Essential Spares

With all the nonsense we have seen lately, shortage this and shortage that, personally I believe having spares and such on hand is a wise move. What are you guys thinking in terms of spare parts for your trucks?

For me, a solid assortment of grade 8 metric hardware, at least 3 oil changes, bulbs (pennies each if you buy in bulk), brake pads and caliper rebuild kit, a handful of air filters, lugnuts and a few studs, and wiper blades.

My next steps will be an alternator and water pump, belts, wheels and tires, and any good suggestions. Would be nice to keep a spare windshield but I don't have room. What do you guys keep on hand?

 

No real shortage of Tacoma parts I mean, tons and tons were made. Even if you had a 4x4, parts interchange with Prerunners and vice versa.

Helps that they share the same parts as a 4Runner too.

There are people with extra frames even.

No shortage, don't buy into the madness and become one of those that hordes stuff when it isn't necessary.

I only have spare CV axles but that's if/when I break one, I can take it out and run a 'trail spare' while I get the broken one replaced under warranty.

 

Yeah man, I’m with @Kwikvette
I’d rather have spare N95 masks and hand sanitizer for when shit hits the fan again.

But you need that spare 10 mm socket for sure

 

Better store a thousand gallons of gas too.

 

Or convert to run veggie oil

 

One of these days I’ll get mine to run on pure spite

 

Trust me when I say that stuff is plentiful everywhere

Surprised I still see it available.

 

I keep some spare parts, not so much because I worry about supply, but more out of convenience when they break. I want to be able to replace them when needed. So, it depends somewhat on the age/mileage of your truck what the list would contain.

Things that often break without warning are good to have on hand. I mean, I should know when most of my mechanical parts are due, or showing me signs of imminent failure. But some things break unexpectedly.

With that in mind, a few suggestions are outside door handles, fuses and relays, a blower motor if you live in cold climate(usually give some warning, not always), maybe a fuel pump,... just think about what could break without warning and would be a PITA until you got a replacement.

 

@Wsidr1 great call on the door handles will be adding those to my list for sure

 

I have a shelf full of spare parts not because I'm stocking up for an emergency but because I have projects I decided to put off for later. There are too many critical parts to prepare in advance for a failure. The only parts I can think of I've bought "just in case" are spare Denso fuel pump (still using original) and a OEM CV boot kit.

 

my go to answer for this is ammo, seriously, ammo is your best friend.

 

Fify

 

Aside from maybe some spare parts like CV axles or balljoints that you want want to take with you on the trail, I don't really see a point in creating your own little auto parts store in the garage.

Inevitably, you're not going to need 95% of that stuff. And how much are you going to spend to have all those parts?

Yes, some parts are being discontinued, but there are plenty of comparable parts still available, and you can always troll ebay.

 

It almost makes sense to just buy a second vehicle to steal parts from. There are so many essential parts that fail almost randomly.

 

Spare wheels and tires seems excessive. Not like the sizes are Tacoma specific and the tires will be hard and dry rotted by the time you need them.