2006 Tacoma

I’m 16 and just got my first truck(2006 Tacoma prerunner). It is mostly stock and I was wondering what first modifications should I buy. Any suggestions?

 

Nice truck for a first truck! Hmm I dunno, get a supercharger? Haha seriously though what's your budget?

 

I currently have a part-time job bringing in about $200 per week. I would like to save about half of that and the other half I’ll probably use for doing stuff to my truck.

 

Tires and fuel.
You need both to get any where.
Seriously, tires make a huge difference.

 

I would second the tires. Good tires improve the experience in many ways.

 

Welcome! The best thing to do at this point is to just spend a good bit of time looking around the forums here. When you have questions, the search bar in the upper right corner is your best friend; odds are, if you're curious, there's probably been a thread about it. All of that is completely free. Beyond that, most actual mods get pretty expensive. Much of the time, beyond the cost of the part, there may be tools you don't have, and then there are all of the consumable products often needed/useful in any upgrade. All that having been said, depends on what you're going for, but a new custom grill may be the most bang for the buck, given the budget. Just my two cents.

 

Nice and welcome to TW!

 

Learn how to maintain it properly.

You'll save more money over a lifetime of fundamental DIY work than you paid for the truck.

 

@NotUrTaco Ive looked at a few custom grills, but I just don’t like the idea that you have to cut out the original grill

 

I 2nd this.

 

Tools

 

Is all the maintenance caught up? I know that's boring. But that's the most important thing to do first for truck longevity.


Congratulations on the Tacoma. She looks good

 

Exactly - if you can get enough tools to work on any regular bolt-together part of the truck and learn how to do oil changes and brake jobs you'll get enough confidence to then change out suspension and exhaust parts that you'd have to pay double the cost of the tools to have someone else install for you.

 

Keep it stock and INVEST your money while you are young.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ds-commodities-options-etfs-401ks-etc.531854/

Learning basics along with reading these guys' posts is a good idea.

 

Other than careful detailing of what you have (which can take hours of work) try to let go of cosmetic stuff and focus on basic mechanicals. In less than a year, with a little help, you'll be able to do more than over half the owners on this board.

And have a clean, reliable truck to show for it, along with heightened self assurance.

And enjoy the learning process!

PS, the hand tools don't need to be new. Just mid grade quality. Craig's list, FB marketplace, pawn shops, garage sales and even eBay are great places to hunt those treasures. Most of them will last a lifetime.

 

Yea, what all these folks said. Also, how many miles? Private seller or dealer? Your very best "mod" at this point in time might be to change/flush fluids.

 

Harbor Freight, Amazon, and Home Depot all have tools that work well enough to the point where the person using them is limiting factor in their effectiveness.

Visual inspection of engine coolant, brake fluid, and an oil / gear oil change all would be good things as stated above.

 

@NotUrTaco
It has 213,000 miles in it and we bought it of FB marketplace for 6,500

 

Sounds like a good deal - how’s the frame look - where are you located and where have the previous owners had it?

It being an 06 it wouldn’t be a bad idea to either do a compression test or have the oil sent to black stone labs to see the engine health - you’d have to drive a couple thousand miles with the same oil first though. 05-06 trucks had some head gaskets that let go more than 07+ models but if the engine coolant is clean and you’re not getting any codes you should be good. Just something to keep in the back of your head.