goodbye tacoma... you were a legend

Got it back in November of '21 with 39k miles. '18 TRD OR with a manual 6 speed. Ultimate sporty pickup in my opinion. now with 151k miles and countless mods I traded it in! I got a little emotional when I was cleaning it out to take it to the dealer. Made a lot of memories with this truck.

daily driving, road trips, off-road adventures, camping trips. Washington, Southern Nevada, Texas, Kansas, Utah, Colorado and everywhere in between.

even had soda cans dragging from the rear when me and my wife got married.

ran three different suspensions. Bilstein, Old man emu, rough country 4-in drop bracket. bumpers, winch, snug top sport hi liner, the works.

unfortunately I really drove the thing into the ground and it needed a lot of work... The four-wheel drive quit working while I was in Texas and I had to manually shift it to two-wheel drive. One of the rear windows broke while I was climbing a gnarly hill. it was dented, scratched, dinged, rust here and there, and I found that the crossmember for the rear drive shaft carrier bearing was cracked... also one time a deer walked into the side of it while I was driving to work. dumbass deer...

to really do the thing right I would need to put probably 6K or so into it. new suspension setup, regear to 5.29, one piece rear drive shaft. maybe a tuner. probably a clutch, the throw out bearing was starting to squeak. other little odds and ends...

I picked up a dedicated rock crawler off-road rig which really was the final nail in the coffin on the Tacoma. so I decided that I need a full size truck that can pull a trailer since the Tacoma really didn't fill a niche anymore.

originally I was looking for an LBZ Duramax cat eye Chevy. but I ultimately decided to stick with a gasser for maintenance costs and simplicity. I ended up getting a 2015 tundra 1794 already lifted on 35s. super nice and comfortable (I'm 6'2") automatic, with plenty of power on tap which the Tacoma did not have. AND it can pull my 4runner on a car trailer easily.

All that being said that Tacoma was a juggernaut. did regular fluid changes as you're supposed to do. went through a set of ball joints and tie rod ends. spark plugs. front diff actuator. besides that the thing never let me down and never broke. except the stupid electrical four-wheel drive crap that one time... lol. got road hard and put away wet a lot...

you will be missed Tacoma. you were an excellent fun little truck.

just thought I'd share a little bit of my experience. I guess now I'll be more on the tundra forums

 

Nice eulogy! Sounds like you got everything could out of it. Happy trails with the Tundra.

 

She was a good one...

 

Best post I have ever read on this site so far!

 

THANKYOU! make me teary eyed thinking about it lol

 

Looks like you yee'd and/or haw'd with your truck!

 

Congrats and totally get it, a rock crawler surely makes sense……any pix of it?



What happened with the 4x4 and how’d you bypass it?


How’d those black rhino rims work out, some look great but also like a pita to clean…..heard heavy too.


Your post reminds me of an old car ad that where it went from beginning to its end!
My buddy did most all of the vfx on this.
https://youtu.be/TWtAP_CqMCo

 

Well done 3g well done.

 

o7

 

Rode hard and put away wet! Mazel Tov brother!!!

 

thanks!
I've never cleaned the wheels except with a pressure washer... I loved the look but the two tone color faded pretty quickly from the Sun and some of the plastic fake bolt doohickeys broke off or came off. aesthetically a great wheel, for hard off-road use it'll do the job but there's better options.

I never figured out the four-wheel drive issue. I took apart the transfer case actuator and went through the wiring to the rear axle. it had the two-wheel drive low wiring harness which I inspected behind the glove box. everything looked fine I couldn't figure it out so I traded it in as is. if you remove the actuator you can manually shift it with a pry bar back to two wheel high.

she's a 1986 4Runner solid axle swapped with a 22RE and other Marlin crawler goodies! had to replace the front springs little things here and there still need some things but super fun. got a bikini top for it.

 

Wow, super nice!! Always liked those and with that top and the marlin crawler stuff especially dual cased!
I really hate the electronic and auto 4x4 stuff, too bad it can’t be ditched and put on manual hubs.

 

Thanks! AMEN. lockouts with an FJ manual shift case would be perfect.... OR a solid axle swap. but that's a lot of work and money i definitely don't have. it's got a single 4-1 case in it. eventually I'll go dual. love an old beater!

 

As needs change, you do what ya gotta do.

I would bet that it was something with the two-wheel-low harness that went haywire (I've been wanting to do the two-wheel-low on mine too... I need to sit down and figure out all of what it does though, then I might be more comfortable with it).

I had a feeling you were pushin' that Taco harder & harder... (why else would one want 4" lift after finding out a "more reasonable" lift (not!) wasn't workin'? ), but that 'Runner with its shorter WB looks like the ticket for sure!

That said, your Taco still looks pretty darn good in that last pic...

Good luck with the Tundy + 'Runner!

 

I had this happen about 100 years ago living in nyc at the time and decided super late one night to drive up to my buddy's in burlington VT to go snowboarding, might have been a winter Nor'easter that stoked the fire! My 20yr old $500 shitbox (ton0rust), 1977 blazer manual trans and warn premium manual hubs that I put on, ran great, no cell phones, nav or gps.

The whole drive up on the ny thruway it was dumping, guy blows by in an oj era bronco in the unplowed left lane, about a mile up he's facing south in the northbound center median.

Further on I think I was on some rural route like your pic except new moon dark, 2am, still snowing, I had locked the hubs when I got off the ny thruway and I passed a semi that was stopped.....I went to turn back to make sure the guy was ok and ended up exactly in that pic!
Luckily with the hubs locked and some minor abuse I was able to get back on the road.....I think back n forth to cut up the snow then 4lo, reverse and full lock got right out....I'm sure 33x12.5x15 helped.
Would have been cool to have some pix but in those days it just wasn't a thing unless you had film or maybe a digital cam.


Sorry to regurgitate old memories but that pic dredged up that one to the tee, and the whole post reminded me of that MB commercial I worked on in another lifetime!

 

Smart man stayin' in the Toyota Family!!!

 

lol that's a great story!... Love squarebodies. Had a '78 K5 myself. 4 speed 4 inch lift 4.10s on 35s. super fun 4x4.

 

I had to say bye to mine as well

 

Ouch ! ...hope everyone is ok

 

Our Tacomas sure do take some punishment!
Great choice with the Tundra , especially with the 1794 edition. Those have very nice interiors.