Want to turn my 98 into a crawler/daily but don’t know where to start

Just got a completely stock 98 Tacoma and want to turn it into a good daily. Any ideas on where to start?

 

40s n tons

 

But fr tho. New to you? Start with, what’s the current condition? Rusty frame or no? How’s the maintenance history. Do you know what’s been done and what it needs maintenance wise? Take care of that stuff first.

 

You want to turn it into a rock crawler and a daily driver?

Those two desires seem to be in direct conflict with one another.

 

Not if gas/tire money is no issue

 

It’s all super Mint. No rust and everything is in really good shape but it’s got 280k

 

How much money you wanna spend

 

Pics or it didn’t happen lol.

Which engine? Auto or manual? 4x4 or 2wd? Pics?

Valve shim clearance needs checking and adjusting if hasn’t been done recently. Needs new lower ball joints if never been changed. Change fluids. If it’s the V6, might need new timing belts. Is the check engine light on, if so why? What codes is it throwing if any? Of course, if any of this has already been done and you know for a fact, then don’t sweat it. If no CEL, awesome.

Pics?

 

Looking to spend around 10-15k. Ideally I can do little things here and there so i dont have to spend it all at once but if its what i have to do i can come to terms.

 

Like actual crawling or you just wanna drive down rough two track roads?

 

Its the 3.4L V6 automatic 2wd. if you want to message me privately i can send you some pictures of the truck. but i have no idea abt the shimming and ball joints. ive flushed and changed all of the fluids accept the transition fluid and timing belts were replaced abt 6000 miles ago. other than that nothing is wrong and no check engine light.

 

Oh boy

 

honestly i want something that can do a little bit of everything. just well rounded. Something that can handle mud and rocks fairly well but also something with somewhat decent mileage (decent for a tacoma) and i can just enjoy

 

You can start by selling it and getting a 4x4.

 

You have a 5 lug Tacoma. If you really want more capable, and it get stuck on wet grass, you might wanna consider getting a different truck.

there's a whole section somewhere on here with info on 5 lugs. You might want to really think about what you want to do.

 

if you can find the thread you should send it to me

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/5-lug.114/

 

keep it stock. Stock trucks are the best daily drivers.

 

thank you