the woes of a prerunner owner

I think I may be the only one that actually followed you in your initial post.

Let me see if I got it correct..

You have a ford that is slowly shitting the bed.
You have been looking for a 4x4 tacoma but the parameters you listed are fairly hard lines for you.
You gound that white tacoma that is a good deal and a good price but you arent sure if you should buy it because its a prerunner
Now you want to know if you should buy it even if its not 4x4 and want to know the cost of conversion?


Is all of that correct, OP?


Im also in the same mindset as many others on here. If you havent bought the truck already, I wouldnt buy it unless if you absolutely loved it. 17k dollars is a hell of an investment on something that you dont love. Be patient and dig further out than your local area. You can always book a flight out, check the car out, and drive it back if you love it.

Also, dont forget you can always go to regional forums and see if someone is willing to stop by and look at the truck for you. Theres a ton of that happening in my regional forum and lots of people that are always willing to stop by and look at something on CL or FB marketplace on thier way home from work and report back to you.

Good luck. If youve already bought the truck, its an expensive swap to go to 4x4 but thankfully the prerunner isnt nearly as difficult as 4x4 swaps on other truck models.

 

You said it!
Not hard to do at all...

 

Ahhhhh I gotcha. Welp, better start collecting parts. theres several writeups on this site that will give you a good idea of the road ahead if you want to do the conversion.

Godspeed

 

@jowybyo converted his 2nd gen Prerunner to 4wd

 

Maybe a good excuse to put a solid front axle in it? It would be better than a factory 4x4 if you do that (in my opinion).

 

Tires

 

I like where your heads at!

 

It really depends on what you mean by hard. If you are comfortable pulling a transmission yourself, then you'll be surprised at how easy it is.

 

OP. Do you plan on having any resale value to your truck down the road? If so, sell it now and buy a 4x4, because anyone in the future that sees 4x4 conversion is just going to read "hacked up a perfectly good truck"

 

Excellent point. I will only start with a bone stock vehicle and be the one to hack at it. I'd never buy one someone has already messed with.

 

exactly..... and we are people that know what to look for, and MAYBE will buy a modded vehicle if its stuff we like or has been built well. The average joe who will by a tacoma who sees "4x4 conversion", will walk right past it as typically they will absolutely not deal with shit like that no mater how well its done because a 4x4 version from the factory can be bought just as easy.

About the only time id buy a vehicle that has such a conversion done would be on something that didnt come from the factory with 4x4.

 

Same here,way to many many I need a 4x4 guys.

 

2nd gens don't NEED to require any electronics if you go with a mechanical t case. I BELIEVE

 

The only difficult thing with converting is modifying the crossmember. There are already add switches by rst that are plug and play or you can convert to manual front diff actuator or run the fj tube.

What won't make sense is if you can't do the labor yourself and opt for a shop to do it. Only then would I say to trade it in.

 

It helps in snow and ice. I just throw it in 4HI and drive like the roads are normal. With RWD I slide all over.

 

PreRunner is geat for 99% of miles u drive.
I had a 2014 w auto lsd.
I took it several times to moab.
It loved White Rim trail which is at its limits.
Buy for the 99.5% and stop kicking yourself.
If you want to waste $,,, find a charity.
Conversion to 4x4 screws up everything on a newer model from ecm to and requires full suspension trade out.

 

4wd Conversion because I like to work on my truck. Costed me only $2k

 

My first Toyota was a 1985 4x4. I sold that in 2003 for My Tacoma Prerunner. We now have a 2003 and 2014 Tacoma Prerunner. We don't rock climb or do anything that would require 4x4 as both vehicles are daily drivers. The Prerunner is more than capable for some trail riding with the correct tires.

 

This isn’t exactly correct.

 

You have stated the answer to your own inquiry. This thing seems to be gnawing at you and even though you listed the 4X criteria last me thinks it is really near the top of the list. Just saying. I've done this stuff and was never really satisfied until I addressed the real issue. So you need to sell the pre-runner and expand the search for a 4X. At least that is how I see things.