325,000-mile Taco owner

I'm Christian. I'm the editor of Four Wheeler magazine. I inherited this '01 Tacoma 4x4 from my dad back in December. This summer my oldest son and I drove it from Boston to San Diego.

The truck is a 2.7L/auto/4x4. Everything is all original and factory-issue with the exception of consumable stuff like brake pads, spark plugs, O2 sensors, and maybe the tie rod ends. Alternator, A/C, transmission, engine - stuff like that is all original and untouched. My dad kept all the factory service schedule up on it, ran synthetic-blend oil in the crankcase, and commuted back and forth to work in it from the day he bought it new to the day he passed away. The only thing he didn't do was take it in for the frame-replacement warranty. I checked with Toyota, which told me my truck has too many miles and is too old to do the warranty now. It was a Massachusetts vehicle and they lived right on the ocean, so the frame definitely could've used it.

I've already added some new wheels/tires and had Auto Rust Technicians in Cranston, Rhode Island install their Safe-T-Cap frame repair. That was just to ensure it'd make it to California without snapping in half. In New York the factory rear shocks puked their guts, so I tossed on some parts store replacements in Indiana. In Iowa I lost a shock mount. Had to laugh. The rear of the frame from the shock mounts back is still pretty rotten so I'm looking for a decent CA frame to either do a full replacement with or graft in a new rear section. After that I'll do some Bilstein shocks, replace the rotten bumpers, maybe toss some trinkets like lights at it, and try to put another 325,000 miles on it.

 

Quite an adventure ... with the irony of driving an east-coast rust-bucket to rust-free west coast.
Sounds like a magazine piece to me

Welcome to TW.

PS - I have a stock rear bumper you can have, if you ever come up to the Sacramento area.

 

Wow!Quite a adventure!Welcome to TW!