Just Bought My First Toyota: A 2008 Tacoma Access Cab

[Jeff H]

Nice Tacoma! Great to see another 4x4 with the 2TRFE on here... I feel as though they are the last in the lineage of "true" Toyota Pickups. CPS (Cheap Prick Special) - no power anything except for steering.

With regards to the battery choice - I've been running a Group 31 AGM (Deka) that I picked up in Anchorage in 2012. It's been great to me, and has endured some hard usage with winching, etc. In my opinion - the dual battery setups just add un-needed weight to our trucks. Sure, they're great if you want to be able to charge your arsenal of iWhatevers, otherwise you should be just fine with a good quality AGM or traditional battery.

Do you have any plans of regearing? Locker, etc?

I'll have to look into the Deka AGMs. I was planning on the DieHard Platinum 31M but from what I understand Odyssey will no longer be making them for Sears anymore. I've been trying to find a store/chain battery thats up to the task so just in case I have issues while traveling they can remedy it.

As for lockers and gearing, I would like to go with ARB lockers front/rear and I'll probably do a gear change when that happens. With the added weight from armor and once I go to 33's I think a gear change will be necessary.

Your truck looks pretty sweet! What lights are you running on your ARB?

 

[Jeff H]

So after doing a lot of digging and researching I decided on a battery setup. After checking around locally for my battery options I decided to go with dual Group 34 Napa Legend AGM (Deka AGM relabel) batteries and the Blue Sea ML-ACR to isolate them. I weighed heavily on the pro's/con's and decided it was the best for me because:

1. I can source Group 34 AGM batteries locally easier than I could the Group 31
2. Warranty was better on the 34 AGM (the 31 AGM in a variety of labels only had 18mo warranties unless I ordered the DEKA off the interweb which then was 24 mo)
3. Redundancy (having two batteries allows me to jump myself if need be)

So tomorrow I'll be installing the first battery as normal until the weather breaks here and I can figure out where I will put the 2nd battery and build a battery mount.

 

[Jeff H]

A few items awaiting install:



I ended up with the 7620 ML-ACR instead of the 7622. I got a really good deal on it and I'm not sure I would really need the manual disconnect anyway. Now if it would stop snowing!

 

[Jeff H]

I figured I'd add a nice little touch as an ode to the black and white scheme..

 

[Jeff H]

We had our first 65 degree day on Thursday so I was able to do a little exploring before work.

Obligatory truck shots




The bay is finally thawing!


The wind was pushing all the ice on shore and then it would melt.. It looked pretty cool to see


All of the birds were out today




Now that our brutally cold winter is over I'm hoping to get out a lot more!

 

[Jeff H]

So my truck is currently sitting at the dealership since Monday. My drivers side 2nd leaf cracked and so I took it in to address that and the frame check at the same time. So far they said the frame checks out good. They are going to sand down the frame and recoat it. As for the leaf spring, because the recall isn't fully released yet they are just going to replace the broken spring pack for now. They put me in a rental Corolla while they search for an available leaf spring. Hopefully I'll get two new leafs out of the deal instead of just one.

They also mentioned that my drivers side strut was blown. So hopefully by the time I get the truck back I'll have my coilovers finished up for the install.

The broken leaf


My rental in Expo white :coffeedrink:

 

[jeverich]

That's interesting that they're going to sand the frame/re-paint...

I hope that they aren't going to use the same crap paint that was originally on there. I'd be super interested to know if they take the body off.

Good luck!

 

[Jeff H]

That's interesting that they're going to sand the frame/re-paint...

I hope that they aren't going to use the same crap paint that was originally on there. I'd be super interested to know if they take the body off.

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm hoping they actually do a good job and don't just cause further problems down the road. I'll be curious to see if they even take off the bed to do the frame. As of today it hasn't moved from where they parked it. So hopefully they find a spring pack soon.

 

[Jeff H]

I got my truck back today. They replaced the broken leaf pack with a 4-leaf pack on the drivers side. It's still rocking the 145k mile 3 leaf pack on the passenger side.

The frame looked sprayed thoroughly but not sure if they removed the bed. I'll have to look more thoroughly when it stops raining.

I'm not sure what to do with building my springs. I would rather both be built on new springs but they still have no clue when the recall will be official. So I'll have to decide if I want to build the OMD springs with a new drivers and original pass. leaf.

 

[surlydiesel]

They set you up with mis-matching springs??? Really??? That's terrible.

 

[Jeff H]

They set you up with mis-matching springs??? Really??? That's terrible.

Yeah I may be having a talk with someone soon. The service advisor I spoke with said all they'd do is replace the broken one for safety reasons until the recall was official.

 

[toyotech]

Go break the other one. They don't care. Tech is getting paid either way.


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[surlydiesel]

Your truck is well past the Rear Spring TSB but they should have done you a favor and replaced both spring packs at the same time. They can't lie and say a 4 leaf pack has the same load capacity and ride as a 3 leaf pack. Your truck is unevenly suspended and a dealership should be ashamed of themselves for letting the truck go out that way. Let us know if they do the right thing.

-jorge

 

[toyotech]

Your truck is well past the Rear Spring TSB but they should have done you a favor and replaced both spring packs at the same time. They can't lie and say a 4 leaf pack has the same load capacity and ride as a 3 leaf pack. Your truck is unevenly suspended and a dealership should be ashamed of themselves for letting the truck go out that way. Let us know if they do the right thing.

-jorge

It's not the dealerships fault. Toyota will only pay for failed part only if recall isn't released yet. It sucks but unless the dealership or you can get Toyota to pay for the other leaf. You can only do what I said and break it. Dealership just need justification otherwise Toyota will make dealer eat the part plus labor.


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[Jeff H]

It's not the dealerships fault. Toyota will only pay for failed part only if recall isn't released yet. It sucks but unless the dealership or you can get Toyota to pay for the other leaf. You can only do what I said and break it. Dealership just need justification otherwise Toyota will make dealer eat the part plus labor.


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I agree with it not being the dealers fault. They're just following protocol. It's Toyota that's dropping the ball on the recall.

I'll have to load up my truck to max capacity and expedite the process!