What's the worst decision you've made with your Tacoma?

Posting an open ended question on TW...

 

Fuckk that sucks. I've been afraid of that happening since I installed my snorkel last year. Shortly after I installed mine, I destroyed my fender on the driver's side when I got pulled into a rut on a trail I was over-confident on (storms recently made it worse). Got really lucky it didn't happen on the passenger side lol.

Completely mangled my fender and my drivers side mirror, and scratched the hell out of my paint on the door and hood.

Fixed it myself using an aftermarket fender that I rattle canned with some OEM color paint, came out pretty good.











The clear coat looks off from up close but I'm pretty happy with how it came out, considering I'm a total amateur at doing this sort of stuff. The scratches on the hood and door are the worst looking part still.


I guess this is my submission for the 'worse decision' I've made...I should've been way more cautious on that part of the trail.

 

Someone will mention trophy trucks shortly, and with no sarcasm.

 

Buying one, and not getting a Ford Ranger instead.
























Just kidding. I have a brain

 

Fawwwkkkk that’s bad but great repair job.

I got a fender off car-parts and had a local shop repair/paint it and I slapped it on. Also sources a eBay mirror it fit and works fine.
Also forgot to mention the ditch light spun around and cracked the windshield which is getting replaced next week.

 

At first I would have said the worse thing I’ve done with a Tacoma would have been selling my 1st Gen, but now after it hit 30k on the summer vacation road trip I just took, I can say my 3rd Gen has pretty much been living up to my expectations so far...

So the worse thing I did with it? Not sure yet...

 

Nice, that looks great. Was the fender you picked an OEM one? I'm going to try and find a color matched OEM one myself one of these days, the aftermarket fender I got doesn't line up perfectly with the hood. Can't really tell in the pic but the gap is noticeably wider than on the other side.

You reinstalling the snorkel too or was it damaged beyond repair?

Careful with aftermarket mirrors by the way...the first mirror I bought was an aftermarket one off eBay and it was a piece of crap. The mirror part wobbled inside the housing so every time I was on the road driving, I couldn't even make out what was in the mirror lol. I ended up getting a used OEM one off of TW from someone's part out thread.

 

I got a 3rd gen and not a Ranger













































I kid I kid

 

Yes the fender was oem with minor damage they fixed the obvious stuff. I had to flatten the inner seam was all.
The snorkel is destroyed it sheared the bolts which are still attached to the old fender. I won’t be installing another one hard lesson learned.
This mirror has dang near oem quality fitment and the signal works to. It was fairly cheap to I’ll rock it till I lose it again.

 

I mean yea, but if you're in a situation where you would need a locker to get you out, I'd imagine having 4x4 would have probably prevented that in the first place. That's why I'm saying that if you're in a situation where a locker is necessary, you're always better off with a locker AND 4x4. So I don't understand why they offer a locker on a 2wd... what situation would necessitate the locker, but not 4x4?

I get that 2wd's can have fun off road, but not in situations that require a locker... I'm thinking more like Pre-running (hence the Prerunner lol)/Baja/Long Travel type stuff.

 

are trophy trucks locked?

 

I used to have a Prerunner 2wd back in the day, putting a locker in it was a night/day difference in what it could do offroad after I installed that. Still nowhere near as capable as a rear locked 4x4 of course, but it really did come in handy.

With 2wd open diff you're basically only moving one wheel...if you drive through a rutted section and articulate one of the rear tires even slightly off the ground, you're stuck. With a rear locker in 2wd, you can get out of that situation easily

 

Yes, nearly all are spooled.

 

WTF? It never even occurred to me that you could buy an OR without 4WD. That makes about as much sense as a chocolate teapot!!!!

 

I mean, yea, I get that its a step up in capability, but if you realize you're going to go off-road, and think to get a locker, why not just take the step to get the 4x4 with the locker? I don't get why they offer the TRD OR in 2wd locked, and 4wd locked. I'd bet most people that go off road in 2wd with a locker, end up wishing they had just bought the 4wd with a locker...

didn't know that, interesting, thanks!

 

2wd ORs are everywhere in the southwest US.

 

For sure, all putting a locker in my 2wd really did in the end was make me want a 4x4 even more lol. When I went looking for another Tacoma several years later I knew it had to be a trd 4x4.

 

HAHA. Yeah. I did say "technically." Really, the "off-road" is just a branded trim level that includes the locker. There's a niche and there's cash in that niche.

 

I guess my question is, what is that niche? like what do they do that lands them on that truck instead of the 4x4 OR? that's what I think I'm missing.