Tips and Tricks on the 3rd Gen Tacoma

Downtown Escondido is a popular classic car cruising night now. Poway still has a small town feel.

 

Nice, I'm in a town now with even smaller town feel. I'm the only 3rd gen. Lol

 

Well, that definately makes you unique! I miss small town life...

 

I'm just north of you, near Lawrence Welk.

I couldn't even imagine how Valley Parkway would have been like in the 70s-80s.

 

I exit 15 at Gooher Canyon to get to work every day. I'll have to keep an eye out for you.

 

When I installed my Pop and Lock I wrapped most of it in some leftover self adhesive sound deadening foam that I was using in the cab to improve audio acoustics.

 

Tip for Mudflaps Rubbing the tires.

Had to heat of my front flaps this morning due to rubbing on my 265/70/17’s. First started by heating itup and trying to push back with a big hammer and it was more making a mess of the plastic and it wasn’t staying back anyways.

So tried heating it again, got it good an warm till it started to get almost glossy. Then I took a big piece of icey snow and just held it against the spot I wanted pushed back for a few minutes. Once it cooled down it stayed pushed back tight against the inner fender and hardened right back up. No rub now and would never notice anything was messed with.

Kind of silly way of doing it but it worked well, just thought I would share.

 

If you have a dog, you can lock the vehicle and leave it running so the dog can be comfortable with the AC or heater on.

Leave truck on. Open door, lock doors. Put window down all the way. Step out. Shut door. Reach in and pull the auto window button. When you come back, open it with the key in your remote. Don't do this if you don't carry that key. Lol.

 

Nice! I knew they did that but not why it's a good thing...Thought my passengers necks would break.

 

If there are passengers in the back, they would be blocking the mirror like the headrest does, so just fold it up like it belongs....

 

I removed mine. They're a pita when I need to use carseats

 

I will start by admitting I didn’t read all 155 pages of this post. But I am curious why the leaking 3rd brake light wasn’t included in the list. I am having a difficult time finding much info about what others have done. Anyone mind sharing a thread if there is one on this issue.?

 

I removed mine too, and I don’t even have kids. I rarely carry more than a front seat passenger. If I have to, I’ll put them back in.

 

I don't sit back there so what do I care about comfort lol

 

It's not about comfort, it's about protecting the head and neck of your passenger when you get in a wreck.

 

Yep, exactly. Those headrests need to be altered.

 

Did you ever find anything? I'd love an OEM option but I've found nothing.

 

The first post is kinda hard to follow but basically she offers a plug and play tailgate lock and plug and play tailgate opener, can be bought together or separately:

3rd Gen Plug-N-Play Tailgate Bolt-N-Lock & Tailgate Bolt-N-Open by KTJO 4x4

 

Thanks for that link. Interesting kits. I am leaning towards going with one of the custom write-ups I've seen, I can get it done for about $30, just trying to figure out now whether I need an inline fuse or not. Some write-ups recommend it, others don't mention a fuse at all.

 

If you're debating on using a fuse, use one. Imagine your truck burning down because you cheaped out on a $2.89 inline fuse. No joke, I rationalize a lot of things by the cost of a beer while out. "Would I hesitate to order another beer?" Uh, no, just buy the damn thing, Doobie Lol. Back on task, just because you could do it yourself and save a few bucks, remember your time has a value too.