Getting ready to go taco shopping again

Sadly my 97 is dead, but I lived to drive another day. Had I not been wearing a seat belt, the truck landed just a little different, or who knows what else I would not be making this post. I walked away with some cuts, a damn sore left shoulder, and a sore lower back.

Anyway I am really partial to 1st gen's looks wise and want to stick with them. I really liked my 98 but debating going with an 01-04 this time. The interior seems a little nicer along with a few other changes. How many drive train parts carry over to the later years? Are the accessories, transmission, transfer case, ect.. all direct swaps? I want to stick with the same 3.4L and automatic 4x4 drivetrain on my next one. I just don't have any desire to drive a manual trans again.

I hauled my 97 home and have it for parts out in the pasture. I need to get the loader tractor and cutting torch/sawsall out there this fall and pull the drive train to put in storage or sell. It ran like a top and had no issues.

 

DAMN. Glad you made it out okay! Be sure to check up with a doctor for that back pain just to be certain nothing's wrong.

I believe a lot of the drivetrain, if not all of it, is completely interchangeable. Engine/tranny, transfer cases, etc. The leaf springs are not however as they're shorter on the 95-97s.

Seriously though, glad you're okay. That looks really rough and probably felt a lot rougher.

 

Holy ****!

Glad you're alright brother man!

 

Wow glad your ok, did your lower ball joint go out??

 

I wouldn't have wanted to be a passenger. What did happen?

Hope those pains are not serious.

 

WOW! That will not, repeat NOT just buff out! Glad you walked away, but GO TO THE DOCTOR and get it all checked out! Also, WHA'HAPPENED??

 

I work at a hospital so I have talked to a Doc already. Just a bruised muscle in my shoulder and my back is feeling much better.

The morning of the fourth I was heading to Home Depot to buy a string trimmer. Decided to get a bottle of Dr Pepper out of a bag on the passengers seat and open it up. Drifted off the side of the road. The ditch is fairly steep and the grass was wet from dew. Truck just would not correct and get back up out of the ditch.

I just had to be at an intersection. Hit a concrete culvert at 60+ mph, flipped upside down and sailed over the intersecting road busting the stop sign as I went. Landed hard as it set and barely slid at all.

I don't know how to describe it. I am doing ok now but had some trouble concentrating for a few days because I kept replaying it over in my head. I know at least one car drove by and kept going. A truck driver stopped and used a bar to pop my door open. I was conscious and used my Apple Watch to make a call and find my phone. Somehow it sailed out of the truck and was laying near the side of the road without a scratch.

 

Glad your ok

 

Oh shit! Glad to see you made it out of that. I had a similar accident about 10 years ago with a '99 blazer zr2...scary shit.

 

Really glad to see you're ok, that cab was flattened

 

Seat belts saved your life! Glad your ok

 

So glad you are ok- truck can be replaced....

 

WOW! Glad you're alright, as previously mentioned the truck is replaceable.

 

Your story is exactly how I ended up in my first gen, rolled my tundra trying to get my coffee, went off into a ditch plowed a row of mail boxes up rooted a tree and split two in half and came out with a big bump on my head. Truck was smashed expect the drivers area pretty much like yours.

 

Thanks everybody.

Truck is replaceable is right. I was mad for about 1 minute and then saw what it looked like. You quickly forget all about it when you are standing there hardly hurt after going through something so violent.

So far I have some saved searches out on eBay and Craigslist. I have my 2007 RAV4 Limited as my DD so I don't have to be in a hurry to replace and can take my time finding one again.
Hmmm I would just trade the RAV4 for a newer Tacoma but I don't know if I want the mileage hit as I drive 25k miles a year in my DD.

 

Wow that is a scary crash. Glad you made it out. How anyone could see you lying there and drive past is just beyond comprehensible. Some people really do suck, but glad the trucker came by and helped.

 

Gez.... I want to roll cage my truck just to daily drive it now..... think this is thick enough ?

I still feel like these trucks are just to light and weak for there own good every wreck you see these trucks just taco

 

DAMN!

Glad you are okay. I've been in a rollover before as well (Honda CRX) and you're lucky to be alive for sure. LEO said he'd never seen that much blood on the ceiling of a vehicle that wasn't fatal (my brother's head was stuck outside and scraped the asphalt as it slid along the ground up-side-down). Brother is fine, but I tease him about the bald spot he got when getting a little to sporty driving *my* car...

Anyhoo, I'm partial to the late model 1st gens (2001-2004). I lucked out and found a 2004 (way back in 2006 when I bought it); the last year before Toyota ruined compact pickups by becoming less "compact". The later years of the 1st gens seem to have fewer recall issues (could be wrong, but that's just my biased perception, lol) and are the most "refined" of the 1st gens. Seems like any time there's a major overhaul of the chassis, there are bound to be other weird issues, too. I like to let all those issues settle out before I buy...

 

Damn! Glad you are okay! I'd lay off the Dr. Pepper if I were you, I know my wife wants me to, so seeing this may just work!