Igor: Double Cab 4x4. Frankensteins Helper

[Blackdawg]

Nice to see the DC getting some love! I like Igor. Slick phone mount.

Thanks!

Yea Id like to keep building him. My SCS wheels will be here monday. Then i have a few other plans but will not be as outlandish as Frankenstein haha

Phone mount is very nice. Really like it!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Ahh man, nice to see Igor getting some love on here!

I have got to get down into Wyoming and wheel with you guys some more. Some great looking country down there.

 

[Blackdawg]

Ahh man, nice to see Igor getting some love on here!

I have got to get down into Wyoming and wheel with you guys some more. Some great looking country down there.

Yea he has gotten a lot of love in the maintenance area too recently. More to come too.

Yea you do! fun stuff in the big horns.

 

[Blackdawg]

Tundra Brakes and Brake overhaul:

So this is a tad overdue as I did most of this in September before my Utah trip. But I wasn't happy with the performance of it so I waited until i tweaked things to make it work how I wanted.

What I did to Igors brakes:

-Tundra 13wl Calipers and Rotors
-Deleted the ABS front lines and controller
-Deleted the OEM BPV and added a manual BPV
-New steel brake lines Front and Rear
-Experimented with Dual Diaphragm Booster and T100 1 1/16'' MC

So lets get started.

I gathered parts first ordering some Callahan Calipers from Ebay like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Brake...UOIA-TUNDRA-/272213381146?hash=item3f612e901a

And rotors from there too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Brake...2WD-4WD-4X4-/281697990693?hash=item4196823825

Front SS lines from Wheelers: https://wheelersoffroad.com/product...kes-463965/95-04-tacoma-front-brake-line-set/

Those aren't the exact links i used but they are gone now. I just bought calipers and then the rotors and pads came together. This at the time was cheaper then buying all 3 at once from someone.

I also bought a T100 Master Brake Cylinder from RockAuto: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=966315&cc=1278828&jsn=19

I got a Dual Diaphram Tacoma Booster and all the NON ABS front brake lines from my good buddy Brett @BossFoss in Lander

For the rear I went to Front Range Offroad to get a super nice Rear brake line and the manual BPV.

Brake line: http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/stainless-braided-brake-hoses/

Manual BPV: http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/proportioning-valve-kit/

many parts

TundraBrakes.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Lets start simple and with the rear, or part of the rear anyways.

I ripped out the stock BPV. Was pretty simple, just 4 bolts hold it to the frame rails and you have to undo the three brake lines. Two more down on the axle.

ManyMods.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After it's gone, looks like this

TundraBrakes-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

From there i unbolted the brake line bracket to help remove the stock one. Plus it was horrible and i wanted to clean it and paint it.

TundraBrakes-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is the small clip that holds on the brakes. Can be a ***** to get out as you'll see in the front. With the bracket it out was easy to pop off though.

TundraBrakes-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Stupid Midwest winters. Spent three out there and practically seems to have rusted half the frame away.

TundraBrakes-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Will clean this and paint it.

TundraBrakes-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After painting it I reinstalled it.

TundraBrakes-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

You have to use the provided E clip on the back side and use the OEM clip on the front side to hold the new line in.

Sucker is LONG. Can get them longer too. Very nice brake line and much longer then the one at Wheelers(19'' vs 25'').

TundraBrakes-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Lets do the front now.

Pretty simple to take the calipers off. Just 3 bolts, one for the brake line and two mounting bolts.

TundraBrakes-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Quite a bit bigger.

TundraBrakes-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

To get the rotor off, id suggest either a Hard plastic mallet, mayber a rubber or normal hammer and block of wood. Just ********** the sucker till it pops off.

TundraBrakes-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then set the new rotor on. I used two lugs to hold it on to place and suck it down.

TundraBrakes-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Here is my Wheelers front SS line. Nice quality. Its the Tacoma one, not the Tundra one.

TundraBrakes-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I cleaned off my Caliper bolts before reinstalling too.

TundraBrakes-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Bolted up the new calipers and started the brake line when i noticed this..

TundraBrakes-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Thats as tight as it goes too. Discouraged i check the other caliper and it was fine.

TundraBrakes-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The nipple on the inside of the caliper wasn't pushed far enough down in the bad one. Annoying.

I contacted the seller on eBay and never heard back. NOT cool. Will have to replace it later. Probably go with the Powerstop ones.

For now, i double stacked crush washers, not exactly a good thing but works for now.

TundraBrakes-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then i noticed something else bad while doing the other side with the brake lines.

TundraBrakes-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

That was way to close for comfort for me.

So i swapped the lines and had them angle inwards.

TundraBrakes-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

No problems now.

TundraBrakes-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Put the new hardware and brakes in

TundraBrakes-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is how it goes together.

TundraBrakes.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Ahh done! Super easy.

TundraBrakes-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Not the hard part...

Getting the top half down was a ***** to say the least. Main removing and reinstalling the hard lines was not fun.

Started with the brake booster. Had to come out.

TundraBrakes-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Pretty simple really, just disconnect the two brake lines and undo the 4 bolts in the cab behind the brake pedal.

TundraBrakes-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Takes a little finagling but it will come out. And leaves you with this mass of brake lines.

TundraBrakes-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I then removed the hard lines from the soft lines by the front. Uses the same clip as the rear but I could not get mine out further then this.

TundraBrakes-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So dual vice grips came out.

TundraBrakes-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Somehow it worked and i could remove the line. PITA. Other side was much easier.

The hard line to the driver side is short so once its undone from the lower area it comes right out. Same with the rear.

The Passenger side is a long line that runs along the fire wall. If you have ABS you have 4 lines like this...

TundraBrakes-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Oh joy! Undo all the bolts of the clips holding them down.

Then you have to undo them from the controller.

TundraBrakes-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

At this point just remove the controller. Just a couple bolts and comes out. The wiring harness actually came off pretty easy.

TundraBrakes-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I guess that thing is worth some money. Maybe..ha

Either way, now you have to somehow get the lines out. This takes time and lots of effort to get the around the motor and everything. But you can get them out..

TundraBrakes-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

To be replaced with this.

TundraBrakes-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Almost funny how different it all is. Still a PITA to get the passenger side line in but not as bad. I just reused the clips from the 4 lines. Seems like it'll work just fine.

Now it time to talke MC and Boosters.

I have 3 MCs and two boosters. All are different, lets start with the MCs.

From left to right:

OEM 01-04 Tacoma 13/16'' bore 2 bolt flange
OEM 96-00 Tacoma 1'' bore 4 bolt flange
T100 95-97 Heavy Duty 1 1/16'' bore 4 bolt flange

TundraBrakes-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

T100

TundraBrakes-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

96-00 1'' Bore Tacoma

TundraBrakes-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

01-04 13/16'' bore Tacoma

TundraBrakes-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now its has been documented by a few out there that swapping to the T100 larger bore MC greatly improves their braking. The idea being its a larger piston which moves more fluid. So one would think that it would do the same and be nice when running larger Tundra calipers yes?

No.

This is NOT what I found out. More on that later though.

For this configuration I still wanted to try it though so the T100 MC was too go on.

You must have the right Booster though to use it, the Stock on from my truck only had a 2 bolt flange, you need a 4 bolt flange one which means its Dual diaphragm vs the 2 bolt and smaller single diaphragm. They look drastically different.

Top is my OEM one, the Single. Bottom is Dual.

TundraBrakes-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

They are very different in a lot of ways besides just thickness.

The studs are different lengths and the output shafts are different as are the connecting rod ends.

TundraBrakes-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

While they are different thickness'. Check out the aluminum spacer on the Single. This makes the mounting position of the MC the exact same distance.

TundraBrakes-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Studs are different but again, that due to the spacer.

TundraBrakes-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

The brake shafts are quite different too.

TundraBrakes-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

First thing to do was swap the rod ends over.

TundraBrakes-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

However the shaft of the dual diaphragm boost is much too long so i cut off about 1/2''. Less would work too.

TundraBrakes-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then I had to modify the brake pedal. Instead of just being hooked straight to the pedal like Frankenstein or how pretty much any tacoma with a dual diaphragm booster works. I have this complex dual lever setup.

TundraBrakes-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So need to disconnect all those pins and undo the lower bolt.

TundraBrakes-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

i saved all of this(thankfully)

TundraBrakes-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And was left with this.

TundraBrakes-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Threw the booster in and saw this..

TundraBrakes-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Damn.

No problem though, just unbolted the brake pedal and marked where to drill a hole.

TundraBrakes-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Small hole, hope i get this right.

TundraBrakes-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And it worked!

TundraBrakes-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

With the booster mounted i set about getting the rear BPV setup.

The kit from Front Range is great. It comes with a standard Jegs BPV but Brian has done all the work of finding the metric adapters for you. Pretty slick.

TundraBrakes-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now, I basically followed Bretts @BDN on this and i highly suggest checking out his writeup: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bretts-average-build-thread.305098/page-28#post-12388470

So I went ahead and bend up the adapter lines as needed. You NEED to use brake line benders for this. Or you risk kinking the lines. Your call i guess.

TundraBrakes-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I attached the new BPV to the rear line and then slapped in the T100 MC and connected up my lines.

TundraBrakes-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I tightened everything up and bled the system.

This is where i became disappointed.

I bled the brakes a ton. Like went through 2 quarts a brake fluid. And finally let it be.

The problem was the pedal feel. I hated it. It was insanely soft. Hell i couldn't even get the brakes to lock up until it was totally floored! Compared to stock I was not happy.

After digging more and talking to a few people here is what i've found out.

The larger the MC the LESS PRESSURE there is and MORE VOLUME. The dual diaphragm makes the pedal softer, its its job. And a dual vs a single makes it much easier to push the pedal.

What i also came to realize was every tacoma i had read about doing this swap. Was SAS. They where using much larger full size brakes. They needed the volume. The guys I had talked to how had done this swap with the tundra brakes had the same result as me.

Which then brought up an interesting theory to light about the tundra brake swap.

The whole point to trying this was to avoid soft pedal feel. Which MANY people claim has happen when they do the Tundra brake swap. My theory is that those people have 95-00 Tacoma's. The years that came with the 1'' Bore MC and Dual Diaphragm booster. Everyone who rants and raves are 01-04s with single diaphragm boosters and 13/16'' MC.

To test this myself, I decided to swap BACK to my OEM 13/16'' MC and single diaphragm booster this christmas after driving thousands of miles on the T100 MC and Dual Booster.

Out with the new in with the old

TundraBrakes-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
TundraBrakes-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Thank god i kept everything.

WOW what a difference. Brakes are sensitive again and i can lock them up fully no problem.

So as far as i can tell, my theroy is true. But I haven't looked into it enough to confirm. I am confident that if anyone says they have a soft pedal after the Tundra swap they have the larger MC and Booster.

Overall I am VERY happy with the tundra brakes. They work amazing and the rear BPV i think works too. I think my rear shoes are near shot though so they aren't work as great as I would like yet. Easy fix though and will hopefully do it this summer.

Tundra brakes are worth it IMO for later model Tacomas hands down.

Cheers for now! Have a couple more write ups of mods in the works.

 

[Blackdawg]

Front end Refreshing:

Igor has a good 183k or so on him. Which means its time for some major maintenace. I started with LBJs, Tie rod ends, and steering bushings.

My driver side outer tie rod was fused to the inner as i found out last time i tried getting an alignment. So figured may as well replace them all.

And since i was there i figured why not do LBJs since i have no idea if they are original or what. We all know my reputation with those so I didn't want to risk it.

For parts I went OEM for LBJs as i have felt aftermarket ones vs OEM and its night and day difference. OEMs are worth it. I also went OEM outer tie rods. But for inners I settled for 555 as toyota wants $136 for each inner.

No that is not a typo.

I went through Camelback for all my OEM parts and used the TW discount.

LBJ Right side: https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/parts/2003/Toyota/Tacoma/DLX/index.cfm?action=partDetail&section=FRONT SUSPENSION&group=FRONT SUSPENSION&subgroup=SUSPENSION COMPONENTS&component=Lower ball joint&partnumber=4333039556&vehicleid=78972&siteid=214329

LBJ Left Side: https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/parts/2003/Toyota/Tacoma/DLX/index.cfm?action=partDetail&section=FRONT SUSPENSION&group=FRONT SUSPENSION&subgroup=SUSPENSION COMPONENTS&component=Lower ball joint&partnumber=4334039436&vehicleid=78972&siteid=214329

Outer Tie Rod, Left side: https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/parts/2003/Toyota/Tacoma/index.cfm?action=partDetail&section=STEERING&group=STEERING GEAR & LINKAGE&subgroup=STEERING GEAR & LINKAGE&component=OUTER TIE ROD&partnumber=4504739175&vehicleid=78972&siteid=214329

Outer Tie Rod, Right side: https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/parts/2003/Toyota/Tacoma/index.cfm?action=partDetail&section=STEERING&group=STEERING GEAR & LINKAGE&subgroup=STEERING GEAR & LINKAGE&component=OUTER TIE ROD&partnumber=4504639295&vehicleid=78972&siteid=214329

I got my inners from LowRange Offroad: http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/toyo...a-tacoma-inner-tie-rod-end-left-or-right.html

For bushings I went with Total Chaos Poly bushings from Wheelers: https://wheelersoffroad.com/product...chaos-polyurethane-steering-rack-bushing-kit/

The inner's were of course on back order. took 6 weeks to get them. But finally did!

ManyMods.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I started with the LBJs as they are connected to the steering. Just need to remove the 4 bolts.

ManyMods-2.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I couldn't figure out and convenient way to hold the UCA and spindle up out of the way, but it still worked fine just had to lift it as needed.

ManyMods-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And this is a tool that in my humble opinion EVERYONE with a 1st gen Tacoma should own. Easily. If you can't afford the $15 price tag to keep this thing in your OSK. You can rent it for free. But its only $15...

ManyMods-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This is a Pitman puller. And makes this job very easy. Low Range Offroad has a great video on doing the inner and outer tie rods, which I agree with most of the techniques used. The one i don't is beating the **** out of your tie rods and LBJs to get them out.

This is where the pitman puller is worth it.

We will do the Outer Tie rod first, so take the cotter pin out and take the nut off first

ManyMods-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now grab the Pitman puller back the bolt out, slide it on then crank down the bolt.

ManyMods-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Grab a large wrench, I like to use a 12'' or larger crescent wrench for more leverage, which you will really want. And start tightening it down.

ManyMods-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I HIGHLY recommend wearing earmuff or ear plugs as this next part can be loud. Continue tightening down until you can't or it get very hard. Usually then a light tap on the pitman will send it home with a bang.

Literally.

ManyMods-8.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The pop can be pretty damn loud so seriously consider ear protection. But as you can see it pops right out no issues and the boot is not torn like a pickle fork would do and the threads are all beautiful if you wanted to reuse the tie rod.

Which I'm not but still. Very nice tool.

Repeat for the LBJ, can be a bit tricky if you have the dust boots to get the pitman on, but it will go on.

My LBJs definitely seem due..thank god we didn't find that out the hard way again eh Mike? lol @Digiratus

ManyMods-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

once off, remove the dust boot as you'll want them on the new LBJs.

ManyMods-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So fresh and clean

ManyMods-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Dirty *** boot..lol hard life ahead for this LBJ.

ManyMods-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Set the LBJ back in the LCA hole and put the bolts back in. Now i didn't put in new bolts YET. But you SHOULD. I didn't realize my PN for the LBjs didn't come with new bolts as some do. So if you order from my parts list above, GET NEW BOLTS TOO!

I settled to clean them and will replace later this spring. Added Blue locktite and torqued to 55ft/lbs. Will use Red next time but didn't have red at the shop this go around.

ManyMods-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Time for the Tie rods.

ManyMods-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Id recommend watching this video for the sole reason to see how to undo the boot clamps. I couldn't take photos of it as it takes two hands and tools so if anything watch it for that part. Should have it linked to start right at that part.

https://youtu.be/AVQHgcXEhpE?t=4m28s

Now my drive side was fused together so i took the main boot off and removed the Inner tie rod from the rack.

This is a problem as there is no way to get the boot off or the smaller clamp without seperating the two tie rods. Well after trying I said **** it

ManyMods-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And cut it in half.

ManyMods-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

this allowed me to get off the Nut which i needed as well and the boot and clamp.

Installed the new inner

ManyMods-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The grabbed the new outer.

ManyMods-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Once again i was surprised to find no hardware came with it. Something that was going to be an underlying problem with this whole install. I got no new nut for the tie rod. But my old ones where in good shape and I had no issues with using them.

Bolted everything back up, make sure you put the boot on and clamp first, and was done!

ManyMods-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Repeated on the other side.

Then i moved to the bushings.

TC includes some nice instructions. Not a lot too this. 4 bolts and then you have to pry the rack away which can be a bit hard. Using a torch i headed the bushings centers out till they smoked or caught fire. Pushed right out no problem.

ManyMods-55.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-54.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

to be replaced with these.

ManyMods-53.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I was amazed at how well this was going for me and usually the dealing with the rack sucks ***. I lubbed up everything with lithium grease and everything went in great.

 

[Blackdawg]

Well, it bit me. The TC kit that i got didn't come with a back washer and the instructions make note of only the T100 and Tundra kit having one. Thought that was odd. Got everything put in save the back half of the furthest bushing on the driver side. I hated how there wasn't a washer but didn't have anything on hand and tried to see if it would work..

it didn't.

ManyMods-56.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So i made one from the old bushings using the center that had a washer on it. I had already used the OEM washer on the front.

ManyMods-57.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Cut off the center tube and was good.

ManyMods-58.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Much better.

ManyMods-60.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Of course the 2nd time around it was a major PITA to get everything lined up..but eventually I got it all buttoned up!

ManyMods-59.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Got it aligned and drives straight and solid.

I also did the Tac Weld mod at this time. But will make that a separate post.

 

[Blackdawg]

Tac Weld Mod:

This Mod is fairly well know on here already and many have done it. I was skeptical of it myself really, but considering it was easy to do and easy to reverse. I figured I'd give it a shot.

The original write up is here on TTORA: http://www.ttora.com/forum/2-early-tacoma-tech/161689-diagnose-fix-steering-play-rattle.html

Its a great document and I didn't really have the intention of writing this up. But then i realized that no one likes going to TTORA anymore since it got sold out. So figured what the hell. That said, the TTORA doc is a great one.

So here we go, time to pull this ***** out.

ManyMods-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

First, disconnect the ground. Unless you want an air bag to go off in your face potentially.

ManyMods-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

i skipped removing the air bag. Mostly because mine wouldn't come out. Never had an issue though. I just removed the cover. There are screws behind the wheel, just turn it and you'll see one on each side. Remove those.

ManyMods-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And this one on the bottom.

ManyMods-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After that the plastic will separate. Takes a bit of effort and at first more then you'll be comfortable with, but will come apart.

ManyMods-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

After that pull the lower panel, 4 10mm bolts and a body screw.

ManyMods-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

You'll also want to totally remove the hood latch handle as you'll want to remove the entire lower dash panel. Not just set it down.

Couple body screws hold it in.

ManyMods-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Remove the heat tube. To do this you have to take off the screw holding it in place.

ManyMods-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It'll just pull out easily after that.

Bit dirty in there...

ManyMods-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Anyways should look like this

ManyMods-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now disconnect all the wiring from the steering wheel.

ManyMods-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

On the key side you'll want to undo this clip holding the wiring.

ManyMods-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

and then underneath the column you'll want to undo this clip.

ManyMods-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now if you are totally stock. The OEM wiring harness will simple fall to the floor and be out of your way. I have run my wiring harness to my switches and clipped it to the OEM harness. So mine did not. But it had enough play that i could still remove my column.

ManyMods-39.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Next you'll want to remove the plastic around the Key and the clock.

ManyMods-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-38.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then remove the top two springs for adjusting the wheel. These can be a bit tricky. Needle nose vice grips helped a lot here and for the reinstall.

ManyMods-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We are now ready to undo the bolts holding it in!

Undo the bolt at the rear joint by the brake pedal.

ManyMods-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

While your under then, undo the brake pedal spring.

ManyMods-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now its time to do the 4 nuts holding the column up. They look like this.

ManyMods-42.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

There are two rear ones and two front ones. Rear being towards the firewall and front towards the wheel.

ManyMods-43.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Undo the two back ones. Then break the front two loose! DO NOT UNDO THEM! or you'll have a column fall all over the place.

These are the front two.

ManyMods-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

With the front two nuts loose. Get in the drivers seat and undo the nuts by hand. You'll be able to catch the column in your lap with your legs and hands. Then pull straight out to detach the column from the joint and you'll be home free!

ManyMods-45.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Like the headless horseman!

ManyMods-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now you have to separate the column to see the joint. Start by undoing these two allen bolts.

ManyMods-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then stand up the column like so and pull up on the mounting brackets.

ManyMods-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Will come apart like so

ManyMods-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Grabe the shaft and bend it downwards at a 90º angle.

ManyMods-50.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It will lift right out after that. Don't touch the grease ball at the joint.

And there will be the small slip joint we are after.

ManyMods-51.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Grabbed the welder and put two small tacks on it 180º from eachother.

ManyMods-52.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then reassemble the column and you're done. Was pretty easy really.

Now, was it worth it?

Yes. Yes it was.

Now yes, I did steering rack bushings at the same time. But this mod does something else. I shall do my best to describe it.

The overall feeling of the steering is the same. I mean come on, we didn't actually CHANGE anything. Its not quicker, it can't be, its not more responsive really. But it does feel more direct. I can go down the highway at 75mph now and LITERALLY almost not move the wheel. Bushings alone will not do that. Its more connected to me when on the highway in that way. Am i still making corrections to stay straight? yes. But they are super super small movements if at all vs what I had to do before. Bushings will help with wander a lot i know i know. But this is a whole other level.

Around town I don't feel like my steering has changed all the much from the stock bushings i had.

I'll be very curious how it feels offroad though. My biggest worry is too much road feel back into the wheel.

It is hard to describe. But if you own a welder, do it. Well worth the effort I think.




While i was here, I replaced my broken door handle.

ManyMods-61.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

poor thing snapped.

Not sure how many people have done this so here is how.

ManyMods-62.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Start here by popping these covers off, they cover screws, remove them.

ManyMods-63.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-64.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Go to the switches and you're going to pop it up and unplug them.

ManyMods-66.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-67.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-68.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then move to the interior door handle and remove the screw in it.

ManyMods-65.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Once the screw is out, push on the handle sideways towards the cab, it'll slide like so

ManyMods-69.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Pull it out.

ManyMods-70.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Undo the rod clip careful not to break it, like I did

ManyMods-71.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Pop the corner cover off.

ManyMods-72.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-73.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Now to remove the panel.

First, GET ONE OF THESE

ManyMods-74.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Seriously, it'll save you a lot of headache and more importantly a lot of broken clips.

Works wonders.

ManyMods-75.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I removed the panel twice in the day and didn't break a single clip. The only clip that is broken is from the PO near as i can tell.

Work your way around the panel with the tool popping off the clips till its free.

ManyMods-76.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then push the panel up to remove.

Undo the tweeter wire to be completely free(if you have them)

ManyMods-77.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And you'll be left with this.

ManyMods-78.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

peel back the plastic and you'll see the door handle(worth noting you'll need the window UP to get to the door handle. Helps it its DOWN for the panel removal and install. Just plug the controls back in as needed)

ManyMods-79.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

There are two 8mm bolts holding it to the door. Two rods are also connected, one to ope the door and one to unlock the truck.

ManyMods-80.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I found it easier to undo the locks rod clip(DON'T BREAK IT) and pull the lock. You'll need it for your new door handle.

ManyMods-81.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then you can fish the handle out mostly. The door rod is all thats left. Go ahead and break this clip, you won't be able to not break it and remove the handle. The new handle has the new clip though.

ManyMods-83.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-84.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-85.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

i went full OEM for my handle and paid a $90 shipped preimium price tag ouch. But worth it I think. Toyota plastic is always better then any aftermarket options ive seen.

ManyMods-82.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
ManyMods-86.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Install the lock on the new handle.

ManyMods-87.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then just reassemble. So nice to have a working door handle again!

 

[98tcoma3rz]

Great write ups man! You make everything seem so easy. I don't even know what most of your electronics are for lol. Does the tundra brake upgrade make a big difference? I have a 98 but with 15" wheels and 1" spacers. I've been told the calipers wont clear? How do you like wheeling the double cab? I recently bought one and have been thinking of doing a light wheeling/overlanding rig like you're doing.

 

[Blackdawg]

Great write ups man! You make everything seem so easy. I don't even know what most of your electronics are for lol. Does the tundra brake upgrade make a big difference? I have a 98 but with 15" wheels and 1" spacers. I've been told the calipers wont clear? How do you like wheeling the double cab? I recently bought one and have been thinking of doing a light wheeling/overlanding rig like you're doing.

haha everything looks easy when reading about it! But some jobs really aren't that bad so you should do them!

The tundra brakes made a huge difference. Very much recommended. Though if you read my write up, your tacoma is a 98. So it should have a 1'' MC bore with a dual diaphragm booster. You could experiance a soft pedal after installing them. If you do, swap MCs and Boosters over from a later tacoma 01-04.

Yes you can not fit them with a 15'' wheel. Even some 16'' wheels won't clear. SCS wheels are designed to clear so you're always safe going that route.

I took Igor instead of Frank on my latest two week trip to Utah. Was 15 days on the road(there will be a massive write up on this). I loved it. Having the double cab was great for us. We enjoyed having the extra storage for things we wanted to keep clean and dry. But I still can run the RTT at a low height in the bed with all the other gear. The only things I didn't like was the auto tranny, Im more of a manual guy and Frankenstein is. And I hated my current suspension setup compared to Frankenstein too. Which isn't Igors fault really.

So plenty of kinks to work out and add some bumpers too. But I think the double cab is a great platform for overlanding and camping. I took the rear seats out which was easy to do and plan on making a fridge bracket. But it allowed for a lot more room.

 

[mtnkid85]

Yea, thanks for posting about the T100 MC.
I am getting ready to swap my Tundra 231mm calipers onto my 99 Tacoma and was seriously considering ordering that 1 1/16" MC to replace my 1"MC. But I am also going to be swapping the rear wheel cylinders to the larger Tundra 1" wheel cylinder from the stock 7/8". So I guess I will hold off on the T100 MC and see what my pedal feels like after installing both those other larger parts.

 

[Blackdawg]

Yea, thanks for posting about the T100 MC.
I am getting ready to swap my Tundra 231mm calipers onto my 99 Tacoma and was seriously considering ordering that 1 1/16" MC to replace my 1"MC. But I am also going to be swapping the rear wheel cylinders to the larger Tundra 1" wheel cylinder from the stock 7/8". So I guess I will hold off on the T100 MC and see what my pedal feels like after installing both those other larger parts.

Interesting, i have not heard of the rear cylinder swap. What does that do exactly?

And my understanding after much research is you'll likely want to keep your current MC. Maybe even smaller if it gets soft.

For rear disc brakes though i think you'l want the larger for the increased in volume needed.