Upgrade or Replace

Hello TW,

After many years I finally bought my dream truck. 2015 DCSB OR 44k miles. Got all the buttons and switches, no mods (except driver).

My question is this; Upgrade or replace. I’ve always subscribed to the school of thought that if I broke it or it wore out, then it only made sense to upgrade. However, like many of you, I bought this truck for 2 reasons.
1. Badass
2. Only way it doesn’t run is if it “Ain’t got no gas in it”

I like to think Toyota did a good job with the design of their products right from the start.

For basic maintenance; brakes, filters, fluids, plugs, gaskets. What do we go with, aftermarket or OEM? If aftermarket, who makes it, what part, and why?

The front brakes pulse, especially after 15 minutes into my 45 minute, morning commute. I’m pretty certain they are still the original rotors. Trying to decide what to get and how worth it it is to spend a little extra. This truck will never see more than 2.5” lift/level, not gonna be a serious off-roader with this one. I go camping several times a year, but mostly this truck will be my dd.

Cheers

 

Keeper fo show

put a few bucks in it and rock it

 

at only 44k miles on her shes barely even broken in.

For the pulsating brakes, pull a wheel off see how much pad life you have left. if a good chunk is left, simply pull the rotors off and have them turned true. should be ~20$ per side.

FYI i get around 90-100k miles out of a set of front pads n rotors and around the mid point of that ill usually take the rotors off to have them turned

 

Thanks for the input guys. Pads have tons of life left. For $40 it’s worth a shot to have them turned. I’ll have to really get in there this weekend and see what things look like.

 

Brakes: I replaced my brakes w/ StopTech. Nothing fancy. Rear Drum I purchased all new OEM.

Filters: OEM for Oil and Air/Intake, anything for cabin.

Fluids: I use Mobil1 in the engine, Redline in Trans/Diff.

Plugs: OEM

Gaskets: OEM

 

You'll get lots of "lemming" effect, "opinions", here. OE replacement parts for maintenance, are generally as competitively priced as their aftermarket equivalents. But any quality aftermarket replacement part will generally provide similar performance and reliability. Over the years, I have used a combination of OE and aftermarket parts on my 2015 Sport - OE filters, aftermarket pads and rotors, any synthetic oil on sale, etc etc. If you are an experienced DIY'er, just let your previous experience with parts replacement be you best decision guide. At 40K on my sport, I replaced the front brakes and rotors with upgraded parts from Power Stop. Not because my factory parts were worn out, but, I wanted better braking performance while towing my golf cart and the Power Stop kit provided that, at a very competitive price, with out sacrificing quality (IMO). As an aside - most pulsating brake issues are the result of poor braking technique than the quality of the brake parts.

 

How do you "upgrade" to something new, when new things are usually made worse than the old things, but marked up to cost significantly more

You have 44k miles
Nothing is broken

Gaskets, plugs, filters? OEM or equivalent.
Fluids? I use high quality aftermarket.
Brakes? The stock ones are trash. So you either put Stoptech cryo slotted + TRD Ceramic pads or upgrade to 4runner calipers and tundra master cyl

There usually is no reason to lift past 2.5" causing negative side effects
but the stock suspension is not that good and ride quality can be greatly improved by upgrading it, even without excessive lift