tips on getting high miles 2nd gen back to ship shape?...

i'll try to make it short. New member. Just bought a 2011 base model 4dr, 4wd. 150k miles. I thought it was a steal of price. Realized after driving it for a week that it had a bad wheel bearing and the ac fan made a loud chirping noise - fixed those problems myself but went through some trials and tribulations, which included deactivating the abs system.

So here are my thoughts so far...

I think the truck has a good heart. There are some unexpected idiosyncrasies. I worked on a fruit farm for seven years and have driven many trucks, including two ridgelines, a silverado and a sport trac. The sport trac qualifies as the only really problematic vehicle i've ever had and is the main reason i stayed away from f series this time, even though I think they win the competition for best cab and styling.

What else should I say here?...
I have to say that the favorite vehicle in my past was a 2001 Subaru Outback. If Subaru made a real truck I would buy it. But they don't. Too bad.

Toyota's stand out among the vehicles I've owned for dependability. Everyone knows this about Toyota. The last two purchases I made were an 08 prius and a 2011 Sienna. They were both excellent vehicles. I don't see much reason to branch out now. The Tacomas seem to have a devoted following and good resale, plus our head mechanic drives one and loves it, says they're the best around. And he knows just about everything there is to know about pickup trucks and has worked on all of them.

My tacoma has all the basic features that I wanted. Here are my impressions so far:

It is louder and rougher than I expected. Why would it drive much differently than a 4Runner?

It roars to life with a whooshing noise and then settles down with the infamous taco tick...I have fixed this problem half way by following an easy fix I found on toyotanation: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/6...n-2005-2015/182494-new-fix-tapping-sound.html

My tacoma handles big bumps pretty well but small bumps cause it to jump and skip in ways that are rather unpleasant.

It downshifts prematurely sometimes on a downhill which causes the truck to lurch quite dramatically. I understand this is a Toyota thing which connects the brake sensor to the transmission. I just wonder if mine is working 100%?

It drags a little such that you always have to give it acceleration. If you take your foot off, it pulls back ever so slightly, even on a downhill. You could almost just use the gas pedal to navigate turns. I thought this problem was related to the bad bearing but it persists after replacement. I wonder about the other bearings. Is there anything to know about rear bearings or transmission maintenance/issues here? From what I understand, it's very hard to check the transmission fluid. How often to replace?

The 4WD works well but the shift in and out is not smooth. The manual says you can switch in and out of 4H anywhere under 60 mph. I can't imagine doing it anything over 15 mph.

There is an occasional washy sound matching the engine cycle at cruising speeds. I don't have the knowledge to investigate.

In general I would say that the truck lacks some pep. It feels very powerful but lumbers to get going from a stop, whilst sounding like a spaceship. Actually, the truck sounds oddly like the old 394 Massey Ferguson that I used as a spray tractor for many years.

The chirping AC is a problem I fixed following a thread here on tacomaworld. It is a 90% fix and I expect I'll have to replace the fan in the next year or two.

So that's basically most of what I wanted to say at this time. I'm still happy as a clam driving my tacoma. It makes every trip feel like an adventure. And the kids love it too because they can see out better and they can control the windows (ugh...). Please, if anybody has any comments or suggestions about any of these topics, please share. I want to have fun working on it and I want to to get it to a kingly state of existence. Thanks.