Colorado Lurker Finally Signs Up

My daughter found her Taco. An original owner 2002 extra cab 3.4 manual 4x4 TRD SR5 on Craig's List from Evergreen, Colorado in June 2016 . The rust free, no accident, 160,000 mile Taco had a right rear spring with a small piece of the lowest leaf broken off but otherwise was in good shape. The owner wanted $9500, she offered $7500, and they settled on $8500.

She had some cash from her high school graduation. She asked me for a loan saying she needs the truck for her summer job and for college, and "well, uh ... a bit of muddin' too".

My mind flashed back to the memories of my first car, a rusty 67 Mustang convertible, and knew this was the right vehicle for her future fond memories.


I sold that first stang after four years. My brother found and coordinated the restoration of a rust free 67 Mustang convertible. We assembled it together and I enjoyed it for 13 fun filled years. When my daughter was three I realized I was spending more time with her and less time maintaining a 33 year old car.


I sold the second stang to help pay for the our home. I'll get something else someday I figured.
I gave her the loan and told her I'd fund any repairs the Taco needed to make sure it was safe for our upcoming 1800 mile road trip to a Virginia Beach college.


At this point if you had asked me what "Old Man Emu" was, I would probably have guessed it was a micro brew. I had not discovered TacomaWorld yet.
I installed, along with the help of her boyfriend at the time, stock rear leaf springs from General Spring along with KYB monomax shocks.

Summer days passed quickly. She, and therefore the Taco, was never around for me to perform the needed maintenance. With the road trip approaching, she took the Taco to the dealership. They replaced spark plugs, changed all fluids, installed a new clutch, rebuilt the manual transmission, and replaced the front and rear brakes.

The Taco was ready to go, but with 9 days left before our departure, I got the dreaded, "Dad, I got in an accident" call. She was ok but the Taco's front was smashed and right front tire was flat. The wound reminded her of the dragon in the “How to Train Your Dragon” movie. The body shop had Toothless fixed the evening before we departed for Virginia.

The 3 day roadtrip went smoothly. When it was my turn to drive I noticed I liked driving the manual transmission again and the 6 cylinder has more torque then I expected. "This is kinda fun", I thought.
Toothless didn't seem to strain as my daughter touched 90 mph cruisin' the beautiful West Virginia highways. I asked her if she ever heard the story of Icarus and Daedulus. I mentioned, "you are flying too close to the sun. Take care of your truck." Tears were shed as I left my oldest standing in her dorm room doorway as I left to fly back to Denver.

As her school year passed, my daughter and Toothless found Corolla beach in North Carolina's outer banks.


They've been up to Connecticut to view the fall colors and pick apples. Spring break afforded time for a spur of the moment visit to New York City, and various beaches in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and a beach just across the Florida border.

In the mean time, I kept working, paying the bills and thinking about how empty the garage stall looks. For years I had also been perusing Ebay and Craigs list looking for the car to replace the Mustang I had sold long ago. I thought, "Maybe I should get another Mustang." or "I always liked the pagoda styled Mercedes SL, although that is basically a more expensive, underpowered 60's era Mustang" or "Maybe a more unique looking American Cruiser like a boat tail Riveria Grand Sport" or "Should I get that mid life crises Porsche?" I have done the car shows and "test and tunes" at Bandimere Speedway and lots of other fun car stuff. Those choices didn't inspire the imagination or feel as exciting like they once did.

I finally discovered TacomaWorld and started reading post after post after post. I thought, "This forum has alot of great information. Shit! Its 1:00 am already. Why am I stayingup so late?" ... TacomaWorld piqued my interest.

So this happened in March 2017:


I found a 1999 extra cab 3.4 manual 4x4 TRD SR5 from Golden, Colorado on Craig's List. The rust free, 135,000 mile Taco had a minor front bumper tweak as if someone was backing out of a parking garage and grazed the right front bumper on one of those big cylindrical cement columns. The second owner bought it from the original owner in November 2016 but had to sell. I bought it for $10500. Its time to explore Colorful Colorado!

TacomaWorld has helped me:
1. Protect my rust free frame with Rust Encapsulator and Fluid Film.

2. Adjust the clutch pedal cruise control switch to enable cruise control.
3. Find the Factory Service Manual with wiring diagrams that helped me figure out the box I did not recognize mounted on the firewall is an after market cut off switch.
4. Perform the Gray Wire Mod
5. Perform the Rear Diff Breather Mod

Tacoma world's vender recommendations influence my recent purchases:
1. CB Radio and Lil Wil antenna from Right Channel Radios
2. Front plate and rear tube bumpers from 4xInnovations
3. Rock sliders from Demello

I visited the South Platte Ranger District office to get the motor vehicle use maps but I like these maps better:
1. Benchmark maps "Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas"
2. Funtreks "Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4 Wheel Drive Trails"

I don't have any recovery gear and I haven't messed with the suspension yet so I have been enjoying the scenery on Funtrek's green and blue trails south of Denver (Area 6) - Dakan Road, Long Hollow Road, Rainbow Falls, and Mt Herman Road.





Username, Winkle99 was inspired from a 2011 thread where members debate the color of 8N1 - Blue Horizon Metallic, One comment, "That's periwinkle dude!", struck me funny.

So today this lurker finally signs up to thank all the contributing members for sharing their wealth of information. I hope to provide some positive contributions and meet members for some off road adventures.

I am looking forward to seeing my daughter when she visits July 23-28. We are planning an overnight off road trip with her friends.

 

Welcome!!!!!

 

Thanks!

 

Welcome to this crazy club!

 

Like you, I was always a "fast-car guy". Ironically, when I was finally in a position to afford the cars that I wanted, this site "found" me and I grabbed a Tacoma and never looked back.

I suggest getting on this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/colorado-b-s-thread.131441/

A great thread full of magnificent assholes.

And: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/colorado-trip-reports.250254/

So that you can coordinate trips to local malls.

Welcome. Hide yo wallet.

 

I like the Colorado-b-s-thread.
I will checkout the trip report thread. I'd like to explore this beautiful state I live in.
Yup, the wallet is getting a little lighter.

 

Welcome!