What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

AFAIK there aren’t any, just the loosely nesting cups on the left and slotted on the right. Are those what you mean?

 

So, once you welded the Total Chaos Tabs together & onto your truck, you had to switch from the stock circular pieces to the above product?

This job is coming up for me as I already have the Total Chaos plated tigged together. I need to make sure I have everything needed to get the job done.

 

You do not have to switch to that kit. However, I was no longer interested in having the alignment off after wheeling. My main reason for doing this was that my stock cam tabs were so bent that the alignment would be off after the smallest pothole on the road. This kit locks out the two points on the lower control arms (you have only 3 options with this kit and not infinite) and the only remaining adjustments are the toe and camber/caster in the upper control arms if you have aftermarket arms.

 

Looks great! Very clean

 

. I went with the same kit as well, purchased from Poly Performance too.

I opted on not using the TC cam gussets since the alignment shop said they’d fix the bent tabs and add a head of weld behind it to keep it from bending. I’ll eventually get them welded on.

 

Oh wow. My Firestone wouldn't bend the tabs let alone weld behind them. They told me to kicks rocks and go to a body shop.

 

I went to a local shop a friend referred me to.

 

Thanks man, i try lol

 

Nice truck! What bumper is that?

 

Yeah firestone wouldn't do anything to help my tabs. I told them to bend them back and they wouldn't even do that for me. I got the marlin crawler cam tab brace but I also don't have a welder so they are just sitting in my garage till I can get around to getting someone to help.

 

Thanks man! C4 Hybrid.

 

I wish I would have had the foresight and ability to buy 2 or 3 2015 models, brand new, and just keep them garaged, driven only enough to keep them maintained in order to keep a lifetime supply of 2nd gen Tacomas.

I'm nervous about missing out on 3rd gen and being forced into 4th if I want brand new (which I do/will).

 

We’ll finally decide to do my cam plates bushings and bolts bolts where sized into bushings and cam plates where rolled over got some greasbule bolts and cam tabs from total chaos.
Also did a seatbelt chime delete love that one
Then decided to climb some snow banks

 

Was going to end up doing that but this just gave me an excuse to get a TC sticker lol

 

Personally I don't think you are "missing" anything. I think you should take at least one or two 3rd gens for a long test drive. You might change your mind. I had a 2nd gen, with 58k miles, when I bought my new 3rd gen. Knowing now, what I didn't know then, I should have kept that 2nd gen and sold the 3rd gen. I loved my 3rd gen but it never performed as good as my 2nd gens. I paid off the 3rd gen in 2 years. Kept it another 3.5 years. The 3.5 is a slug and the automatic transmission was poorly designed. The 3rd gen is built for epa ratings and not for fun or performance. Sold it, after 5.5 years and 25k miles, and bought 2 second gens. Eventually sold my son one of them. The ONLY thing I miss about my 3rd gen is the mpg. Everything else that was "new" in my 3rd gen has been added to our 2nd gens. If I was looking for another new truck I would find one of those rare 2nd gen unicorns with under 30k miles even if it costs $30k. Having said all this I did love my 3rd gen but it is not as good as a 2nd gen.
I have owned pre-gen, 1st gen, 2nd gens and a 3rd gen. If I was forced to buy new I would wait for a 4th gen but doubt I will ever give up owning 2nd gens.

 

Hah, funny. My first draft read something along the lines of "...nothing against 3rd gen, but from what I've read/heard I get the impression they are less well-built/designed." I deleted it, just to keep my post abbreviated and not stir up people who might get flustered by that.

I am in a position now where I can easily afford a new truck, and pay cash for it. Told myself I was going to buy a new one this season but when push came to shove, just couldn't bring myself to do it. The extra weight on the 3rd gen (600-700 lbs, ceteris paribus) means I'll definitely require the V6, since I'm adding a camper shell and 4WD. With the stories of timing cover leaks on the new V6 and wonky AT issues, and the still inflated prices I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

/Ramble. I guess what I was getting at was, I'm concerned that 4th gen will have even more issues or otherwise undesirable traits. I know 4th gen specs are mostly pure speculation at this point. But it's all a huge "?" as far as reliability/desirability (especially with all these mandates to satisfy EPA req's).

 

Did the same to my 05’ Prerunner two years ago. Best mod so far.
226K and counting.

 

It's nuts how easy it is. While I'm thrilled to finally have cruise, I'm also retroactively disappointed that I've gone all this time without it. I figured it would have been a several thousand dollar dealership job. I bought the control stalk as a salvage part for $25 or so. Total cost with the screws from Home Depot was around $30.

I did have to take some wire snips and chew up/snip out the air bag/horn ground wire pin receptacle from the plastic plug, since the stalk I bought only had the two wires. Extracted that ground pin receptacle and just popped it into the 4-slot harness that came with the salvaged stalk. Saved $50 by not going to the dealer for that part

 

Yes I was sweating both the rising amount of timing cover leaks and a few mentions or rear main seal leaks on my 3rd gen. Being past the 5 year warranty these issues could be very costly if done by a dealer. My transmission wasn't particularly wonky but I hated that at 38 mph it would slide into 6th gear (2nd overdrive). It was fuel saving only taching 1200 rpm at 40 mph. The issue was when you went to pass it would drop to 5th when it should drop to 3rd. Ran it in ECT mode or, sometimes, would just put the shifter in 4th instead of drive for a more fun driving experience. Something I never had to do in a 2nd gen. I had a lot of 1st model 3rd gen issues. I expected a couple but not so many. I had 80's Chrysler products with less issues. I would never buy a 1st model of a new gen again. The week I sold my 3rd gen I received a recall for potential frame perforation (rust). I thought Toyota had finally resolved that with the 3rd gen but apparently not. They should have either kept the 4.0, or the 5 AT, or both, in the 3rd gen though neither would have satisfied the EPA. They sure did keep that 4.0 5 AT in the 4runner so why not the Tacoma.

 

Beautiful build