1997 2WD XE - Rebuilding Dads Truck PII
 

After an unfortunate accident, my original thread was deleted. Thankfully I was not far along in the process so Ill try to repost what I had and carry on.

Name - James
Location - Bay Area
Truck - 1997 2WD XE 5 Spd
Mileage - 196,XXX

Dad is the original owner, is 71 now and drives it maybe twice a month. My brother in law is getting a new 4Runner and will probably hand him down his 2 wd Tacoma single cab so I get this. Im pretty excited, when I was a teenager looking for my first truck I had my eye on this but couldnt afford a new car. I bought my 2nd favorite truck at the time which was a 1985 S10 Blazer Tahoe.

Anyways... Truck is 99% oem and needs a ton of work. Its been neglected of its mandatory regular maintenance and its starting to show. Its almost scary to drive, and I cant believe my 70 year old father in law was driving it.

The shocks are gone
ball joints are there, but useless
steering has a clunking sound
tires are 9 years old and cracking. all 4 slowly leak about 3-5 psi per day
front brakes squeak and pull a bit
has a high idle (1100 rpms)
has a slight rattle and cold start
leaking oil from pretty much every place possible
truck is incredibly dirty. Ive been with my wife now for 16 years and Ive never seen him wash it.
Its starting to rust

That's what I know SO FAR.. But here she is.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...503_heic-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...504_heic-L.jpg

First thing I wanted to do was locate the source of the clunking from the steering. I swore that it was coming from outside the cab, but I couldn't find anything loose or damaged. I did find a bunch of ball joints and bushings that need to be replaced..

I did a google search and found a thread about some balancer inside the steering wheel and sure enough when I pulled the air bag out dropped a giant piece of metal and rubber.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...708_heic-L.jpg

Supposed to be here
https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...707_heic-L.jpg

Because of all the bad suspension, I impulse bought a ton of shit online. Not sure if I should have but oh well.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...926_heic-L.jpg

I miss-ordered shocks, so I had to re-order. Those will be first.

Washed, clayed, and waxed the truck to get YEARS of baked on dirt off the truck. She's not a new penny but she's got a bit of a shine now.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...734_heic-L.jpg

I drove the truck home from my dads place at night and OMG. You can hardly see! These sealed beam headlights are probably the same pair from the factory. Fuckin crazy man was driving half blind. I found a thread on here with an affordable recommendation of bulbs and and lights so I will link those later.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...814_heic-L.jpg

Thankfully I was prepared for the rusted on bolts (thank you Infamous) and had WD40 and a torch. they came right off.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...819_heic-L.jpg

However NONE of you mentioned how much of a pain it was getting the grill back on haha.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...820_heic-L.jpg

Also replaced the xtra cab window locks as both of them were busted. THankfully he was smart enough to leave the hardware in there.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...886_heic-L.jpg

In November I replaced the power steering hose that I hoped was the cause of all the oil and not a bad pump.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...704_heic-L.jpghttps://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...705_heic-L.jpg

So far no more oil so thats good.

Aaaaaaaand this gets us back to Monday, Dec 21st when my thread was deleted lol.

I finally got around to changing the shocks. What a difference. Super excited to repair the rest of the aging suspension now.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...753_HEIC-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...D0E418AF-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...758_HEIC-L.jpg

Today was replace front brake pads day until I found a fun little surprise. Makes sense, because I remember changing the pads for him not too long ago and with how little he drives I was surprised to hear squeaking coming from them. Passenger pads looked new, but driver side pad was down to like 30% then I saw this...

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...780_HEIC-L.jpg

Im replacing the thermostat to see if it solves my high idle issue also so while draining the coolant I noticed there is A LOT of oil under the car.

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...785_HEIC-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...787_HEIC-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...789_HEIC-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/James-Pic...784_HEIC-L.jpg

I know the valve cover has a leak facing the firewall but man, thats a lot of oil.

Nice work. She’s coming back to life.

put the upper clips in the grille, then snap it into the truck.. but this is probably a little late.. keep us up dated, looking good

Its been a month of two, but I think this is how I ended up getting it back in. Thank you!