What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Only 2" huh? Looks higher. Must be your taller tires and wheels then.
Or the fact that I am comparing to my truck with its low af worn out stock suspension so even factory height trucks look higher to me.

 

Yea i mean i barely have any preload on my coilovers. I went from no preload to i think 6 threads of preload. So could be less then 2'' compared to a stock ride height.

My tires are pretty tall though. 255/80s. Over 33'' tall just a touch. No real rubbing though. I like them a lot.

I can relate to the low rider blown out stock suspension

IMG_9168.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

Alright thanks a ton

 

Look how cute he is. All stock and unmolested. RIP

255/80R17? Pretty tall & skinny. Thought you didn't like tall & skinnies?

Yeah at 178K I can easily get my truck moving up down by hand like it's nothing. A tad too much brake and that front end likes to dive for them rocks. Really due for replacement.

 

Got up into the arrowhead of MN and got to blaze some trails. The chains and TREDs got a big workout. Probably got stuck 40 times cumulatively in 18 miles.

 

Hmmm...came up on some funds.....i want on board air.. But i should do the timing belt...damn

 

Do the important stuff first.

 

Why must you be so responsible???

 

I don't like them. I knew i didn't really like them before i got them, but wanted to try a set for myself. I wanted a tall tire for better clearance and I wanted skinny in hopes id get okay milage still. Not worth it. I'll be going to some fatty's next.

Lol yea mine had about 172k on it i think. Except mine didn't bounce. It didn't do anything really. Was like it rode and cornered on the frame rails. Was a rough rought ride. Scary too, if i hit a little whoop or big bump on the highway while cornering it would damn near launch me into another lane.

 

If you've got the funds to experiment, I'd say it's worth it. That's how you learn through experience. Anyone can tell you what they like and don't like but it's better to try it for yourself.

Jeez that sounds even worse than 1000 miles of nose dive and a strong twerk. But all the same, at over 170K, suspension is due for replacement.

 

Yea i mean i have driven all my buddies rigs with tall skinnies for short bursts. The difference is apparent. But figured what the hell.

No doubt, you'll love having decent suspension once you get it.

 

If only I had more refunds, I'd go with some better-than-decent suspension. But anything will be a step up at this point.

 

Yeah I've only wheeled twice lol. Soft suspension and minimal armor had me hesitant since it's my.only vehicle. But have sliders now, so things are opening up!

 

Good idea playing it safe... I should try it sometime. I have a tendency to wheel it harder than I should considering its my main vehicle. But it's so much damn fun it's basically a perfect trade-off even if it does break. I want it to be dry and sunny again so I can finally ride my motorcycle and tear into the front end of the truck.

 

Yeah luckily for me I'm not much of a thrill seeker, so I'm not quick to do something I'll soon wish I hadn't. But with that said, I do want to have fun. That's where experience and mods come in. Do it more and I learn to drive better and thus more easily avoid danger, which inherently makes it more fun. And build the truck up some so my range of possible trails and obstacles increases, which leads to more fun.
I don't have a bike or any other vehicle, so my motorized fun's got to come from my truck.

 

I'm not sure if I would call it thrill seeking, but yeah I get what you mean. Just don't let your mods limit you, plenty of fun to be had with a stock truck. There are those among us that are heavily modded that won't dare use their truck in the manner it was created to perform in. But that's a rant for a different crowd...

I have so many things planned and purchased to do on my truck, but without a different vehicle to daily in the snow I can't afford the downtime... :/

 

I'm sure it's the unpopular opinion here, but I say that a damaged stock truck in the name of fun isn't very fun at all. I don't like doing repairs, so avoiding them is pretty "fun" to me. Now that's not to say I'll avoid wheeling to avoid possible damage. I'm just gonna be a tad conservative about it.
But really I can't say much. I'm so inexperienced that I need to get out there more before I take a stand either way.

I feel ya there aside from funds, not having another vehicle is definitely a limiter. If I run into issues, I'm potentially out of a vehicle.

 

I bet it borders on popular/unpopular.... plenty here that just daily their Tacoma. I'm over the worry of body damage, mechanical failure in the form of broken bearings, arms, and ball joints is all that really worries me anymore. Even then my truck makes all sorts of suspension sounds (except for squeeks) even on the road that would likely scare the shit out of people. I always get funny looks from passengers when the truck clunks over a pothole or speed bump. I love my truck, but I'm tired of using it as a daily... I have an ever growing chunk of change set aside for a FZJ Land Cruiser or a Fourth Gen 4Runner so I can have a decent 4WD daily. Really hoping for a Cruiser as I would like better ride quality than a 4Runner. We shall see, I'm open to a sports car too. Right now I at least have the bike for when the weather finally turns from snow to sun so I will finally be able to do a front end rebuild.

 

This is true. Some people just drive them and even baby them. Which is fine, but I chose a Tacoma for extra reasons

Yeah drivability failures on road are probably the biggest concern. Big potential for other damage as well as bodily harm. Other than that, damage sucks but most can be dealt with at home.

Noises. This truck has loads of them, inside and out. Still figuring out which are common/no issue and which should be addressed. No one seems to really question it though. If anything I'm the one who mentions it. I guess people just chock it up to 'it's a pickup truck'.

Either of those would be a nice DD. Though if you can swing it, LC for sure. If the whole point of a 2nd vehicle is DD, may as well make it comfy.
A 2nd vehicle would probably be a sports car for me. I was deciding between truck and sports car before I purchased. So I'm definitely in support of that choice!

Yeah warn weather (NOT hot weather) is sounding nice. I tend to put off as much non-critical work as possible until then.