East coast 2nd Gen

Hi everyone

I'm here to learn best and worst practices, and share my Tacoma journey. This is my 2012 crew cab TRD Tacoma.

I am a new Tacoma owner who was looking for a toyota that I could use to drive on the beach and take on fishing trips.
Got lucky to find and buy this beast with a bed cap and roof rails.
Body and engine are good. 163k miles. Undercarriage needs some love. So I'm looking to put alittle time and energy to make this truck last the rest of my life.

Here are some pics. Looking to learn from you all

 

Welcome from Denver!

 

Given that there is some visible rust under there, You might want to get it cleaned up some and have a professional undercoating done of the frame rails and spring hangers and belly pans. Where did you find the truck, are you near the coast or in a snow belt? The rust isn't bad, but my 2011, with 140K looks almost new underneath and it isn't because I scrub it frequently. Looking at your truck (very nice, BTW) I didn't realize they did a facelift on the 2012 model from the 2011. I didn't think that happened until 2014.

At any rate, you have the 4L engine is it auto or manual? I wish I had the full bed cap, Mine is just a flat cover. I also wish mine was the long bed. You should enjoy that truck, I wouldn't trade mine for a brand new one .

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome Amigo!!!

 

Welcome & Hello

 

Welcome!

For undercoating look at WoolWax or FluidFilm, not a hardening rubber-type product!

 

Welcome from a fellow New Yorker

 

Thanks the questions:
I'm planning to get entire undercarriage dry iced blasted and then undercoat. A local shop (brick city restoration NY) quoted me 1k. I'm doing more research before I commit.

This truck has had 4 previous owners before me, from new Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey. All carfax showed consistent services at toyota facilities. I appreciate your feedback, I didn't know about the face lift either.
Correct, this is 4 liter, automatic. Thank you I look forward to sleeping on the beach and driving on sand for surfcasting with his truck. I knew as I shopping that I was not going to go for the 4 cylinder engine.

 

Thanks for the advice... I'll keep that on mind when I shop for a guy to work the undercarriage

 

Thanks bud cheers

 

Welcome great find they're definitely built to last.

 

All snow belt states, which explains the corrosion around the hitch. I'm surprised with those miles the rust isn't a lot worse all over the underbody. Is there a Carfax maintenance record for the transmission, transfer case and differential lube changes? Transmission is sort of a pain to change the fluid if you do your own maintenance, there is a specific procedure to follow. Too bad Toyota didn't give us a dipstick for the transmission. Transfer case and differentials are easy. Your hitch, BTW is factory so the truck should have the tow package. If you don't have a brake controller already from the previous owners, but want one, the connector for the pigtail is under the panel near the parking brake pedal, maybe under the kick panel to the left (that's where mine was). All you need to do is get a controller and the pigtail for your year Tacoma and hook it up, the trailer plug-in is already connected for brake control.

 

Looks like no written history on carfax about transmission maintenance, transfer case, or differential.
So I will have to learn to do these maintenance services and put at top of my priority list with rust removal and Undercoating.

I was thinking I would replace the hitch receiver with something aftermarket since it looks alot more flakey on the outside and aftermarket receiver is much less expensive.

I'm not planning to tow anthing big any time soon so I think I can pause on brake controllers... But from the pictures you think better to replace hitch or just take rust off? The inside of the hitch receiver is still smooth... Only outside is ugly and flaky

 

I'd just get another ball and hitch bar. Replacing the receiver itself would mean cutting off the hitch, as it is welded to the frame. There are two bolts that tie the receiver to the bumper to help decrease flex with tongue weight. The rust is not so bad that it has eaten through more than a few millimeters, from the looks of things.

You can look up the trans fluid change procedure there are probably 100 Youtube videos about it. The hardest part is jumping the OBD port contacts so you can get a measure of the fluid temp. You also have to measure the amount drained, and there is an inner tube in the drain that helps get the correct level when you refill. There's more to it than that, but it is pretty straightforward. It would be a lot easier if there was a dipstick. Just make sure you can get the fill plug loose before you remove the drain plug.

One gizmo you might like that I added to mine is a Scangauge II. It plugs into the OBD port and has a small display that you mount on the panel somewhere so you can see it well. There are a bunch of parameters you can set, but only displays four at a time. I looked up a couple of codes and can monitor my transmission fluid temps, both in the trans itself as well as in the torque converter. I tow a lot with my truck and it helps me keep from overheating the transmission. It will also monitor engine temps, and it is more accurate than the needle gauge, You can measure average fuel mileage as well as second-by-second, open or closed loop operation, there are a bunch of things. I'd like to find a code for oil pressure but don't know if it will monitor that. This is the Scangauge, just below the speedo:

 

I forgot to mention, if you have the Scangauge, it makes the transmission fluid change easier, as it (if you have it programmed) will give you the transmission fluid temperatures you need while doing the fluid change. Then you don't have to do the pin-jump with a paperclip on the OBD port.

 

Went this route myself as it was part of a package deal….i like it.

 

Thanks for the knowledge and look at that awesome truck

 

Thanks. A little "ebony" to go with your "ivory", lol.

 

I think this is the worst rusty on my truck.
What is this part called? The bumper reinforcement beam? Or should I just get the entire bracket sub assembly(trailer hitch)?