Why buy TRD if I am going to replace the gears and suspension?

The production quality of their commercials almost make me want to buy one. Almost.

 

I have owned Toyotas all my life so I did not consider anything else. Reliable with parts for them everywhere.

 

Cuz the cement SR interior was yuck.

 

I wouldn't want either. I wouldn't buy a modified truck. And lets say in the hypothetical that those were my only 2 options, both would be worth less to me (not worthless, just worth less). All things being equal (both having the same exact mods, performed with the same execution, etc) and the price difference was the same as two unmodified trucks, I would personally probably go with the SR. My reasoning being this: In my head, I am looking at the mods and calculating how much I have to spend to undo them. The cost to get a pro back to stock is most likely greater than the cost to get an SR back to stock, hence worth less in my mind. I know I'm probably an oddity in that regard. I bought an SR not because I couldn't afford a PRO, but because the SR is what I wanted (minus the intermittent wipers on the 19. Come On Toyota! Really?!).

 

I'll take cement any day when compared to some of the color matched dashes that look like a Care Bear threw up in my ride

 

I assumed that as soon as I added the first mod to the truck I was making resale a lot more complicated for myself. I am just not going to get back much/any of the money that goes into offroad capability, and I am turning off a bunch of potential buyers. Our longterm plan is not to trade this in. My wife has the nice city car. We both spend a lot of time getting to remote places and offroad to hike and kayak. We will likely have a trailer and/or a cabin in the future. I grew up in TN and we just had a "farm truck" that had been paid off for 5 years and did all the ugly work. Looking for something like that that can also get me and the wife around White Rim Rd in Canyonlands.

 

From @Jeff Lange


Summary: All manual transmission models have the 8.8" differential (even the 2.7). For automatic transmission models, only the TRD OR gets the 8.8" diff, all other automatic transmission models have the 8.0" diff.

Here is the link
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/which-models-have-which-size-differential.388610/

Regear and locker are almost $3k regardless of what size your rear end and they are not interchangeable

 

I agree with the OP. This was my thought process as well. Bought a sr5 model. Swapped suspension gears and tires at 5k miles. I went with Harrop e locker front and rear and can engage them anytime I want. Also I wanted the key not push to start which was another reason to go sr5. I have heated mirrors, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning. Factory fogs and a lot of other features. I also am a fan of painted matched fender flares on my model as well.

 

this he is correct. start with the basic

 

not trying to talk you out of modding your truck, but as long as it’s 4x4 it should get you around white rim no problem in stock form.

with that being said, there are other trails in the area where that isn’t the case.

 

Are there problems beyond the recall of the 2016 and 2017 models with the 8.0" diff? Is there something inherently better about the larger differential such as higher torque? I assume the 220,000 trucks recalled led to a permanent solution for the leaking oil for 2020 models.

 

I am not ruling out that any of the mods (or even the higher TRD trim level) is overkill for what I want to do which is basically be able to get to 95% of BLM or other public lands. While a lot of fun, I am not offroading for its own sake. I will always take the safest, easiest, shortest route to the campsite or put in. Originally I was just going to get the V6 4x4 SRD, put all terrain tires on it, and call it done.

 

I hate to dump regear & air locker money into a smaller differential when there is a bigger one available, the cost saving of buying an SR ultimately will cost you more down the road.

 

Forgot about the smaller diff

 

I mentioned 4.56 gears because it gets you back close to stock. Adding 33’s is a 6% change. Changing the diff gear ratio 4.3 to 4.5 is a 4% change with a net result very close to stock. Changed from 4.3 to 4.8 is a 11% change with a net result of well below stock. But like I said, I think the gearing is just fine with 4.3 and probably not worth the change to 4.56 or 4.88 when running 33s.

 

Pretty sure they hired Renan Otzurk for this. He is a badass filmmaker/photographer: https://youtu.be/i9XOFQ-fLWA

 

DONT LIEH TO ME BOI

 

8.75 rear diff and E locker is the reason. You can upgrade, add aftermarket locker and replace everything else on a SR truck, but you can't make your diff bigger or stronger unless you replace the rear diff itself

 

it’s attached to your rod, motherlicker