[stevos555]

Any chance you can link where to get a box of those. I have 2 sets - hood and truck latches ready to be installed. Like the Stainless idea.


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[MatosMiata]

Any chance you can link where to get a box of those. I have 2 sets - hood and truck latches ready to be installed. Like the Stainless idea.


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You can get a set on McMaster.com, they carry oddball metric bolts like that.

 

[stevos555]

Stainless 316 or 18-8


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[MatosMiata]

Stainless 316 or 18-8


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I used 316, 18-8 has less corrosion resistance.

 

[MatosMiata]

I ended up swapping out the 3rd brake light's bolts with the ones I colored with the torch.

As promised:

One Blue
LL2 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

One Gold
LL3 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Just to keep things interesting
LL4 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[MatosMiata]

Alright, time to breathe some life back into this thread! Now that I have a house, a truck is a necessity, so I had to get the old girl reliable for the many trips to and from the hardware store! My steering felt absolutely terrible, so I hit Rock Auto and ordered all the top of the line stuff. All new upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, and inner and outer wheel bearings. They didn't have the lower ball joints from Moog, so I went with Proforged. Unfortunately, this took longer than necessary to install due to not having the proper tools and Rock Auto sending me the wrong inner tie rods... which I would only realize upon taking off the old ones...lovely. Luckily, I was able to send them back for a refund and my local Pepboys had the correct Moog units in stock!
SO1 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[MatosMiata]

The balljoints were real easy and both sides got done in a day.

Here is the suspension disassembled. Sway bar bushings have seen better days smh (swap coming soon)
SO2 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Here's the new upper ball joint from Moog. Oh, how I love Toyota for choosing a bolt-on upper balljoint instead of a stupid one that I would need to push out with a press!
SO3 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Here it is, installed with all its fancy hardware and grease fitting. Moog parts are pretty nice, made in Japan too. I would have never guessed.
SO4 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

The lowers from Proforged are pretty nice too. Unfortunately, they don't have grease fittings like the factory ones and the Moogs.
SO5 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Putting these on is cake. Taking them out too. The lower ball joints and outer tie rods can be removed by tapping the side of the control arm with a mini sledge, as well as hitting their bolts directly. You aren't reusing them, so their center bolt doesn't matter.
SO6 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[MatosMiata]

In order to remove the inner tie rods, you NEED this tool. I tried simply undoing the bent lock washers and trying to turn the inner tie rods with a wrench. It is impossible, do NOT try it, you will snap the steering rack out of its mounts before you manage to remove them this way. The tool and a breaker bar makes this cake to do and won't torque your steering rack!
SO7 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

With that, I could easily get my new tie rods in, with their loktite, and bend their new locking washers (requires a tiny hammer to hit them in the reduced space available)
SO8 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

From there, I locked the outer tie rods into place using the supplied nuts and cotter pins. I marked the location of the holes for the cotter pins with white nail polish. This is so the orientation of the holes would be easy to see, such that I could align the gaps in the nuts properly. This makes getting the cotter pins in a breeze. You can see me bending a cotter pin here
SO9 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[MatosMiata]

At this point, I attempted to get an alignment. However, the local shop wouldn't do it because they said I had play in the wheel bearings. Oh well, I had them anyway, so it was time to install them. You can't simply install the bearings as is, they need to be packed with grease first.

Here is everything that is required to pack the bearings before install. First and foremost, GLOVES! You will have a terrible mess on your hands after this and you really don't want that grease on your hands. Beyond that, you need the bearings themselves, a grease gun, wheel bearing grease (I chose Mobil 1), and a bearing packing tool.
SO10 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

You fill your grease gun with the bearing grease and prepare the bearing packer to receive the bearings.
SO11 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Then, you place your bearing in the tool and get ready to make a mess lol!
SO12 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Here are the completed bearings safely sealed in zip loc bags to keep debris from sticking to them
SO13 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[MatosMiata]

From there, I removed my old outer wheel bearings, followed by the hubs and the inners. To remove the seal holding in the inner bearings, just put the retaining nut back on after removing the outer wheel bearing. Then, tug the hub toward you such that the nut pushes on the inner bearing and knocks out the rear seal. It should come out with ease.

Then, clean up and regrease the hubs
SO14 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

and install your new bearings/replace the rear seal. Note, I did not have access to a press and was generally in a hurry to get working on my house. For this reason, I did not press in the new races that come with the bearings. I reused the old ones and everything came out nice and tight/smooth. Your mileage may vary. If at all possible, do the races as well.
SO15 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Then, clean up your spindle and apply new grease
SO16 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Reinstall the hubs to the spindles using the assorted retaining washer and nuts and replace the cotter pins with new ones
SO17 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Finally, add some new grease to the inside of the cap and reinstall the cap to seal off the hub. Check for play(mine had none) and follow the service manual procedure to set the bearings. Then, relax for a while and admire your work.
SO18 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

Once you are over that, don't forget to clean any grease off your rotors! I did and also hit them with some sand paper to clean off the rust from a year of mostly sitting in a backyard.

 

[MatosMiata]

Decided I was tired of pushing my ridiculously heavy clutch pedal and holding it down every single time I start the truck. So, I took the truck out of gear, crawled into the floor space and pushed down the button under the clutch pedal. Once I saw that I could turn the truck on whilst pushing this in, I knew what to bypass. In the Miata world, we have the bypass clip from Flying Miata that installs here and holds the button down. I considered designing one for the Tacoma, but I realized a simple zip tie would do the trick. Here is the completed bypass, it works like a charm.

DISCLAIMER: This modification makes it possible for you or someone else to inadvertently start the vehicle in gear. This could result in the vehicle crashing into people, buildings, pets, other vehicles, etc and result in serious injury or death. If you perform this mod, you do so at your own risk. I take ZERO responsibility for any harm or damage done by your vehicle and/or to your vehicle as a result of this mod.
CM0 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

On another note, how annoying is it that car manufacturers don't paint the metal that goes under the dash just because it isn't visible? I don't care if I can't see it, I DON'T want RUST in my car smh!

 

[m00se]

DISCLAIMER: This modification makes it possible for you or someone else to inadvertently start the vehicle in gear. This could result in the vehicle crashing into people, buildings, pets, other vehicles, etc and result in serious injury or death. If you perform this mod, you do so at your own risk. I take ZERO responsibility for any harm or damage done by your vehicle and/or to your vehicle as a result of this mod.

This made me laugh, the US must be a incredibly safe place to live XD

 

[MatosMiata]

This made me laugh, the US must be a incredibly safe place to live XD

Some idiot would try this mod, crash their vehicle due to their own stupidity, and then think I owe them something. The US is so litigation happy that everything has to get a nanny message lol.

 

[m00se]

I know, it's not because you added the disclaimer but because the us is the only place in the world where a manual can only be started if the clutch is pressed. And here in europe you don't really see people crashing into things because they start their car in gear

 

[MatosMiata]

I know, it's not because you added the disclaimer but because the us is the only place in the world where a manual can only be started if the clutch is pressed. And here in europe you don't really see people crashing into things because they start their car in gear

Europe is awesome for not having those annoying nanny laws. Technically, it isn't even needed here since everyone drives an automatic. If you actually drive a stick in the US, you're typically a car person who knows better lol.

 

[MatosMiata]

My starter ended up sticking the other day. When I tried to turn the truck on, it was slow to crank and for whatever reason I turned it back to off and then on again. Well, the truck came on but my starter kept spinning. Turned it off and it kept spinning... so I disconnected the negative from the battery. At this point, I thought I had ruined the ignition cylinder, so I pulled it out and connected the negative again- starter kept spinning.

At this point, I realized it had to be the starter solenoid, so I fully disconnected the battery and pulled the starter. Sure enough, the shaft that holds the little sprocket and turns the flywheel was stuck out. I spun it and it popped back in. Put the starter back in and reassembled my dash. Truck started right up with no drama.

So, if this happens to you, just disconnect the battery and then pull the starter. Don't end up doing this lol, (even if it's easy for me at this point)
M11 by Jose Matos, on Flickr

 

[GreenYellow]

Awesome project! And nice brakes - I've only seen this done on that one black truck w/ RPF1s.

This is SO random though. I have a '95 2WD Taco project and just posted an intro thread over at CT, thinking I might start a build thread over there, but noticed it was super-dead. Figured CR might be a good home for a build thread, logged in for the first time in a year, and found this!

 

[MatosMiata]

Awesome project! And nice brakes - I've only seen this done on that one black truck w/ RPF1s.

This is SO random though. I have a '95 2WD Taco project and just posted an intro thread over at CT, thinking I might start a build thread over there, but noticed it was super-dead. Figured CR might be a good home for a build thread, logged in for the first time in a year, and found this!

Thank you, I appreciate that! The black one is my friend Mike Barrios, @mjbtaco_ on instagram. His build has always been a big influence on mine since I first saw it in 05 or so. Unfortunately, CT died off years ago, but I keep my thread updated there in hopes that it picks back up one day. At the very least, it is a great repository for information on these trucks. Let me know if you need anything with the build, I would be happy to help!

 

[mx5 2nr]

This is SO random though. I have a '95 2WD Taco project and just posted an intro thread over at CT, thinking I might start a build thread over there, but noticed it was super-dead. Figured CR might be a good home for a build thread, logged in for the first time in a year, and found this!

Dude, start a build thread here. This is the bad influencing that could push me over the edge to finally buy a slammed mini truck I've wanted for like 25 years. My wife will hate you, but I will love you.

 

[MatosMiata]

Dude, start a build thread here. This is the bad influencing that could push me over the edge to finally buy a slammed mini truck I've wanted for like 25 years. My wife will hate you, but I will love you.

Haha! Go for it! Having a slammed truck is very rewarding. Sports car like driving with truck functionality, it's the best of both worlds.