October 18, 2024 Sometimes, in an effort to make a Tacoma work really well off-road, modifications to the drivetrain result in the on-road performance being a little less than ideal. That's what happened to me - inadvertently - when I installed 4.88 gears in my front and rear diffs. I've loved those gears - they are one of my best mods on the trail and at slower speeds - but the side effect has been that my RPMs are significantly higher than stock when I'm cruising on the freeway. In fact, I've ended up finding that 62 mph - at…
3 CommentsMods and Maintenance: Drivetrain
TL;DR - I'm going to try replacing my 5th gear with a taller gear that should lower my RPMs at highway speeds and will hopefully improve my fuel economy (MPGs).
On the freeway, it's high revs all the time.
Leave a Comment
TL;DR - I couldn't get my rear e-locker to disengage on a recent trip. Turns out that one of the wires broke at the frame harness, so I need to fix it.
Many have had trouble with their e-lockers - usually because they've not used them for long periods of time and so they get gummed up - but I've never had any issue or run into this situation before.
Leave a Comment
The full report, minus my deets.
TL;DR - I had my second oil analysis done. With 260K miles on the Tacoma, everything still seems happy.
Leave a Comment
It's been a minute since I happened to glance under my truck on the way home from a trip and noticed that the rear axle housing was cracked and leaking at the passenger side leaf perch. Luckily though, the sinking feeling I had at the time has faded, no doubt due to the smashing success of the patch I installed - following Ryan's @Reh5108 lead - which has been trouble-free ever since. Of course, the only reason I installed the patch was because it was going to take a long time - six weeks was the estimate - to get…
5 Comments
Out with the old, in with the new.
TL;DR - The linear clutch pedal spring I installed is working great. Everyone with a torsion spring on their clutch pedal should do this proactively.
Leave a Comment
Still dripping.
TL;DR - After replacing the transmission seal on the transfer case input shaft, my leak disappeared for about three months. But, it's back, so I need to replace the seal again.
Leave a Comment
This little guy will solve all my problems.
TL;DR - For the last several months my clutch pedal hasn't been returning fully. Clearly, the plastic bushings on the torsion spring are wearing out (they're squeaky too), so I'll be replacing the torsion spring with a linear spring.
Leave a Comment
May 22, 2023 With the Tacoma living in Las Vegas now, it's harder to perform various maintenance tasks as they pop up and between trips. As such, with a few general maintenance issues - oil changes, tire rotations, etc. - and a few items in recent Rig Reviews needing attention, I drove the truck home from the Three Days of R&R trip for a little TLC (Tacoma Loving Care). On my list for a warm spring day were the following tasks: Routine maintenance - Change the oil, Rotate the tires Grease drive train. Check the new SPC UCAs for play in…
10 Comments
I guess you can say that I'm a little gun-shy after having two trips to Death Valley cut short due to mechanical issues. The first one - when my transfer case started making noise - was a surprise, but the second trip - when the main leaf of my leaf pack broke - was something I could have easily avoided with preventative maintenance. And so, I think it's time to stop putting off a bit more preventative maintenance work that I've been procrastinating: changing my timing belt (and the other associated components) and replacing my clutch. I've done the timing…
2 Comments
TL;DR - the new transfer case seems to be working great so far. After the input shaft bearing in my transfer case gave out on a trip to Death Valley, I quickly picked up a new (to me) transfer case from a local junkyard and swapped it into the Tacoma. My priority - of course - was to get back out on the trail as quickly as possible. So far - some 5500 miles later, seems thing to be really great. As in, the replacement transfer case seems to be in much better shape than mine had been for the…
Leave a Comment
By and large, the Tacoma has performed spectacularly over the 21 years since I drove it off the lot. With regular maintenance, I've really only had two or three failures - none of those failures requiring anything more than an early drive home - over the 200,000 miles it has travelled! I suppose I can't always expect everything to work perfectly, and on my Back for More trip to Death Valley, I had a bad-enough-to-head-home-immediately failure of the transfer case. But, the story starts much, much earlier... Background It was in November 2018 - while on a trip to the…
7 Comments
I've already picked up the replacement transfer case I'll be swapping in.
TL;DR - I need a new transfer case.
Leave a Comment
It's amazing what a little metal glue can accomplish. This fix was a huge success.
TL;DR - I've put 10K miles on my reinforced axle housing and it's working great. I'm really in no rush for my new one to arrive.
Leave a Comment
It seems like it's been a lot longer, but it was only a couple of weeks ago that I noticed my rear axle housing was leaking at the passenger side leaf spring perch. On my way home from surveying the Aftermath of the Creek and Dixie Fires, I knew that this was not some maintenance item that I could just put off until there were no trips on the horizon. Nope, this is something that I needed to deal with right away. After several fruitful discussions with my buddies on TacomaWorld, I immediately set about lining up the long-term fix…
6 Comments
To say I was not happy upon noticing this would be the understatement of the day.
TL;DR - My rear axle housing cracked at the passenger spring perch. I've ordered a new axle housing.
Leave a Comment
All the bushings I replaced.
TL;DR - All the new bushings I installed recently seem to be doing great.
Leave a Comment
TL;DR - seems to have resolved itself. The fluid was power steering fluid, I believe.
Leave a Comment
TL;DR - I don't really know what this is, but I'm going to keep monitoring it. Hopefully it's nothing.
Leave a Comment