Sold my Tacoma today

Bitter, Sweet day today, solid my Tacoma,
I ordered the truck in 2016 with manual transmission at Toyota of San Francisco,
I am geologist for US department of interior, my Tacoma saw tons of off road driving,

after putting the ARB front bumper it ruined my Tacoma unfortunately,

I couldn’t get the suspension properly alined, truck would eat tires every 12.000 miles,

Toyota dealer told me everything is good, but tire wear was saying something else.

my thoughts on the Tacoma,

Bulletproof reliable truck,
Front suspension is definitely designed for a sedan not a truck,
Fuel economy bad, 14 mpg
Tow capability 4500 lb max if you want to stop within 200 ft.
best heated seats in industry
Best AC system in industry
Best little comfortable truck.
everything is put together by plastic clips and paper thin components.
Great truck for very light duty trails, dirt roads.

( do not buy ARB bumper unless you want to ruin your truck )


My truck had 101.000 miles,

bye bye taco,

 

I have the same sentiment except for the mpg and mine is a/t .Are you buying another toyota?

 

Sounds like you weren't going to shops that knew what they were doing. Look at how many people have bumpers and super heavy rigs....you just gotta buy the right suspension for the job, taking into account the amount of weight...and any additional adjustability needed in upper or lower arms.

Any who, good luck in your next vehicle! Hopefully suits your needs better. Seems like a lot of people end up returning to the trusty taco.

 

The bumper weight caused the alignment and tire-wear issues?

 

I can't unsee that bumper. I know it's crash tested and purpose built, but for crying out loud it's the ugliest monstrosity ever produced.

 

I don’t know what I am gonna get next
Maybe Bronco Badlands edition ‍♂️
Currently we are using a HUMMER H1 for the trails in northern Nevada region.
12 MPG but a pure tank

 

Aren’t those bumpers like 200 Lbs? Probably should have upgraded suspension to accommodate…

 

It was a terrible choice to buy that bumper and I agree with you.

 

175 lb
It’s airbag approved bumper, that means it was attached to the frame by two thin brackets, it would rattle so terribly on dirt roads

 

As mentioned, you need to upgrade the suspension when adding equipment like this, but it sounds like you already realized this.

 

Later on I upgraded the front springs to old man 2 inch lift heavy duty coils, but it didn’t fix the rattling of the bumper and tire wear

 

bumper is a bit big there...

 

Tacoma is a great truck. With that said my 2018 handled awesome until I added a slim steel bumper, and winch. Yeah, I was way more capable off road with the winch.

The added weight made a huge difference in handling. I upgraded to 650lb springs and that did help (6112 bilstein). But the truck was far less nimble in the turns, dips, off road etc. You can literally feel the weight up front, in a bad way.

 

Great truck, I enjoyed it, towed with it, worked with it , explored with it in remote locations, never had one doubt about its reliability.

 

Why not just replace the bumper?

 

Jesus that bumper is overkill, looks more like a hockey goalie mask.

 

What are you going to replace it with?

 

I don’t know yet,
Maybe Bronco ‍♂️

 

Selling my 2020 off road to Carmax this weekend. I bought it new for 36600 and after 4yrs and 39k miles, Carmax offered me $36000. Local dealer here beats Carmax appraisal by $500 so I actually might go there. Crazy resale value. Crazy times. With carfax accident also