Impending doom - 1st gen parts discontinuation?

And a second, similar question - are parts that you get from NAPA any better than those from O'Reillys, or autozone, etc? Are they all rebuilt in the same big (I assume Chinese) plants? Or are there "better" rebuilt, aftermarket parts out there? I'm thinking of PS pumps, steering gear boxes, etc.

 

I think mechanical and electrical parts will be available for a long time from the aftermarket. Body and trim parts may get reproductions since the Taco is so popular, but I found trim (interior) parts scarce for my T100. And junkyard door panels, etc are often just as worn as mine were or worse, exposed to the elements, etc. One reason I finally bought a new Taco.

 

ill have to go into great detail to answer this one.

A1 Cardone - remanufacturer for PS pumps, racks, computers, gear boxes, even starters and alternators. everyone uses a1 cardone. and I mean, everyone. the quality is the same across them all. NAPA does have cardone do some extra little things to try and prevent come backs like adding a magnetic filter and screen into every power steering pump. but that doesn't necessarily make them any "better".

Raybestos - this is a big one.... brake friction material manufacturer (amongst other things like tie rods and ball joints). If i recall correctly, they are the largest supplier for friction material in the united states. and I also believe the ONLY one. so while you do get different brand names with different technologies from parts stores, the brake material i think all came from raybestos. mind you just the friction material. not the plate the material gets placed on or the adhesive technologies that bind the material to the plate. thats all patented by the respective brands. not sure where centric gets their stuff from though. and there are other better companies like Akebono who is the world leader in friction material manufacturing and for a good reason. they really are that good. they supply more manufacturers than any other supplier like brembo, textar, ferodo, wpr, npn, advics, bosch, or pbr. all these guys are OE manufacturers. not anything you get in auto parts stores here. except carquest, their platinum line pads are made by the second largest friction material supplier in the world right after akebono. and i can not for the life of me remember their name. its a weird name. but carquest/advanced auto parts are the only ones to actually offer actual OEM/OES products through worldpac. NAPA gets lucky some times with Altrom but altrom is incredibly weak compared to worldpac.

fuel caps and radiator caps. theres few manufacturers. stant is the king and they sell to i think all the auto parts stores as a premium line.

really, youre not so much getting better products, you are but not by much, as you are getting better service and quality from the supplier.

 

Thanks a million. So advance auto for brake pads if I can't get Toyota and NAPA for pumps etc. great information.

 

I can still find new parts for my 1944 willys jeep, not too worried about the tacoma parts supply drying up anytime soon.

 

From the dealer? I know some collector vehicles have a deep aftermarket supply chain but I was wondering about original Toyota parts.

 

Toyota is the only brand i have ever bought stuff from the dealer, so i never looked. The morons at the typical jeep dealer wouldnt even know what a willys jeep is, i had a 94 yj in the early 2000s and they barely knew anything about it. Im talking like the local napa and places like that, not really after market per se, but oem style/quality parts.

I still would not be worrying about tacoma parts. Also remember toyota uses parts across their model lines, hell my 99 camry shares parts and part numbers with my 02 tacoma. You can still get solid axle toyota knuckle rebuild kits from the dealer.

 

Hi, @CodeSeven - 7+ years later, have you seen any evidence that anyone has since picked up the aftermarket manufacturing opportunities for the Vapor Pressure Sensor? 89460-04010-"Discontinued".
I see there are tons of them, used, on eBay.
At Amazon there are a few that claim to be equivalent. For example,

$14 Priprilod Vapor Pressure Sensor Compatible with Toyota Tacoma 1998 1999 2000# 89460-04010 8946004010

https://www.amazon.com/Priprilod-Pressure-89460-04010-8946004010-Compatible/dp/B0CN2VFTVB and at the bottom of that listing there are several at "Compare with similar items".
Any TW folks have any experience with these "equivalents"?
#Toyota 89460-04010