r/1stGenTacomas

‘95 v6 manual with 212k miles. Runs and drives strong and the frame is solid, excited to give her the TLC she deserves.

I recently purchased a 2026 long bed Tacoma off-road and I’ve done a few modifications to it. I personally installed Old Man Emu MT64 front and rear suspension. I am running Mickey Thompson 255/85/17 on the stock wheels.

I learned a lot on the Install and I would like to share with anyone who may be searching for concise online instructions. ARB does not include any outside of the brief included guide for the UCA.

First off, I would recommend to anyone who decides to do this grab what I believe is necessary. two jacks (one to lift the frame and one to lift suspension), a jack stand, metric wrenches and sockets, torque wrenches for lover than 100ft/lb and one up to 200 ft/lbs.

I would also recommend a ball joint puller for the spindle removal (I used autozones duralast part number #84-005 which did the trick for me).

To start off I would like to say anything I say here is just my experience and shouldn’t be used as gospel nor should it prevent you from checking other informational sources.

The install took me about 8 hours overall working majorly on my own and having my neighbors lending hand occasionally for when a third hand would be nice.

Time for the actual install:

I started with the front suspension on the driver side because I have heard from here and other forums that it would be the most difficult. I like doing the harder parts when I’m mentally fresh.

i jacked up the truck under the frame with a harbor freight floor jack and two short sections of 2x4 for extra height. Once I got to the level I needed to remove the tire, I used a jack stand to sit statically under a rock rail I previously installed.

I removed the wheel and got to loosening parts. I loosened the UCA, spindle castle nut, tie rod, sway bar end link, and lower strut mount. Once loosened I opted to replace the UCA first and leave the strut in place to hold the axle in the front dif.

The upper control arm balljoint that connects to the spindle is a PITA if you don’t have the puller I mentioned above. I initially hammered on it to no avail. Purchased the puller and viola the joint comes right off. For the control arm I was able to use a regular claw hammer to get the Joint loose. A rubber deadblow did not do the trick, but the regular claw hammer did the job in one or two small swings.

The UCA bolt on the driver side is a $?!$& To say the least. The bolt requires either a lot of “encouragement“ to go over the intercooler hose mounting point (what I did) or you need to remove some trim pieces and loosen the intercooler itself to be wiggled out of the way during bolt removal and re installation. (there is a video on YT that shows this process from a Toyota dealership using Trd parts).

Once the UCA was removed and the OME UCA reinstalled, the process becomes much less difficult. I placed my second floor jack under the lower control arm to control the vertical movement during the install.

You will have to lower the lower arm enough to remove and also install the new struts. I put a couple of the nuts on the top a few threads to hold it in place while I got the lower portion in place.

Once you have everything back together loosely just go through and torque everything to spec. the hard part is there is no torque specs for anything outside of the UCA bolt. for info I used the Toyota torque specs for anything outside of the provided specs from OME.

The passenger side is the same process but the UCA bolt doesn’t have an intercooler to deal with. I had to call ARB because I (my own mistake) over torqued and snapped one of the top hat studs. There are no replacement parts for it so they helped me out significantly by sending me a new strut.

I also had to call them about the brake line / abs line bracket that comes with the kit. they were able to walk me through the right orientation for the brackets.

I can upload some pictures to show the right way to mount the brackets.

Once both fronts were on I had to loosen the front sway bar mounting bracket to spin the whole assembly to re index it with the new lifted position.

The rears were way easier. Just lifted again from the frame, removed the wheel, removed sway bar end and removed the lower shock bolt with the second floor jack under the axle.

I lowered the axle enough to easily remove the spring and replace it with the OME spring. I removed the old shock and replaced lit with the new shock. I got a thread or two on the then had to wiggle the lower into place while going up or down on the second jack to find the right height to pass the bolt through. When you are tightening the upper bolt on the shock, make sure you get past the nylock portion of the nut then torque.

The sway bar in the rear easily reinstalled with a little pressure to help the bolt through. I torqued everything then lowered the entire truck and retorque everything while the suspension is under its own weight.

I went and got the new tires installed at discount tire. Before I drove off I checked the fitment in the front and rear. Both front and rear had clearance even while at any portion of the turning radius. I did not have to remove the crash bar or the stock mud flaps.

Took my Tacoma out for its first real trail in east San Diego county today and it performed great. I lifted a wheel or two but no rubbing anywhere from the almost 35” tires on stock wheels.

Ask me anything you would like to ask if you are planning on doing this install. I will do my best to reply back and upload pictures of whatever you may need.

-J

I’m replacing my cv axles and calipers but I don’t if I should I replace my bearings as well I have a 97 4x4 if so what kit do I need or I can just go get autozone ones also for the bolts on the rear of the cv axles I’m having a hard time getting them off because the axle is moving should I just get a impact

Just what the title says. I’ve had it since new. 174,00 miles and still runs like the day I bought it. 100% original except for the rims and the starter that I replaced in 2003. Otherwise not a single mechanical issue.

15x7 LiquidMetal Shift Wheels (16.8 lbs ea) on 235 75 15 Goodyear Wranglers. Stock 15x6 wheels weighed 26.8 lbs ea

2000 5 speed manual with 4x4

2001 TRD 4wd 260k miles.

Frame replaced under recall in 2016. Timing belt at 216k miles. He’s asking $9k for it. Thoughts?

Look what they did to my boy

it’s not the ideal way to do it but it’ll keep me going some more years

2003 TRD off road 3.4l 5 speed 4wd factory installed trd supercharger with rear locking differential 250k miles !

My boyfriend was recently handed down this truck from his stepdad dad whose dad bought it new in 04 and handed it down to him after several years. It’s an automatic V6 with 185,000 miles. We took it in for an oil change and got it back with a small list of things to address. Leaky radiator, O2 sensor, spark plug replacement and differential service. As someone who has never done anything past swapping out a battery at home and holding the flashlight as a kid I got a wild idea and took to the internet for all the issues. After a lot of convincing I got the ok to try with the radiator. Toyota wanted $600 I got the part for $150 and had all the tools minus a swivel socket and a drain pan. This was last week and it’s still going strong!! If I could go back in time and tell my younger self who would mumble and groan when having to hold the flashlight that I did that he would laugh at me. I plan on doing any work that’s within my capabilities on this truck and so freaking excited to keep it going. Gonna tackle the spark plugs and differential tonight. Decided to leave the O2 sensor to Toyota since I found online that the bolts are very easily broken and I’m not trying to mess with that. That would put a very abrupt and sad end to my mechanic career on this truck. Any advice is greatly appreciated and needed lol! Anything I should watch out for or do as far as preventative stuff?

Body and frame seem clean. Frame coated with wool wax. If the rust is minimal what’s it worth private sale? Thanks

Greetings,

I have a 04 Tacoma. I installed a 3” old man emu / Bilstien lift kit with upper control arms and differential spacers about 10 months ago in September of 2025. I added Rocktrix beadlock rims (17x9 w/ -12 offset) and Cooper Discoverer Rugged Trek tires (285/70R17) initially but had too much rubbing on the cab corners. I reduced the tires to a 265/70R17 on the same rims and it helped a bunch but I still have rubbing on the cab corners. I refuse to cut into the cab corners as the truck is very clean. I am going to shave the bumper down and one day will replace with a high clearance bumper so it won’t be an issue.

The picture on the trailer is the 285/70R17.
The pictures in the parking lot is 265/70R17.

How is everyone managing to fit 33” tires with a 3” lift?