New and abused...

Hey guys I just joined the site a few weeks ago and I love all the useful info on here. I just bought a 2011 tacoma trd offroad almost 2 months ago and I just can't keep it on the road. It's like it was meant to be in the mud. I'm looking to do some sweet mods and make her in to a beast, one day but that takes more money than I currently have, so it will be a long process but I can't wait to see the final product.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome! I'm a little over a year old to this site. I used to be in the army (been out for 8 months) and love wheeling my tacoma.

Word of advice: I used to wheel with buddies of different rigs and mudding was great BUT be aware that too much mud in the engine bay will kill your alternator and idler pulleys.
My alternator died after the 3rd or 4th time mudding. A year of owning my truck and after yet another muding incident (we never learn) i noticed a super charger-like whine. That is the sound of the idler pulleys going bad (there's three of them and it was the one right next to the generator).
i think the main reason my shit went bad so fast is because I would hit the mud hard at higher speeds which caused it to rush into my engine bay pretty fast.
Know that the air intake is on the right (passenger side) of the truck, inside that fender.
Also, jumping + mudding will creep dirt into the wheel bearings and typically the front ones will go bad first.

LOL
not trying to scare you or anything here I just wanted to share what I have learned has gone wrong with my truck so far. All these things were easy to replace and I don't regret it, I just had no idea what could cause them until later. My hopes is that if any of this happens to you, you'll be able to identify it on the spot. I figure we have similar driving styles, this may help you down the line. Take care!


P.S. if you see a dude named MAX NISHIMOTO arrive in germany soon, that's my buddy!

 

Thanks I appreciate the head ups and fore warning, I'm actually about to pcs to Hawaii next month so the truck is about to leave soon. Also, I'm not scared to break something because I already know its going to happen, it's more of how bad something is going to break. I have noticed a quiet whine coming from the engine bay, but I couldn't quite pinpoint it. I will definitely have to look into that and see what's going on.

 

Fer sure.
Oh and that ticking in the engine bay you'll hear when the truck is pretty warm, yeah everyones truck does that. Just FYI.
Enjoy Hawaii!

 

Welcome

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Welcome to TW.