Trading up the Tacoma

Isn't it the law to have insurance in every state? In New York you can't register the vehicle without insurance.

 

Yeah, but here (especially Southern California) there are a lot of unlicensed (and thereby uninsured) drivers...illegal immigrants make up a solid portion of that group.

 

Back OT,

Subtle difference #2
The floormats.

The new truck has black carpet and mats but I wanted to keep the grey ones from the old truck. Unfortunately the 2012 has a different floor mat locks & they won't fit.

Subtle difference #3
The radio.

I actually think the new radio sounds better, but it only holds one CD now. The old one held 6. I got 6 mos free XM satellite radio with the truck. no idea what that's worth.

I don't typically use XM.

Subtle difference #4
The cupholders.

My wife hates the new cupholder, but I like it better. It's not so adjustable but it's more secure.

 

It's required, but there's lots of scamming going on.
Once you get a license you can get insurance even if you are illegal, but you can't register a car without insurance.

So, people drive other people's cars, they steal the tags and stickers, or they pay the first couple months of insurance to look legal, & then let the payments lapse.

I was hit by some drunk about 10 years ago while in my Bonneville. He lied about the insurance. It had lapsed. He hadn't paid. Then when I said I thought he was drunk and called the cops, he fled the scene.

They arrested him at home 2 hours later, asleep in bed.

 

Maybe a bankruptcy too . . . .
Who would let this nice truck go with only 32k on the clock?

Probably couldn't make the payments after the divorce.

 

Maybe paid too much and had to let it go cause they couldn't afford it.

 

They were paying insurance on 4 vehicles in Huntington Beach.
Hell, it costs a fortune just to park 4 vehicles there unless you own real property.

An ordinary 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Clovis is worth 3x to 4x the price in Huntington Beach for the same sf but my lot is 13,000 SF and the lots in Huntington Beach are typically under 1000 sf! Also I have a 450 sf garage. not included in the beach house.

 

I have a 2012 dclb with 30k miles and live in Orange County ca...

I get outrageous $ offers for my truck all the time....

So hard to turn it down when I know I'll just be in the market for the exact same truck (and I know they didn't take care of it like I did)

You got good $ for your old truck for a reason......congrats on the upgrade

 

Subtle difference #5
The trans program. The transmission shifts completely different than the old truck. It seems to shift up sooner but also kicks down sooner too.

Subtle difference #6
The brakes feel much different. I dont know if its the pads or the program, but the brakes have more initial bite, and feel more progressive.

All around the 2012 is smoother and easier to drive, and largely due to these 2 things.

 

Well I've had the new truck for a couple weeks now and I'm very happy with it. Except for the Taco Lean.

It's my belief that in order to get more traction with all the power, plus the very soft springs they put on these very light trucks, they wedge the chassis slightly by putting both the battery and the gas tank and the driver on one side of the truck. The left front always sit's a little bit lower than the right: about half an inch.

When you stomp on the gas you get good weight transfer from the left front to the right rear as the truck rocks in that direction, and that helps it hook up.

Until the bounce comes and the right rear wheel starts hopping, as it does when the leaf springs start to wear out.

(Of course it hooks even better with a passenger, because you get more weight on the tires, but with the driver alone the typical Taco Lean is pronounced.)

That hopping stopped on the 2009 (unless I absolutely floged it) when I put on the airbags and the rear stabilizer bar.

That's all on the new truck now. Also the new truck has 1 more leaf in the rear springs, so it's even more controlled.

But to get rid of that Taco Lean, it's common to add a spacer to the left front spring or to change the front springs to stiffer springs, or both.

Are people relocating the battery to the opposite side of the truck to help balance things out?

I would much much rather the truck had two gas tanks to balance things out but there's a big muffler right where you'd want to put the other one.

Anyhow the upshot of the taco lean is that the truck wants to wander a little bit if you have to drive alone. If you would just allow me to compensate for that then when you have passengers or load it it's pulling a bit the other way.

We played around a bit with the front alignment on the 09 to find that this is pretty much the case.

The cheap answer is: just put a load in the truck and then it goes away. But I drive in the city and it screws up your gas mileage to drive with a load. Anyhow I aligned it for two people and when I'm by myself I compensate by differential loading of the airbags.

Unfortunately differentially loaded airbags fight the stabilizer bar which sucks. It raises is the harmonic frequency of the whole system, which is undesirable.

Oh well it's a truck. For now I'll throw some more stuff in it and suffer the loss of gas mileage. But I haven't put the Bilstein 5100s on the front of the truck yet and that will help, I believe, and at the same time I can put the spacer in.

Have a Taco day you guys.

 

Yeah most lift kits sold by vendors will include the option to add a 1/4" spacer to the front driver's side to correct the taco lean. I had one put on mine

 

I was going to fab one from HDPE 1/2" thick. I have a flycutter that will just swing that diameter, but I assume with the 5100's I can just set one 1/2" tighter because they're adjustable.