticed that my truck was vibrating at higher speeds. This totally pissed me off. Already I'd dumped nearly $7000 into it (initial purchase, new motor + misc water pump, etc., shifter seat/bushing/boot, oil, more oil, drain plugs, insurance, registration...). I did tons of research before determining I had a driveline issue. I figured it was probably my rear driveshaft out of balance or something of that nature. But since I had zero idea how to figure this out, regardless of how much I read, I opted to take it to my shop.

Turns out the rear driveshaft was out of balance or something. They sent the driveshaft off to a shop to have it rebalanced and had it back to me in less than 2 days! After that, it ran pretty smooth for a while...

A few months later I had some new vibes at any speed over 30mph. I went back to the shop and one of the mechanics (Eric) came out to check it out for me (for free). He showed me that there was some slop in my pinion flange. I have to admit, I wondered whether or not this was the original problem but then remembered that disgusting tar-like oil that was in the rear diff before (and the hundreds of thousands of miles that had been on the truck before I bought it). So I drove it home and decided to do some more research.

My truck sat parked for a while and I gathered some other parts I wanted to replace. I haven't driven the truck since, but in the meantime I've done some other work...

Rear Differential Drain/Refill

Let's get current!

The first thing I did to my truck after replacing the shifter seat/bushing/boot was drain the nasty stuff that was in my rear differential. This had to be just as easy as doing an oil change (which is the one thing I have done on every vehicle I've ever owned). Well, it was - and it wasn't.

First of all, I couldn't get the frickin drain plug out. I know - WTF, right? I couldn't find a 24mm 6-pt socket. All I had was a 24mm 12-pt socket and that's all I could find at Sears, Kragen, Napa, etc. I sprayed the drain plug with PB Blaster for 2 days prior to attempting to get it off just in case it hadn't been removed in years (which is what I expected). It was stuck stuck stuck. I almost stripped it trying to get it off.

I finally got the plug out and noticed that the oil inside of my rear diff looked like tar. It was oozing out slowly and was black as pitch. I think tar might actually smell better than that crap. I filled it up with some MT-90 knowing that I was going to have to run her for a while and drain/fill again soon to clean out that differential. Even though that may not have been the cheapest oil to use only temporarily, I figured it might do the best job cleaning out the crud.

I replaced the drain and fill plugs with a couple of the low profile magnetic plugs I picked up from Marlin Crawler. The 10mm allen type (?) plug is awesome. It's not going to strip anytime soon and fits my tool super snug.

Shifter Seat/Bushing

One of the (many) most common problems with trucks like mine is that the shifter bushing/seat disintegrates over time. This makes shifting sloppy at best and almost impossible to find your gears at worst. Mine was pretty much gone, but since I'm well aware of where the gears are, I didn't have too much trouble shifting.

I called up my mechanic first because, honestly, I was nervous about doing any repairs on my truck (even though I bought it specifically so that I could work on it myself). I am a girl, completely inexperienced and have no idea what really goes into wrenching on a vehicle. He wanted something like $160 to replace the bushing.

I did some research and found out that I could get the bushing for $10 at Marlin Crawler so the $160 sounded like way too much cash. (*Note: I am well aware of the fact that here in Cali work at shops is expensive due to the fact that we pay our people a pretty decent wage and general overhead is pricey too.) I read some write-ups on YotaTech.com and this one on OffRoad.com. I gained some confidence and ordered the parts from Marlin (seat and socket: $16 + shipping total).

When the parts arrived I was excited. I was really about to do my very own repair and save myself some cash! I pulled out a pair of needle nose pliers, socket and ratchet and started in on my job.

Everything was going really well until I tried to pull the rubber boot that sits on the tranny off. It broke apart like brittle 20 year old rubber is prone to do. I totally freaked out and called up my local Toyota dealership. They said that the boot was $90-something dollars! for a little rubber boot!?!

(<--This is what was left of the original shifter seat. Black goo.)

So I half-heartedly checked back on Marlin's website to see if they might carry it. They do! And the best part? It was less than 7 bucks. I went ahead and ordered 4 of their "low profile magnetic drain plugs" for my tranny, t-case, front and rear differentials since I was already paying for shipping.

The total cost was $39, not including tax/shipping. It was a super simple job and I decided to drain/fill my tranny since I was in there and have heard that it was easier to kill two birds with this one stone. It was, and thanks to these handy new drain plugs, the one that damn near stripped on my tranny was replaced at the same time.

This was the first repair I attempted on my truck. It was simple, scary, and well worth it. Total time: almost 2 weeks from start to finish (including down time due to that ripped boot). Total wrench time for me: 25 minutes. Yes, I took my time to make sure that I did everything correctly. She shifts perfectly now.

Brand New Motor

First things first, right? Apparently the bottom end of my motor was blown out. So what do I do about this? I shove a brand spanking new motor in it.

Not many folks decide to dump this kind of money in a 20+ year old vehicle. I think these trucks are worth it. I'm excited to see how long she'll run.

Truck Purchase

You know what it's like when you just have to have something? You know, those feelings of incompleteness, obsession, excitement, urgency and anxiety? Well, that's how I've been feeling without a truck. So, I had to do what any junkie does when they're feigning: I had to buy one.

I've loved the look, ride and sound of Toyota trucks since I was a little tyke. My pops had a few while I was growing up and - rusty or not - I loved them. I knew that one day, when I was all grown up, I'd have one of my own.

My first Toyota was a 2WD 1996 Tacoma SR5. I wasn't so keen on the body style when I first saw it. I thought it looked too wimpy with edges rounded off. I had planned to pick up a used 95 or older model. On the dealer lot, though, I changed my mind. The sales guy told me all about the improvements to the handling and the ride, then urged me to "step on it" around a corner on our test drive. That was it. I was sold.

Looking back, I pity that first truck. I was 17 and full of myself. I crashed that poor thing about 8 times before it finally gave out on me completely. It's last stand was in a 10 mph crash in Manhattan Beach, CA. It was probably the frame bending T-bone crash a few months earlier that really did it in, though.

My second truck: A 4WD 2003 Tacoma. This was my baby. I made sure to get regular maintenance done on time at well-researched shops and kept her as clean as I could. I took her out in the mud and way up into the Sinkyone Wilderness, on long drives in the middle of the night (sometimes when I shouldn't have been driving) and just about anywhere else I went.

Too little sleep and too much to drink doesn't make for sound judgment. I was almost all the way home when it happened. I don't remember much (nor do I want to go into details...), but I have a photo for remembrance nonetheless.

Can't really believe I survived this one. Rolled her 5 times. End over end, around and about... The real miracle: no one was hurt. Two very serious, real lessons were learned from this.
#1- DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE! It's not worth it.
#2- SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES! You wouldn't believe how far down the road the stuff I had under my seat ended up.

My mom thanks God. I thank the manufacturers of my once beautiful Tacoma. If you look closely at the picture you'll see that the windshield is broken a the top is caving in. Surprisingly, very little of this safety glass ended up breaking off. The driver's side window is completely missing though. A bit of this ended up in my head (nothing really major). The really awesome part of this picture, though, is what the frame of the driver door looks like. Apparently the truck is designed (without a roll bar) to crunch around the cab of the truck. How cool is that?

All of this has a point, really. I am still just as excited about Toyotas as I was when I was a kid, driving around in my pop's truck. And though I love the newer ones, I also still really envy the older body styles. Not only that: I haven't been kayaking for a while (try strapping a couple boats on top of a Prius or Civic!), camping with 4 dogs is a pain in the Prius and impossible in the Civic; driving a Civic makes me feel like I'm dragging my ass on the ground; driving on a gravel road is hard in either one of our cars; etc. etc.

I determined this time I'd get a 4 Runner. I checked out prices for a 1st gen via Craigslist and found them to be pretty reasonable, but getting my hands on a good one was like pulling teeth. 10 minutes after someone posted one, it'd be sold. Others had rust problems, modifications that weren't very well thought through, etc. Then I came across this guy's post about an 88 that had "minor engine problems." LOL. Minor? As soon as he started it up the motor shook pretty hard and then made this awful clank clank clank clank sound.

Turns out the bottom end of the motor was toast. But whatever. The body's in great condition and I was looking for a truck that I can finally make my own anyhow.