2000 Extended Cab Tacoma, mild, long-term overland build

mbrewer

mbrewer
Hartman Rocks

Thanks Changingground!

We were hanging out at Hartman Rocks for a while, doing some rock climbing.
IMG_20170715_194049 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Turns out there were motorbike trials going on, picture here is from the amateur competition in the afternoon, pro's went in the morning (we were chatting with a guy who's going pro soon, and who's brother is 5'th in the nation apparently, good times)
IMG_20170716_153329 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

IMG_20170715_202656 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

IMG_20170717_200939 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
We happened in to the biggest FJ gathering in the world... Yay Toyota! :p
IMG_20170719_183356 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

We just had a quick wander then went off to actually drive our truck instead of look at others. Ended up camping at the foot of Black Bear pass, and going over it the next day.

Here's the view from our campsite
IMG_20170719_191644 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

A bunch of toyota's going up the pass (this was a group of 11), mostly FJs, but a couple taco's and runners, and a lexas as well.
IMG_20170720_075134 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Photo from the peak
IMG_20170720_083403 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Lots of trucks up there
IMG_20170720_083419 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Coming down the other side
IMG_20170720_084325 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Black Bear is *very* rough. I have to admit that it got my blood pumping once or twice. I HATE off-angle, so I got the truck tilted a bit more than I liked once or twice. Angie actually had to spot me coming down a spot or two. It says "short wheelbase only" but there was only one turn that I couldn't do as a simple 3-point. The switchbacks were totally doable... though I wouldn't want to do them in a 4-door full-bed taco. The dicey part is coming down next to the waterfall, about halfway down the backside. The rocks get rough enough that it takes some careful line choice to keep the truck from rolling over.

But, we made it... never hit bottom, rolled, or damaged anything. I was worried about the tire sidewalls through one section (rock wall on the right that I was kind of sitting the sidewall on to keep the truck at a good angle), but the C rated BFG AT2's did fine... no more scuffing than I already had on them really.

Sorry we didn't get pictures of the rough stuff... driving and spotting was too distracting. Angie even grabbed her phone to take some shots while spotting, but got too distracted keeping me from rolling the truck :p... oh well!
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
Been back in MA for the holidays. Doing some work on the truck.
I finally got a winch on it.
IMG_20180105_131332 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr
Trail Gear front bumper, Superwinch tiger shark synthetic line winch, and a curt hitch-mount license plate holder. The turn signals are stock, I drilled the flanges for zipties and ziptied them to the bumper. The tricky part was doing it in ~10F weather, and my truck doesn't fit in the garage in my parent's unheated barn. I stuck the nose in at least, which helped a lot.

It turns out my rear leaf springs got tweaked when I rolled the truck a year ago, so I'm also replacing those. My all-pros were fine, but they settled pretty badly. I decided to go with old-man-emu (with the extra add-a-leaf) this time as they look to handle load better. I ordered from Wheelers Offroad, and they came as expected. When I went to install them it turned out the rivet holding one of the alignment brackets was sheered off. Wheelers were very helpful though and shipped me a new spring, I had to move the leaf from one spring to the other, but now I'm ready to go. The high here is 1F today, but it should be in the 20's on Monday so I'm hoping to do the work then.

I think my clutch is slipping as well, so I need to take it to a shop and probably get a new clutch.

We've also been resorting gear again. We ditched the 2 guitars we had in favor of a new boulder pad for rock-climbing and a smaller travel guitar. The guitars were in the truck and the pad goes on the roof, so we'll be shifting the center of mass down considerably. I'm looking forward to a handling improvement.

I picked up a Vlair 550p 12v air compressor and ditched my crappy Slime branded one that started sounding rather sickly a while back. So, now I can air down and trust that I can air up again. I also replaced my old 30klbs 30ft jerk strap, which was beat to heck from dragging logs, and got moldy from getting damp, with a new 8ft 30klbs tree strap and a 14klbs ditch-pig rope (more appropriately rated, so it'll actually stretch). I got 1 pair of tire chains (I don't think they fit on the front with the 33s) since we're hoping to do some skiing in utah and Arizona in early spring. We're pretty well kited out now, the only bit of recovery gear we might want are sand/bridging ladders (Someday I'll spring for the Crux ones, but I already spent too much).

Many adventures since my last post, including finally doing some real multipitch trad climbing at seneca rocks, climbing in red river gorge, the new, the black hills, and out in wyoming, and a 1-week canoe trip in the boundary waters. We've been visiting friends and family for a couple of months now and are getting antsy to get back on the road. Can't wait to get rolling again!
 
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mbrewer

mbrewer
Sadly, I didn't get any photos of the installation process... But here's a quick photo-less writeup.

In case anyone else is searching for it. If you are installing a trail gear front bumper on a 2000 toyota tacoma, you need a grinder.
The crossmember that comes with the bumper replaces the cross-member that the front skid plate bolts to. It seems that on 2001-2004 models this crossmember is bolted on, but on the 2000 model year it's definitely welded.
Additionally, my original bumper didn't have a steel bar in it or anything, which surprised me a bit when I started taking things apart.

Total cost was ~$1000, about the cheapest I think you can mount a winch on a 1'st gen taco without fabbing your own bumper.

The Bumper: ~$500.0 (amazon)
So, to install:
1) remove the stock bumper. There's the obvious main attachment point, but also annoying side brackets.
2) unbolt the frame ends (the bolt is hidden inside the domed bit)
3) take a grinder and cut off the crossmember. You don't need to grind it all perfectly smooth, but you do need to cut it flush with the bottom of the rail, and on mine I needed to take down the most forward welds flush to get the new frame-member to slide on.
4) Slide on the frame member. This is the part that needs a BFH, a grinder is helpful here too. A heavy rubber covered deadblow mallet beats the pants off a wood block and hammer for this... I tried both. I added a slight bevel to the ends of my frame to help the member slide on. It was almost aligned, I just needed ~2 mm and simply hammering wasn't working. Some time back while dragging a log I yanked like heck on my tow-hook on the right side, actually bending the bottom of the frame rail a little, and it was still fine and bolted right up.
5) Bolt on the frame member. Put in all the bolts loosely, including the upper side bolts that also run through the bumper later on. Tighten the bottom ones up like this, this will ensure the upper bolts are aligned when you go to mount the bumper itself. Now pull them out.
6) Take a grinder and lop off the bumper stabilizing brackets that hang off the body (they are painted the body color). Each of these brackets has 2 spars, one of them will now be loose, you can simply go under the hood and unbolt it. I was able to reach the bolts on both sides without removing anything extra.
7) Trim your fenders. I used a utility knife for this.
8) Bolt on the bumper. A helper is REALLY useful here. I held the bumper while my dad got several bolts started to hold it all in place. I'm sure you could brace it with jack-stands or something, but a person is way easier and faster.

The winch ~$470.0 (amazon):
I had to drill the bumper to fit the bolts for the fairlead that came with my winch. The pre-drilled holes were too small. Bolt this in place first with the bolt-head on the inside... there isn't enough clearance to do it the other way. The 9500lb tigershark superwinch I installed is a tight fit. No trimming of the grill needed, but it took a little shoving to pop it in. It sits touching the bolt-heads for the fairlead, but bolts right up. I ran the cables across the front and through the firewall on the right, so they come out next to the battery, holding them in place with a few zipties.

The Lights ~$0.0 (a few cents in zip ties):
I originally planned to do the corner-light blinker mod by moving the actual socket https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-free-blinker-light-relocation-mod.186115/... but after more research and actually looking at it myself I realized the light doesn't fit right (it's too tall) and some folks report it partially melting the housing due to it ending up too close. I didn't like that. A better option is to rewire it with a 1157 socket as many report doing, but I'm unhappy with having to run screws in to epoxy that I pull out every time I change the light.

So, instead, I took the original signal housings off my bumper. My fiance realized that they fit really nicely in the triangles on the sides of the bumper if you flip them upside down. I decided I might as well give it a shot, so I drilled some of the extra plastic bits (stabalizing flanges and screw mounts). I drilled 2 on the top of each light and hung the light from the bar with zip-ties. This worked, but the lights still swung around too much, so next I drilled 2 more on the bottoms and zip tied those to the 2 bottom bars of the triangle. This worked great, and I even like the look. Best of all it means everything is stock, including all of the rain/humidity management seals and breathers. The wires are already in the right place, no relocation needed there either.

Painting in the cold:
My mom has a greenhouse, I turned on the heater and was able to get it up to ~55F. Then, lots of drop clothes and cardboard. I cleaned the bumper with mineral spirits, and painted with a self-priming rustoleum pant. I got on ~4 coats. When I did my rear bumper almost 2 years ago I did use a separate primer, but I had some minor peeling problems anyway (I didn't let it cure long enough I think). No matter what it seems like you always end up touching it up anyway, so at least I got it done and touch-up it's easy this way. Honestly, the bits of the frame I had to grind are still raw... I'd like to fix that at some point, but it's so cold right now that the paint'll freeze before it even make sit to the frame. I'll probably fix it once we're in warmer climes.

Front license plate ~$50.0 (amazon):
Given where I put my lights, there wasn't anywhere to put the plate directly on the bumper. I did find a decent hawse fairlead mount, but it seemed more fragile. The curt mount is exactly right, 6" from the pin hole to the plate, so it has just enough clearance for the hook. I used a locking hitch-pin so it'd be hard to steal. I like the look and clearance, and I can pull it off easily to use the winch. It cost ~$50.0, I was hoping to do better but I do like the result.

Note: prices include shipping
 
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mbrewer

mbrewer
Superwinch fail

IMG_20180120_085237 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

I just mounted this 9500 lb tigershark superwinch last week... and I haven't wheeled it since. I tightened the bolts using a normal socket-wrench, and I am not exactly a huge guy.
Right after I mounted it the winch seemed a little sketchy, it felt like it might've just been the controller having been in the cold, maybe it got damp or something. Anyway, I went to double-check that everything was working well. I pulled my reciever-mount license plate off, released the freespool on the winch, pulled the cable out, and this happened. The fairlead FELL OFF.

The bolts for the fairlead are big enough I had to drill out the original fairlead holes in my trail-gear bumper. Yet, under no load at all (I mean, it's a fairlead, not the winch itself), they sheared. Admittedly, the bolts were installed in ~10F conditions, but still... straight up sheering under no load, after hand tightening? ******?

To replace them I have to unmount the winch, so in the interest of not getting killed by a flying winch later, I figure maybe I'll replace the rest of the bolts that came with the winch as well.

For the record, I had the same model winch on a Jeep as well, and it worked great for me... but this was pretty weird.
 

Arctic Taco

Adventurer
FYI- You can use your Hi Lift jack to break the bead on your tires, just watch the edge of the rims-if they are aluminum or alloy, and as always with the Hi Lift- watch th handle and don't tip over your truck.
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
@Arctic Taco Thanks for the tip! I just had to do it again recently. Driving over it didn't go so well in the soft sand of Arizona. So, I ended up using the bottle-jack jammed against my front skid plate, and that worked great.

BUT! My tire still leaked. I used some soapy water and it was leaking all the way around the bead on the opposite side from the side I broke and reset. Turned out I'd gotten tons of crap jammed in the bead when I broke it, so using the stock tire iron and water I rinsed out the bead one section at a time, inflated it again, and this time it worked great. The things no-one ever mentions about doing this kind of work in the field :p.

BTW, I love the 550p air compressor, it had no issues in full sun on an 80F day.
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
What was your final impression of the Reflectix install? Worth it? Does it insulate well against hot and cold?

*shrug* I didn't have it long enough to be sure, I ripped it out about the time I really hit super cold weather (after rolling the truck in the blizzard, and trying to repair the cap). Overall I don't think it was amazing or terribly worth it though. The carpeting on my previous cap was better for condensation and that's a lot more relevant a lot more of the time (drips on the face in the middle of the night are unpleasant). In the end, your sleepingbag is most of your warmth anyway.
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
Kudos for seemingly keeping a positive attitude with numerous mechanical setbacks

I beat on this poor thing, offroading in it probably every other day or so on average and always fully loaded. I could've just replaced all of the valve stems at once, but decided to be a cheapskate and stall on it. I recently made the same choice with my slowly dying clutch, deciding to wait until it's actually shot (starting to slip a little under heavier loads) before I replace it. I'm trying to learn how to be cheap without ending up with an unreliable truck.
It's a Toyota for sure, and it can take the beating better than most vehicles, but it's still an 18 year old truck from Reno with all of the original rubber rotted, and it's been upside down... there's only so much you can expect even from a Toyota.

Overall I've been really happy with the rig, it hasn't let me down yet. So yeah... definitely a positive attitude. We're currently in Tucson, Arizona after an amazing primitive skills gathering hanging out with a friend we met there, excited about all of the amazing possibilities ahead off us. We're talking about ending the perpetual roadtrip this all or maybe next spring... but the truck will stay my DD, and the adventures will not cease, we just might have a home base.
 

SportsmanJake

Adventurer
I've read a lot of travel threads, but never one with so many vehicular issues.
I am sure it was tough to keep a positive attitude. Glad to see you guys are still trucking!

Thanks for sharing
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
We made a new awesome friend in the Tucson area and while hanging out with him he offered to help me swap my clutch. My clutch wasn't totally dead yet, but definitely getting there, but one good ****up and I'd probably shoot the last of it. He's a diesel mechanic, but had never worked on a smaller vehicle.
It took us 3 easy days, second day we got a late start, and we were packed up before dark fell each day.
I do have a couple of tips for anyone else doing this
- wait to get any difficult electrical connections until you've started to slide the transmission out. It's hard to see the bolts for the wiring harness before that point *anyway*, just make sure to run your transmission jack strap *under* the wiring harness.
- Drop the rear skid plate to get to the bolts for the "front end plate". No-one tells you what the "rear end plate" is, but it's a dust-plate on the front side of the transmission, most of the front of the bellhousing is covered by the back of the engine block... but not the bottom couple of inches, so it has a seperate plate.
- Don't bother pulling off the front exhaust pipe... exhausts are a pita, we gave up after giving it a good go and decided we could *probably* work around it, you can, it's not in the way
- Instead, remove the front driveshaft ALL the way, this gives you the space to easily jiggle the transmission out and back in again. Note that on my truck the front drive-shaft's output side was bolted with *bolts*, but the input side of both front and rear driveshafts were bolted with *studs*. They LOOK like bolts 'til you get them out, then you realize they have a funny flange so they grab on to the hole... don't knock them out, instead if you have trouble removing the shaft just open the greece fitting and compress the shaft a little... easy as pie.
- Lastly, to pull the transmission I highly recommend a ratchet-strap off the rear axle. Then you can kick the transmission back and forth, jacking it up and down with the jack, and it'll slide right out. This makes what takes some folks 4 hours, take just a few minutes

Sliding it back in was surprisingly easy, you just really have to take your time and get everything lined up JUST right... transmission jack was well worth the investment. I was able to push the tranny in to place with my legs while my friend watched the alignment.
Clutch was still a little sloppy feeling when I was done, but I just did a clutch bleed and that seems to have fixed it, feels good now... must've gotten a bit of air in there at some point. I'm going to take it for a test drive to go get some parts.

So, NEW problems.
- I swapped the throttle position sensor which has thrown codes twice now, and I'm hoping the position sensor is why it threw a new code about the engine not coming to temp fast enough... could be I need a new thermostat though. Ugh.
- My brakes are screwed up again. That whole mess getting the pull to the right fixed and despite replacing the calipers, my brakes wore really unevenly. Left looks fine, right is really worn, outside of right is even more worn and a touch crooked in the wear. My conclusion is a bad brake line that's swollen up inside and isn't letting the brake release. This seems more likely than one of the replacement calipers being bad (also a possibility). Soooo... new pads and new brake lines, weee!
- found some bolts missing under the truck while working on the tranny, gonna go pick those up, the ones in the rear engine mount (the tranny crossmember really) seem to fall out based on reading the web... gonna torque them carefully, maybe use a drop of locktite
- Coming up on the 120k mile service... I'm tired of doing car work all the time so I'm going to hit it early, found out my left front inner CV boot is cracking... probably going to have a shop do that. swapped the trans fluid anyway, so gonna do the tcase, diffs, and plugs.

Weeee! looking forward to having a properly functioning truck again. If I replace/rebuild every part of the truck, eventually it'll stop having problems right? Right?
 

mbrewer

mbrewer
Obligatory shots from the transmission drop:
transmission by smalladventures photos, on Flickr
video2 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

And some pretty places we've visited recently
IMG_20180123_091817 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

IMG_20180123_105201 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr

Update on problems:
- Check engine light wasn't that... new new problem. It looks like I need a new thermostat, check engine code says basically that, and one tube is WAY hotter than the other. Guy at NAPA said that's diagnostic for thermostat, so... another project.
- For the brakes I decided it's probably the ancient sad brake lines... 'cause all my truck's old rubber is shot. apparently they can swell internally which will keep fluid from flowing back after you apply the brakes, thus causing brake wear. It might explain the original caliper problem as well that I had diagnosed and fixed (well, calipers replaced) in durango last year. So... doing brake pads and brake lines and see how that goes.

I'm going to do the rest of it myself I think, but I'm unsure about the CV boot... need to do more research on that front. It's gonna be 3 or 4 more days of car work... Hooray!
 

Olbuford

New member
Awesome thread and glad to see you're sticking with it.
With regards to the cv boot... most of the time you're better off just replacing the entire shaft for the cost and headache of dealing with putting on the boot. Plus you won't have to worry that dirt and grit got into the joints. Replacing the shaft yourself will be nothing compared to doing the clutch. Good luck and safe travels
 

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