Gen 3 Manufacturing Change Log

Placeholder intro:
This will be replaced as contributions grow and I can structure things properly, but I wanted to share my vision in what I’m trying to accomplish. Have some rare NC snow rolling in that affords me some time to start a side project (or two, if you see my wheel database attempt).

Tacomas were cool to research in depth. We know Toyota is all about refining their product. What I would like to do is crowdsource information pertaining to manufacturing changes over the entire generation. Obviously some of which are obvious (i.e. CarPlay 2020), but maybe we have some lesser known changes (fuel pumps? Bearings?) that progressed over the life of the third gen. I’m hoping we can come together as a community and source the information so I can restructure this intro into a yearly (even half year and quarters if needed) change log for Toyota manufacturing.

I feel like this one is going to get pretty intensive, so I’m unsure what boundaries we will need (if any), but I’m excited to see the information pile up in consolidated form. I hope this can help us learn more about the history of the 3rd gen, and maybe help some potential newcomers understand the platform better.

Please provide your submissions in reference to whatever date change you can provide (Ie MY22, MY18Q1, etc) to include what models were affected (ie all, TRD Sport, TRD Pro, etc). Proceeding/super-seeding part numbers, if you have them. If you have any clear pictures detailing the change, that would be fantastic too. If you don’t know something, share the idea and I’m sure we can figure it out as a community.

Please bear with me as I find time to make edits periodically. I feel like this particular project is going to take some real thinking to stay structured.

 

2016 4x4s came with 5 greaseable Zerks and then moved to non-greasable joints. See post #1 for the timeline.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-u-joints.409042/

 

My 2018 has three front and no rear zirks