New Tacoma Owner, Upgraded from Corolla

Hey, just bought what I think was a good deal on a 2011 2wd Black Tacoma, 5spd manual, under 30k miles. (Having it inspected by a third party within the return-window; sounds and looks fine so far).

My 02 Corolla was becoming the odd one out, as the lady now has a new Civic and I have a Scooter (offroadier-modded Yamaha Zuma 125cc) for work-commuting (weather permitting).

So this Tacoma is going to serve as a mostly-recreational vehicle.

I'm really happy with it. I love the simplicity. Mine has no frills, unless you count A/C. Manual-everything (tranny, windows, locks, mirrors). My plans for it are fairly straight-forward. I might start with a topper w/rails, since I kayak and the Mrs. will camp with me on the condition that it's a hardshell. She's afraid of bears. A typical fiberglass shell won't actually protect from bears if they want in though, so I'm using that as an excuse to hopefully eventually learn the art of cage-welding and stuff (would have to be a bit cagier, then I'll just put a durable black fabric topper over it, like they do with jeeps etc).

Anywho, I've been obsessing over my Tacoma and what can be done with it, so I kept finding myself at this forum; figured, I might as well register. You guys have already been very helpful!

 

Welcome


I'm sure would would be just fine in a shell protected from the bears...

 

Welcome aboard...prepare yourself to be broke....chasing the Tacoma dream mods...lifts...tires...ect...this is truly a sweet forum...

 

Welcome to TW! Wow, now that's camping...our worries in Hawaii are mosquitos and if we have beer, not bears. Word of advice...Obsessing will get you broke in no time with this forum. Aloha!

 

Welcome!

 

Honestly, I am not even worried about bears, but GF has more sense than me in general; I'm the one whitewater kayaking in class iv and v, making bad decisions when sh** hits the fan (broken main-paddle, so I hand paddled through a class v dam; yes, never again!). A fiberglass shell would probably be fine, but bears around here have been known to tear through trunks. I am not worried, but I couldn't honestly tell the Mrs. a bear couldn't get through it. Would a bear get through it? Probably not. You're right though, she will be fine most likely, either way.

We have beer too! Probably much more likely to cause us harm than bears. We actually probably have the highest concentration of liquor stores and micro-breweries per capita in the country.

I had to be honest with myself. I spent all day yesterday just looking at the Tacoma-stuff and plotting out my build. If I do anything with suspension/cagery/etc, I would want to do it myself. I don't have my own garage, but can probably find a place to work if needed. I should also take a welding class (been wanting to do that since I was a kid; even tried to become a welder's apprentice once.)

But I've burned a hole in my pocket with the Scooter already. Not only did I get top of the line suspension and stuff for it, I had a shop put it all on for me. Never again. I may spend a lot here and there on parts I can't craft myself, like suspension, but having a shop install them can add another 50+% to your overall cost. Roll-cages seem to be cheap if you can make them yourself (compared to a professional shop). I really got to liking doing my own oil changes on the scooter. It would be nice to at least give the truck enough lift that I don't need it on lifts for oil/oil-filter changes. I'm at a crossroads with this new Tacoma and it would be cool to be able to say I do all my own maintenance (can even report them via the Toyota Website and keep an official service record!).

But I'm honestly just brain-storming and may end up not making any serious modifications for some time.

Thank you!

I'm pretty much mentally prepared to restrain myself from dumping wads of cash on it all at once. But I won't lie, I can lay awake at night thinking about things like this. I'll just try to remember to whip out the novel and read myself to sleep.

 

Welcome to TW