did older 2nd gens have shorter front mud flaps?

i'd love to have shorter flaps on the front. i know i can cut them, but naturally i'd rather not if i can get something that was designed shorter. none of the aftermarket options interest me since none of them fit with the OE fasteners. if worse comes to worst, i'll cut 'em, and i know i'd do a damn good job, lol, but i'd rather not.

EDIT 3/7/11:

'05 front flaps are ~10" measured from the start of the actual flap part (after the flare mount area) down the middle to the very bottom.

'06+ front flaps are ~12.25" measured in the same manner.

this is verified, without question.

 

nope...cut 'em

 

mine are so short they are invisible. jk man
i think they are all the same lengths

 

Mine are so damn long they scrape when I run over a parking curb at the mall. Mine was built 12/05. Planning to take the tin snips to them at some point.

 

the older ones are shorter!!
.....cuz they had more time to drag and get worn down

 

The older ones are shorter. I believe the 05-07's are about 1.5 inches shorter on the front than the newer 2nd gens. I have a 09 and bought a set of fronts off ebay and swapped mine before selling my fronts back on ebay. I am not sure if it is the 4x4 or 4x2 fronts that are shorter, I just had the seller on ebay measure them for me before bidding.

 

When I first joined, I heard a lot of people complaining about how long their mud flaps were and thought they were complaining for no reason. Then I started paying attention, the new ones are way longer. I don't think mine are bad at all..

 

tin snips fix the problem

 

I did the exact same thing. I had heard the the 05's were shorter and I wanted the flaps just not so long so I bought them and they are 1.5" to 2" shorter. I could have just cut my original ones but I really wanted the little ridge on the bottom to keep the strength. Someone on TN was selling a set of front's off his '05 that were taken off when new. After buying them I sold mine so it ended up costing me nothing. Great upgrade!

BTW I believe it is only the 05's that are shorter.

 

Jigsaw...

 

Yep, that's what I did.

Trace the shape on a piece of cardboard, cut it out, then transfer that shape a couple inches up from the bottom of the mud flap, then cut. Easy.

 

I had an '01, '05 and I now have a '10... Mud Flaps were rediculous and kept coming off on my '05 from off roading, and mud weight! Removed them from my '10 after a couple months and one of the flaps already coming off when we went four wheeling.

The '05 and '10 flaps (on my two OR 4WD TRDs) were the same.

The '01 flaps were different, they never came off... instead of stiff plastic, they were flexible rubber. What was Toyota thinking with the 2nd Gen. flaps???

 

thanks. that is exactly how i feel.

shit, i'd even buy '05 ones new, but apparently one number covers all years now.

i took them off yesterday to buff and seal the spots on the flares where the flaps touch. i actually like the truck without the front flaps, but i just foresee it making more of a mess on the side of the truck and also exposing it to more debris, which = chips.

 

Maybe it is a regional thing? Here in SoCal, my '05 and '10 flaps were identicle. Both too long and made of the wrong stuff to work withouth getting knocked off.

 

Its only a couple 10m bolts and a few clips to fix this problem.

 

i found a pic of '05 front flaps and hosted it



those are definitely shorter than my '11 front flaps

 

Or could it be the trim level? Off road/Sport/SR5 or even pre-runner/4x4?

Mine is the Sport 4x4 and they look looooong.

 

from what i've seen, all trims that have front flaps have the same long ass front flaps from 2006-2011.

but the picture i've attached above shows the flaps that 2005 models had. i've found pictures on cars.com for 2005 tacomas for prerunners, sports, whatever...if they had front flaps in '05, they were shorter than the 06-11.

 

And these are my old '09s that I sold. There is definitely a difference but hard to tell because of the angle I took the pic at.

 

Yes, the '05 had shorter front mud flaps.