First time Tacoma AND Toyota owner here with a few questions

Hi 1st Gen-ers. I posted this in the Newbie forum, but thought I'd put it here since it's specific.

I just bought my very first Toyota of any kind, and therefore my first Toyota Truck. It's nothing fancy, but I wanted something to knock around in on weekends, do some light hauling and work around the house, and just generally have a little fun.

It's a 1999 SR5 Tacoma 4WD with the 3.4L and std tranny. It's got well over 100K miles on it, but I think I got a pretty good deal on it. I only have one pic so far, and I took it with my blackberry kind of late yesterday, so it's not great, but there it is anyway. I'm going to take off the bed cap, btw.

So if any of you can point me to some good reading and resource material on my particular year/model/engine/tranny, I'd sure appreciate it. Also, if there are any tips on things to look for, trouble spots, service issues, or hidden gems, I'd love to hear those.

Finally, what do you call this cab type? It's the one with the jumper seats behind the front seats but no back doors or partially opening side doors.

TIA all!!!

 

i think on the first gens its called an xtra cab, on my 2nd gen they call it an access cab. nice truck and welcome to TW

 

i have pretty much the same truck but with a auto tranny

great truck ....but some of us 99 owners have been having trouble with the truck shaking at highway speeds around 65mph

other then that ...oh and the square cup holders

i got nothing....shes a great truck enjoy

 

heres the link to the shaking posts

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1s...ke-really-bad-highway-speeds-need-advice.html

 

also watch out for weak rear leaf springs....since your truck has a campershell(extra weight) that may be a little on the sagging side.....i hope not.

 

Does it have a locker? or did those only come out with the 01's and up with the trd package. If it does have it then you should look into the locker anytime mod, from what I read it's easy on the 1st gens.

 

Hi dose the weak leaf springs cause the back to set lower then the front? cause mine is doing that

 

yes, and if you have an auto, it causes a bad case of axle warp. what this is, in case you don't know, when you come to a hard/quick stop, a soon as you release off the brake, it feels like your transmission slams into first gear, and or it feels like someone bumped you from behind.

 

Mines a auto transmission. Looks like i will have to get some new leaf springs. Is it a good idea to buy them at a salvage yard or should i get new ones?

 

Not a bad idea...
but I would check out wheelersoffroad.com first. they have some nice replacement springs.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've had it up to probably 72-73 mph and have no signs of any vibration. I guess that means I don't have this issue...all or nothing, I hope. (Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the ride. It was quite a bit smoother than I had expected.)

I actually kind of like the square cupholders...so far. We'll see if that holds up.

 

I don't *think* it has the sagging problem. Just eyeballing it, it looks to be fairly straight. I don't know how long that shell was on the bed, but I took it off today. It looks so much better naked to me.

Is there an easy way to check the leaf springs for weakness other than checking the "level", i.e. height off ground front vs. back?

 

By "locker", I assume you mean some sort of lockout mechanism? (Sorry, I don't know all the Toyota lingo yet! )

If it has a locker, I'm not aware of it yet. But I still have a lot of reading, inspecting, and investigating to do. I'm one of those "manual readers", so I'll actually go through the o.m. page by page. Then, I'll look for other written resources on line, like the maintenance manual, etc. Of course, I'll spend a lot of time reading here, too.

I'm honestly not much into mods. I'm pretty much just wanting something to bang around in without spending a huge amount of time with it. I do love to keep up on routine maintenance and tinker a little bit, but as far as doing a great deal of modding, that's just not really my thing. But I'm always open to suggestions!

 

savoy, i wonder if his rides better because his leaf springs are not wore out? I know i could stand a new set.

 

Thor, what kind of tires are you running, i have the shake issue in mine and I believe it is due to some off brand tires. I have already replaced about every other part except for the tires.

 

Yes, the timing belt and water pump were replaced at approximately 140k, give or take a few k. It looks like the upper radiator hose has been replaced, and I know the plug wires, fuel filter, and few other items were replaced as well. Also, all the other major systems have been inspected for overall condition and functionality, including engine/powertrain computer module, airbag system, a/c, etc.

 

Now that's one of those things I just don't know. I'm going to check them out, but I'm not sure how to tell just by looking if they're okay or not. I'm going to go out an a limb and say the diff fluid is original but the tranny fluid has probably been changed, though I couldn't begin to say when. Any suggestions?

 

Just thought of something else. Is this 5VZ-FE engine interference or non-interference? Just browsing through the owner's manual and looking at the valve clearances, it looks like it might be non-interference.