3rd gen Tacoma hood misaligned after off roading

Thanks bro. I’m not even listening to all the sofa mechanics saying I bent my frame. They are the same ones that are scared to touch a dirt road Lol

 

What are you even saying ? I have 0 clue since you lost me at Glamis parking lot

 

Glamis parking lot/restrooms. I stop here sometimes when driving by.

 

Let it go don’t sweat the small stuff. Nothing is perfect really. Off-road more get some pinstriping you’ll be good

 

Mine has been that way from when I got it...passenger side?

 

I go to Glamis all the time, wheeled it in my Tacoma a bunch of times. If you're heading to Olds & coming from the washes, I suggest taking the back route instead of sand highway. Sand highway is WAYYY too congested for my liking, I prefer duning in the back. I've pounded the shit out of my stock 4x4 Sport & haven't been anything like frame or mounts or hood bolts but have messed up my alignment. Your truck is likely fine if you barely did it a handful of times. Bottom out sucks but yeah if you catch a rhythm with the whoops, hitting the brakes is actually the worse thing you can do as it'll force your front end to slam down. Next time just let it roll with speed, suspension will take it.

BTW, I've wheeled it so hard in Glamis that my FUCKING GRILL popped out & took my $500 Cruise Control sensor with it.

Pics for proof.

PS - Heading to Glamis this Friday. We're only doing off-weekends this season, too much busyness with holiday weekends.

 

My wheel alignment here didn’t have enough caster so my tire contacted the fender down by the cab mount. It also made some contact to to the fender liner so it probably smacked the tub a bit. My gaps are slightly off it’s part of the fun.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oqTdIB123lg?si=shOzE8jcjEn6nNat

 

You should see the fender liner on the upper part of my wheel wells lol I literally have ground down the plastic & put holes in it on both sides hahahaha.

 

^^^^^ This is good advice. Aligning body panels sucks most of the time. I've restored a few vehicles and work on our construction vehicles, it's a real challenge often. Sometimes you've just got to say it's good as it's going to get.

As some have said, it's widely known that the body panels on these trucks isn't always as good as it could be. I did some adjustments to mine when new, it's better but not perfect. Does it bother me? Not now, in my younger days it would have driven me crazy.

I would venture to say that the impact of bottoming out moved the fender slightly. If the hood moved, you'd see a difference in the gap on the driver's side. But hell I'm just guessing. Without looking at your truck no one can say for certainty. Hell, the impact of a hard bottoming out could have shifted the whole front end. (Very unlikely you had that strong of an impact)

You have to decide how much this bothers you. Can you live with it? If not, fix yourself or get a body shop to do it. But, it may have been like that all along and it can't get any better.

Best of luck to you, enjoy the truck and keep hitting the trails!

 

Or upside down….

 

Thanks for the reply. It does bother me since I am pretty young (23yrs) and I notice everything. But in all honesty it isn’t terrible and doesn’t affect my drive ability

 

Noted brother thank you for the reply

 

Yup same exact spot

 

Mine was like that too.

Do you happen to have hood struts? I removed the passenger side and it the hood sat better, but not perfect. I gave the hood a little bend and its good now.

Im not sure if the hood strut was the original culprit. I don't remember it always being misaligned. I do offroad mine pretty hard.

 

No hood struts, just the stock prop system. I guess I’m going to just try to live with it at this point Lol

 

Toyota anticipates that you’ll beat on their trucks, which is why for no extra charge most Tacos come out of the factory already w mis-aligned hoods. Gives them character, otherwise I don’t even notice.

Looks like you’re good to go. Head back out there, and be sure to send pics when something either snaps or leaks.

 

You might pop the hood and just grab different body parts and give them a wiggle. Maybe something is just loose enough to shift on a big bump.

 

savage

 

I suspect this thread involved alcohol.