Finally picked up my Taco.

Finally, after 5 hours of flight delays and atrocious weather driving the truck from Omaha, NE, to Lansing, MI, I now have my second (first is scrap, bad frame) Tacoma! Got to the Lansing airport to fly out at 7AM Friday morning, drove the Tacoma into my driveway in Portland, MI, at 6AM Saturday morning. No sleep, just flying and driving straight through.

2002 Silver Xtra Cab, V6, 5spd, 4x4, SR5, TRD. 85k miles.

Horribly bald BFG A/T's!! That was interesting. Literally almost fishtailed it out on the way home a few times, they are literally racing slicks in the rear. Plus, we had a nice snowstorm going through at about 4AM, when I was passing through. Apparently the tires never got rotated.....So, gonna get a set of Falken Wild Peak tires on Monday on her. I'll use the best BFG as the spare, as the tires on the truck right now are 265/75/16R, versus the spare being a 265/70/16. The front BFG's will be decent enough to be a spare, methinks.

Other than the tires, she's a good looking truck, everything works and works well. Oh, serpentine belt is slightly squeaky at low RPMs. I'll take a look at that tomorrrow during light, too.

Frame is beautiful. Hard, black, shiny coating on it, no rust. But, I'll do a more thorough inspection tomorrow.

No user mods to it that I can see. Gonna get the grey wire mod really quickly.

Also, interestingly, got about 21mpg on the way from Omaha to Lansing, running Iowa Ethanol 89 fuel for 3/4 of the way. I always thought that stuff gave you worse gas mileage....it was definitely a bit cheaper than normal gasoline. But the Iowa stations make it pretty much your only real option with pricing....



I'll get pics tomorrow, if anyone is interested.

 

Congrats on the new truck, looking forward to seeing it.

 

Picsures! Naw! and congrats! Glad you mad it home to.

 

good choice!

 

Gave the truck a little once over.

The frame has a couple of mild spots of surface rust, one notable is the passenger-rear shock mount. Doesn't look too bad, but once I get my contacts in and have it in the daylight I'll take a further look at it. Mostly, really nice.

The rear-driver shock has a small amount of fluid leaking out (a really thick, viscous fluid).

The CV shafts are bright green and shiny. New, perhaps? Or do they keep their color that well?

Dang clutch-pedal bushing is shot. So that was that cracking noise I'd hear as I'd hit the clutch....

It has a new rear-bumper, as well. So that's why it is so shiny.

Air filter is rough. Needs a new one. AFE Pro Dry S, perhaps?

Does not need new transmission-shift bushings. It slides into gears like butter.

The rear-leafs are still smiling, so that's good, too! Not much of a smile, but not a solemn-expression or a frown, so I'll take it.

Projects:
Rear-breather extension and relocation.
Grey-wire mod.
Deckplate and new air filter.
New tires.
Have the dealership install new Lower-ball joints, per the recall it hasn't had.
Replace all fluids with new synthetics.


That ought to bring it up to speed. Anything else I'm missing?

 

Yes. Pictures!!

Congrats on the new truck, sounds like a gem! I'm especially interested in seeing the shiny black coating on the frame please.

 

Nice.

I love the love for Tacomas.... flying 700 miles to get a truck, then driving back 700 miles with the truck, with racing slicks through a snowstorm.

 

Hmmm, never thought of it that way. Maybe that's why my wife seems upset.

It Is my dream truck, though. Right now, that purdy frame is coated in salt. Let the battle between Michigan and the Tacoma commence!

Pictures tomorrow morning, I promise.

 

Ready to see some pics man! i just joined, and i have the same year, i got mine for my 16th birthday, which was my dream truck, growing up always wanting my dads '86 short-wheel base 22r, and i finally got mine, check it out! just got a leveling kit today, not sure what all mods the guy we bought it from did other than an aftermarket alarm (its terrible) and a base tube. you definitely got love for em goin that far fer one though.

 

Grats, looking forward to some pics

 

Alright, got some pics. Enjoy, she's in her new salt-bath for the day!


First one:


The inside:


The frame (I whiped away the grime and dirt in one spot):


Here is a shot of the racing slicks on the back (they're 265/75/16R BFG A/T's....NO tread left):




There ya go.

 

^ Very nice find. Nice choice on the color. Wow snow. I wish I could actually see snow for once for once in my lifetime. It was 75 today I just went kayaking and swimming in the lake...

 

I'll say, I had PERFECT weather for my 700 miles Denver to Tulsa!


Love me some road trips!

 

Hey, I hope to get a long life out of this truck. Love it, pet it, feed it, develop feelings...whoops.

Also, yeah, plenty of snow here. In the first picture, that blue trailer behind the truck is my dog-sledding trailer. That is my main hobby. Of course, I now need to mount a hitch on the Tacoma. It's bumper hitch is WAY too high for the dog trailer. Need a hitch and a lowering bracket.


If it helps, the 700 mile drive through 2 snow storms was also at night...

 

Damn.... with those rears? did you use 4wd on the slick highways? i know you're not supposed to but gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

So you had a taco, the frame rusted through, so you flew to omaha to get a new one? am I getting the story right? was your previous taco a buy back? Does this taco have the spray treatment done?

 

About 3 years ago I had a '99 SR5 4x4 Xtra cab v6 5 spd. It had 91k miles on it. Within 3 months, the rear-suspension mpints broke off of the frame. Bought it for $8k. Toyota bought it back for $12k.

Been driving some other vehicles since then. Finally found this current Tacoma for $12k, talked the dealer down to $11k. It's 3 years newer than my old taco, less miles, and has the TRD. Plus, it's in better shape.

I don't know if it had the frame coated at Toyota, but at some point it had an undercoating applied.

While driving it up, once I hit Michigan, I had no choice but to put it into 4-hi. The smallest throttle, clutch, or brake input would put it into a fishtail at 45mph. After almost crashing it twice, I decided splitting the torque between 4 wheels could only benefit me. I kept it at around 45-50mph, and it worked well. No more fishtails. New tires going on very soon.

 

Did it spend all of its life in Omaha, reason I am asking is you said the frame was in decent shape and we use a ton of salt here in the winter.

 

Honestly, I couldn't tell ya. Didn't do the carfax or anything. However, I did just do the grey-wire mod on her, and it works like a charm!

Don't get me wrong, the frame isn't perfect. There are a couple of spots with surface rust on them (the crossmember near the spare-wheel comes to mind). The passenger-rear shock mount is another area with some surface rust (the driver-rear shock mount is near perfect...weird).

 

Nice truck!! That was one hair raising drive, you must have nerves of steel!
Not only the snow, but I assume you took the 80/94 south of Chicago, if so how many drunk drivers did you dodge? Good thing is winter is nothing like last years. Good Luck with the truck.