PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Whats the point of this? Every time one drives youre at risk of being hit, thats what insurance is for

 

You demanded his parents pay for a truck not hit? Your story is all over the place. If they didn't hit it what's the problem? If the kids are being reckless on a public road, sure go tell his parents when you drop him 50 feet down the road under your truck your not responsible

 

I know that, but being rear-ended is different than some kid on a scooter taking a corner too fast and hitting your truck while you're at a stop sign... and was one of the few incidents that took place OUTSIDE of Doylestown.

 

If you'd been in the shotgun seat that day, you'd know where I'm coming from. I am shocked he didn't hit my truck... Even if he crashed into the curb, he would have been thrown off the scooter and slammed into the side of my truck. He rode a scooter between a vehicle at a stop sign, shifter in Drive, only being held in place by my foot on the brake...

I am just fed up with the amount of blatant stupidity in the world today...

I've also have dashcam footage of a drunk guy beating on the hood of my truck for beeping at him because he was standing in the middle of the road... While I was working, a guy swiped a bag of ice out of the bed of my truck in front of the bar where I work. He just ran up behind my truck while I was moving, and then threw the bag back at my truck with all his might when the bouncer caught him. It bounced off the roof and went flying over the top.

Both of those incidents happened in Doylestown... Doylestown Borough has a perplexing number of stupid people... Like blatantly stupid people who have no intellectual disabilities but are just dumb. All my encounters in Doylestown are not the result of my carelessness but people doing highly illegal and dangerous stuff that I'd never expect.

 

Youll probably barely feel it

 

I know I'd barely feel it, but there would still be a huge dent in my door....

 

Maybe you need to move

 

I also once had a guy in a black Mazda with a manual transmission roll backwards into me at a traffic light.. The light turned green, and this idiot let the car roll back and then just drove off... I was more shocked than angry, but if there'd been any damage I would have chased him... Again, that was one of the rare non-Doylestown incidents.

 

Not my house, my parents'... I'm living with them because I want to save up money from work and rent a DECENT apartment. Until then, my parents' brand new 2-story house with 2-zone central air and 2nd floor laundry will do just fine...

 

I barely felt it when the drunk guy hit me in October 2015, but there was still almost $3,000 in damage to my truck...

 

I've got GREAT insurance. My Taco has the mandatory liability coverage, and not only comprehensive/collision but also uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. If my truck gets totaled, as much as it would break my heart, I'd just use the insurance company to buy another one if it wasn't economical to buy it back and fix it.

I also have dashcams in case someone lies, but I'm just worried about the inevitable aggravation.

 

Those kids will learn their lesson when they wipe out, just hope its not into your truck

 

I wasn't moving and thus would not have dragged the kid under my truck. When I got hit by the drunk driver in October 2015, he was able to convince his insurance company I'd run a stop sign even though he was double the legal limit the night he hit me, and even though he killed someone while driving drunk in the 1980s. He is shockingly going to be getting his license back this May. It's bad enough he got his license back after killing the person, and I think it should be permanently revoked.

My insurance company paid to fix my truck, waived my deductible, and didn't raise my rates. They took the drunk guy's insurance company to court, but they just could not agree and it wound up being a 50/50 draw. USAA ate the cost of fixing my truck with no consequences to me, and Sir-Drinks-A-Lot's Mercedes was paid for by his scumbag insurance company.

People just won't own up to their own mistakes or the mistakes of their kids, and I am just sick of dealing with dishonest people...

 

I wiped out many times, but never into a vehicle...

 

The other problem I've encountered is Darwin Award recipients who jaywalk in front of my truck at night wearing only black, or are walking on the side of a road without a shoulder at night wearing black. Every time I've almost hit somebody, it's because they were walking where they should not have been walking, at night, wearing black. I will admit that... Basic instinct and just plain common sense keep me from hitting pedestrians during the day, even if they jaywalk. I expect it.

Another big problem is people waiting for the SEPTA bus at the stop near my house, who insist on standing the middle of the right turn lane I need to use!

 

My parents' house has a study on the first floor with a window that overlooks the front yard. I always park my Tacoma in the driveway. One time I looked out and saw a baby holding onto the bumper and staring intently right about where the Tacoma logo is on lower left corner of the tailgate. I then noticed a younger woman sprinting after him.

I opened the front door and said "You like my truck?" I think it's adorable when kids take an interest in my truck at an early age. I've been known to let the young children of people I know sit behind the wheel of my truck if it's okay with their parents. They love it! The young mother explained to me that her son was a year old and obsessed with trucks, and I told her that she now knew what to buy her son as a first vehicle in about 15 years. She laughed, and we parted ways.

Imagine if I'd been in the truck about to back. Well-intentioned but clueless parents who can't keep track of their kids are the primary reason I got a backup camera in my truck.

 

I first got behind the wheel of a Toyota pickup at the age of 9, in 1998. It was a base model 1993 regular cab short bed 2WD, no A/C, 5-speed, may have even been radio delete. The truck belonged to my Grandpa's friend, and I couldn't reach the pedals so he put me in his lap. If I had been able to reach the pedals, I'd have been able to brag that I learned how to drive stick before I turned 10. With my grandpa in the shotgun seat and me in the middle, we drove to an empty lot and the friend put me in his lap. I spent probably 30 minutes just steering the truck around the parking lot, and I got to sit in his lap and steer on the main road all the way back to my grandparents' house. My mom was NOT happy when she found out about this probably 3 years after it happened...

Fast-forward... I am well-known for letting the young children of my friends and neighbors sit behind the wheel of the same truck I regularly flip out at drunk people for leaning against during a busy night at the bar where I work... Just tonight (technically last night since I live on the East Coast), I parked my truck right outside the entrance to unload some boxes of booze, and forgot to roll up the windows. Came outside and found three guys, not drunk but all smoking, and one holding his cigarette dangerously close to my open window. I told him very politely "Please get away from the Tacoma with that cigarette. I forgot to roll up the window." He complied. Seriously, if you burn a hole in my seat with your cancer stick, you're paying for reupholstering.

Anyway, I have a soft spot for young truck fans...

My truck's youngest fan as of 2016 is the 1-year old son of a neighbor I met when I happened to look out the front window and see her kid in my driveway intently admiring my truck. We talked for a bit, and I told her she now had a good idea of what to buy her kid as a first vehicle in about 15 years.

In my opinion, getting kids interested in vehicles at a young age will go a long way in keeping them out of trouble when they get older...

 

At the bar where I work, I'm the only employee with a Tacoma, but most of the guys who work there are car guys. One barback is an ASE certified mechanic, but now he works full time for a general contractor, and supplements his income by barbacking and bartending on weekends. Anyway, I popped the hood of my 2010 regular cab 2WD during a break and we were just bullshitting around. He pointed out that my coolant was a bit low, and while it was far from dangerous, he was right. I topped if off myself and have done it one other time since then. This only occurs in the summer, so I'm sure it has to do with warm weather putting extra strain on the cooling system, but it got me to thinking. The radiator in my truck is just the rather unremarkable OEM unit, seemingly made of plastic.

My dad says radiators should last forever under normal circumstances. Say I put over 200K on my truck. Is it possible I'll still have the same radiator?

 

I shockingly thought my truck had an open rear until well into 2012, and didn't know about the diff lock/traction control disable button, and by that point I'd had it three years. The window sticker calls it an "automatic limited-slip rear differential." One member on TW said that the base models don't have true "positraction," that they just have open rear ends with an electronic device in them that mimics an LSD. I have used the LSD in the snow numerous times, and it seems pretty real to me.

Also when I got rear-ended in March 2015, and I brought my truck in for an estimate, Butch typed in the truck's VIN to find parts. According to the printout Butch gave me, my truck actually has "positraction." All I know is that I got stuck in the mud once, and my friend floored it while I pushed. Both rear wheels were spinning without the Auto LSD button engaged.

What does the TW public think of the LSD in base 2nd gens?

 

216K on mine, no issues. Nothing lasts forever, though.