Bought a first gen Tacoma!

Coming from Jeeps, the Tacoma world is new to me. I've always lusted after the first gen Tacomas since I like their small and compact size. Found a nice one locally with 194k miles, Icon coilovers, Method wheels, and some other minor mods as well.

Here's some photos:









Now the question is what will I do first! Is it worth re-gearing these things? If so, what would you suggest gearing it too? It's an automatic with the 3.6 and 265 tires.

Also, what about front lockers? Is that a thing on Tacomas like it is on Jeeps?

At some point I may supercharge it, but I'm not sure how to handle tuning on these 3.4s.

 

Bout time you got rid of the Fiat junk, congratz

 

Yep, it's unfortunate but after 2006 (end of the 4.0) the Wranglers manage to look nice, but what lies beneath (the engine and electronics) is riddled with lots of bullshit.

 

Congratulations and welcome to TW!

I love red Tacomas!

 

Nice ride!!!

 

2007-2011 essentially had a Caravan engine, which was heinously underpowered especially with the automatic transmission; 2012-2018 JKs had the 3.6L Pentastar, which was much better than 3.8L in earlier JKs, but still can't touch any Toyota engine in terms of reliability!

 

I've owned the 3.6 and driven the 3.8. They can't even be compared. The Pentastar is superior in every way to that shitbox 3.8 engine.

Still, the 3.6 Pentastar has lots of known issues, and while most of them aren't major issues, there are enough little ones to add up to it not being a very enjoyable ownership experience. They are also overrun with electronics to the point where they are very difficult to work on for the DIY mechanic.

This Toyota is a breath of fresh air in terms of being much more simple (and reliable).

 

I have a 2nd Gen RC base model with the 2.7L and automatic transmission; My parents bought me this truck right before I got my license and I plan to drive it until it dies! 110K miles on my truck and no engine issues!

 

What are the specs on the truck? If its a v6 I would check timing belt

 

From what I understand, these things should go well past 500k miles with just basic maintenance.

Timing belt has been done recently, as have the ball joints and a number of other things. It has some decent maintenance records with it fortunately.

 

There's a guy here on TW with about 600K miles on his 1997...

There's a guy from the Southeast (North Carolina?) who's not on TW but has a 2007 Tacoma 2.7L 5-lug with over 1.2 MILLION miles; The original engine started having serious problems at about 880K miles, so he replaced the engine...

 

Did you ship it to AZ from Portland?

 

Have you had a good chance to run it on the freeway yet? After your other thread about 3.4 power, I'd like to know YOUR thoughts about it.
Hey, very nice truck you wound up with. IMO way way better than Jeep and that Tacoma will return the favor many times.

 

Sweet truck man, congrats

 

No, I'm still in Portland. We're in the process of moving to Arizona, just waiting one more week until we close on our house down there.

I'm not disappointed with it on the highway. It's not a dog like my 4.0 Jeep was. It's not so much that the Jeep was a dog, it's just that it ran out of power on the top end quite a bit, whereas the 3.4 actually feels like it is a bit more revy (is that a word?) and peppy.

I think it also feels a lot better than my TJ due to the longer wheelbase. Those TJs have such a short wheelbase that they inherently feel a bit more unstable at higher speeds and just in general.

 

Sweet looking ride!

 

Welcome to Tacomas!

First off excellent choice, best Gen, best color, and best cab choice. Though I might be a bit partial.

In regards to your questions.

I just geared to 4.56 from 4.10s I can't comment if I should've gone 4.88 as mine aren't fully broken in yet. Generally it seams people recommend 4.88 for auto and 4.56 for manual, I swapped a manual in mine. For 265s i would stick with the 4.10s.

Front lockers are a thing, most go with ARB or Eton e lockers. But you'll get some debate due to the ifs.

There are bolt on super chargers, TRD/magnuson, there's a bit of tuning but they seem fairly simple. There's a ton of info on them here.

Check it the what have you done to your 1st Gen thread.

 

If no one has mentioned it yet, check your lower ball joints and the bolts, if you replace them I'd suggest OEM. I've used Moog in the past and they don't last very long.

Also check for rust, especially the front hanger of the rear leafs.

 

Nice truck. Congrats!

 

I checked the frame before I bought it, and fortunately it’s rust free, which is a bonus of being in the PNW where they don’t salt the roads.

Also, according the the maintenance records, the ball joints were done very recently, which is a plus! Timing belt too!