Can cruise control be added to older Taco?

I have a used 1996 V6 Auto with 4x4 that doesn't have cruise. Can cruise be added to this truck? Thanks for any assistance you can offer!

 

I am sure it could be done .

Since I don`t have cruise on any vehicles I own .

I bet there are after market kits that might work quite well

Which would no doubt be much easier then trying to source the Toyota parts and pieces

How much researching have you done.

 

Yes.

http://www.thecruisecontrolstore.com/toyota-tacoma-1995-2004-complete-rostra-cruise-control-kit/

 

I had this on my truck when i bought it. The truck surged like crazy trying to maintain speed. Ended up cutting it out.

 

Wow, good to know.

 

Myself I see no reason but if you feel you can`t live without cruise control there you go .

I used it once on the Ohio Turnpike and it was the most boring ride I ever had Never used it since .

Then I don`t drive much only a few hundred miles a day if I need to drive the Tacoma

 

What year is your taco? You might be able to junk yard buy all of it. My 98 doesn't have it but the steering wheel has the little hole where the switch would go. I think you can get the stuff from a 4 runner or even a Camry.

 

I put this kit on my Corolla. It surged bad at first too, but there's a way to adjust all that. Just read the manual it comes with or google it. It ended up being a real life saver on a cross country trip. (not literally) I would highly recommend it to anyone actually.

 

My 98 4x4 base has it, it's an option.

 

don't think camry or corolla works but a sequoia or 3rd gen 4runner should be the same as the taco and its best to source it all from a parts truck so you get the complete package with everything you need. not sure about the wiring, I think most of it is there under the dash and you need to install the cruise control ECM module (that matches the type of engine you have) in the passenger kick panel and you should have a plug in for it already but then you need to add and run the wiring harness out the passenger firewall under the hood to hook it all up. its doable, but very involved, very involved.

going factory is better quality but I doubt its worth the time or effort when you can have an aftermarket setup designed for the truck, installed for you.

just because that one unit was garbage doesn't mean they all are, just ask around for what brand units others have used and had good luck with

 

I have the aftermarket Rostra cruise control on my '98. It was easy to install and holds speed pretty precisely. The main issue is that being a 4 banger and a manual it would go WOT in 5th gear on (eh-hem) rises in the road. I rigged a second switch with the brake cancel so that at about 2/3 throttle the cruise control would cancel. Actually a third switch too, on the clutch.

 

I installed an OEM CC into my '99. Works and looks like factory.

I needed the CC computer, switch, actuator, and brake light switch from a donor vehicle.
Only the ECM had to be an exact match.
All the wiring and connectors were already there, from the factory.

 

There is no doubt that this can be done. I also have a 1996, but mine is a 4-cylinder automatic. It came without cruise control. I have been in the process of researching this for months now, as well as collecting the necessary parts to do this. I have finally gotten all the parts, so now, I have to put it all together. I am pretty mechanically inclined, but still, this is a nightmare for me. In researching this online, I have found many resources of information, with wiring diagrams [which don't mean a whole lot to me!], as well as parts list that show where the certain parts actually go! I wouldn't have found the cruise control module unit itself if it hadn't been shown in some parts breakdowns that I found! For me, the hardest part to find, was the actual plug that plugs into the cruise control module unit itself. I have not been able to determine yet if mine actually did come with the plug or not. I have tried getting down there and looking for a plug/wire, but so far, I have not found one. If there is one, it must be well-hidden behind something down there! I finally located a donor truck in a Pick 'N Pull in Newark CA. It was pretty picked clean, BUT, lo and behold, even though the engine was gone, there was the Actuator still mounted inside the engine compartment, along with the connecting cables that were justhanging in mid-air! Now, I already had gotten an actuator, but, I took this one anyway, as a backup. What I went there for, was the wire plug that connects to the cruise control module. I didn't even know if the vehicle had cruise control or not, but upon inspecting it, it turned out to still have the cruise control module, along with the plug that plugs into it, and the wiring! I already had the cruise control module, so my task was getting the wiring out. That was a bear to do, and this was me doing in on a parts vehicle that had been pretty much picked clean! I knew I really needed the plug and wiring coming right out of the module, but I wanted to get as much of the wiring harness as possible, as I didn't know if I would need it all or not. I ended up cutting it about 2/3 of the way across the inside of the dashboard. I can splice whatever wires are needed, at that point. At least, that is my plan! I didn't know about the brake switch, but again, I learned of that from another tacoma user group. I was able to obtain a brand new one from "Beck-Arnley", who are well-known for making aftermarket parts identical to OEM parts. My local mechanic told me that he really doesn't want to put all this cruise control stuff in my vehicle, as he is afraid that if it is all in there and it doesn't work, then I will have to pay him for what he has done, as well as to take it all back out again. He actually suggested that I ask the dealer about doing it. I did go to the Toyota dealer [OneToyota in Oakland CA] and showed the service advisor what I had in parts, and what I wanted to do. He told me that I had done a great job of obtaining all the parts, and that it would be about a 5 hour job for them to put it all in, or around $750 labor to do it. Being a former small engine mechanic, I do get it, about it being a lot of work, since they did not take it all apart themselves, so they might not exactly know how to put it all back together. I get that. But still, $750 does seem like a lot to me. So, Although I can certainly bolt on the actuator under the hood, and connect the cables, as I saw a post somewhere that actually shows a picture under the hood, clearly showing how to connect the actuator cables, my concern is in the wiring, specifically, connecting the wires from the control module to the actuator, but more importantly, what or how many, of the wires that come out of the plug that plugs into the cruise control module, I have to actually connect somewhere?
Anyway, I know I have written a lot, in an "answer" to your question, but the bottom line is that it can be done. Oh by the way, the first thing I actually did in starting this project of retro-installing a factory cruise control system, was to install the actual cruise control switch that mounts on the steering wheel column. I had read in various groups, that some older Tacomas actually came "pre-wired" for cruise control, and if you were one of those lucky ones, you could just get a cruise control switch, mount it in your steering wheel, plug in the connector wire, and voila! you had cruise control! I was not that lucky, and in fact, in cutting out the are on the right side of my steering wheel where the switch sticks out, although I tried to be as careful as possible, so it would look like a factory install, I ended up cutting the hole in the not quite correct point, and as such, I ended up raggedly trimming more, so the switch would move properly. I plan to neaten that up later, but the bottom line here is that I didn't get lucky enough to have a tacoma that came prewired. If I knew then what I know now, I would have simply looked for the control module and if I didn't have that, which I didn't, that would pretty much tell me that I did not have pre-wired cruise control. Oh well, live and learn! Anyway, feel free to email me for further details, but suffice it to say, that there is a lot of information online, such as parts lists, etc, that will tell you everything you need in the order of parts, do to a retro-cruise control install. Some parts are still available from Toyota, and some, as someone else suggested, you may end up pulling from a junkyard vehicle, as I did. The important thing to note is that you need to make sure of the exact parts numbers you need for your vehicle, and then, you can simply "google" that part number and come up with sources, new and used, of that part. Good luck!

 

My experience with this is indicating that 1996 and 1997 Tacomas that did not come with cruise control also did not come pre-wired for cruise control. The physical mounting points appear to be there, but the wiring is not. Someone I talked to said that starting in 1998 they came pre-wired, which would seem to explain why my '97 doesn't have the wiring but Rick's '99 above did. My current list of parts for a 4cyl manual, if someone wanted to tackle this project using OEM parts, is:
-Cruise ECU
-Cruise Actuator
-Actuator Cover
-Brake Switch (different than non-cruise)
-Clutch Switch (if you have a manual and don't have clutch start cancel already installed)
-Steering wheel with cruise switch assembly
-Cruise switch assembly if your donor steering wheel doesn't come with it
-Clock spring/spiral spring, because the plug for cruise is integrated and if yours is non-cruise it will not have the pins you need
-Accelerator cable (different than non-cruise)
-Cruise cable
-Cruise cable bracket that ties it together with accel cable
-Dash wiring harness

As an aside, I bought some of the components already but am going to start selling them since I think this project will be more complicated than I have time for. So if anybody is looking to do this project send me a note and we'll work something out.

To oogielaflick above, I watched your Youtube video and it looks like you cut the harness far short of what you need. You will need to run wiring to the brake switch and to or up the steering column to your cruise control switch, as well as possibly to the power source and instrument cluster wiring, at a minimum. And it would have been best if you had kept the plugs for the brake switch and cruise control switch so you would know the quantity and colors of the wires going to them. Hate to say it, but it might be better to go back to a pick and pull and pull another harness, and taking the time to unplug all the plugs rather than cutting them off. You can then work with that harness and either put it in in place of your current harness, or really figure out what you need and strip those pieces out.

 

Ha! My oem cruise does that on my 2004 TRD. It downshifts to 2nd going over a freakin' overpass. Kinda ridiculous, and really my only complaint about the 1st gens.

Maybe they've since fixed that since then, my 2017 4Runner doesn't do that nearly as bad.

 

that's because the power band is at the high end for the engines. the torque never really kicks in until high 2k or in the 3ks and by that point the trans is already shifting. Flat roads I use it on consistenly but never north of the Carolinas as we have actual hills and not those little humps on the road

 

I have abandoned the idea of installing factory cruise control in my 1996 Tacoma. Although I have obtained what I 'thought', were all the parts I would need to do it, as always seems to be the case, I ran into another wall which pretty much made me decide that I had had enough. In obtaining actually "two" actuators from junkyards, I was able to see where the original actuator was mounted. But, on my 1998 Tacoma, where the actuator is to be mounted, is where my windshield washer bottle is mounted! I have since learned that those 1996 tacomas that came with cruise control installed, had completely different windshield washer bottles that were actually mounted somewhere under or behind the front bumper! Of course, this means that they also require longer water tube as well as longer wiring. That about did it for me, so as I mentioned in another post, I bought the rostra 250-1223 universal cruise control kit. I admit to having been lazy about actually getting out there and attempting to install it, but I have been giving it more serious thought in the past few days. I DO plan to update the group once it is installed and working, and I promise to provide pictures and maybe a video of how I did it. [Man, I like the sound of that, "how I did it"!]

 

If you already have it might as well install the rosta unit.. I have been in three trucks that had them, every one surged like crazy trying to maintain the exact speed you set it too.

 

While we're on this topic, I'm in the process of removing my factory setup to sell - never used cc. I'm planning on removing everything from the engine bay and am considering if it's worth it (besides satisfying my own OCD-like tendencies) to trace all the wires into the cab, find their connectors, and depin them or just sell the actuator. Thoughts? My dash is already removed.

 

Dalandser; I don't think it is worth your time to do all that, but you asked for "thoughts"! I have thought about selling all the parts I accumulated, but the actuator is so big and heavy, that shipping would be about $10-15, pretty much making it not worth the time for someone to buy it. I got both of the actuators I obtained, for less than $10 each. The most expensive thing I got was the actual cruise control module, and I paid $20 for that. I found later on that I could have gotten one at the junkyard for around $10 too.