Hello - new member

Glad to find this website. I have had a 1996 Tacoma Ext. Cab 4WD for a few weeks, and will have some questions about finding parts for the dash, seat covers, etc. Thanks, Jim

 

I am a long standing member of the Honda Shadow website, and am very familiar with the benefits. - There seems to be a loyal following for these trucks, but there are not a lot of parts available, so it seems. The search should be fun. Jim

 

Hey Jim, You the Mann!
Welcome to TW. What took you so long?

 

I had a 94 Chevy Z71 4wd w/ 170k miles that I bought for $4K from a fellow at church. It had a salvage title, but was in such great shape. It was re-built in 1999, and had been taken care of. I did have to put some money in it, routine repairs, but had it in very solid shape. All it needed was tires, and better MPG. Because of the 15 mpg, we decided to sell it. I had owned a 1982Toyota Truck, and my bride had a 1990 Camry, and my oldest son has a 89 Toyota truck with 285,000 miles on it, so the Toyota name is strong with us.
I put a sign in my window, and a customer came by in this 96 Tacoma and wanted to know if I was interested in an even swap. I said no, mainly because a 4WD would not give me the MPG improvement that I wanted. After he left, my co-workers got on to me, because the value of his truck was higher than mine, and mine would be harder to sell with a salvage title. He needed the interior space mine offered because he could not get his wife and a car seat in the Toyota. An hour later, he came back to my office with pictures, in case we knew of someone who might be interested. We ended up test driving each others trucks, and traded later that day. That night, I took the roll cage off, and removed the bedliner. The next day, I had the fluids serviced, engined flushed ( 160000 miles 3.4L V6 ), top engine serviced, etc. That led to a tune up, new plugs and wires ( the plug wires had been crossed for over a year ). Then, it was time to get the lift kit removed, as the back two cab bolts had poked up and were breaking through the bottom of the cab. Plus, it was too high. I am 50, and don't want a treestand to drive. After that, I took it to get the new tires and rims. It had really nice rims, but they were 10" wide rims with BFG AT tires. I did not want tires poking out that far, so I sold them, bought some Eagle Alloy rims and Cooper AT Tires, and my rims still stick out too far, to far for traditional fender flares to offer coverage. The folks I bought them from said that they would pull the tires back up under the truck like the oem setup, or close to it at least. You live and learn, so my tires will just have to stick out. After that, I took the truck to get the front end lined up, and found at there that the fram was bent. A trip to the frame shop to get it straightened oyt, a few sterring parts, ball joints, etc., and the truck runs as it should and looks pretty good too. I still need to pick up some dashboard parts, and find some good seat covers, and put Herculiner in the bed. Then, I can relax. I never intended to have to do all of this, but it is still worth what I have in it, and it should last a long time. JIm

 

Welcome Jim to TW.

 

That was not only a trade - it was an adventure! Hope that taco gives you great service.

 

Hello and thank you.