Is this considered the best Tacoma? I got it yesterday

Not quite. When in 4wd, the front and rear driveshafts are locked, so 50% of power goes to the front wheels, and 50% of power goes to the rear wheels. However, with open differentials, the power will still be modulated side-to-side.

So if you are in 4wd with open differentials and one rear wheel is in the air, then 50% of power will go to the front two wheels (both of which are on the ground) and the 50% of power for the rear wheels will go all to the side that is in the air.

 

The 50% is not correct. 4WD front and rear shafts are locked together via transfer case. Let's say we have open diff. If one rear wheel is in the air it will be speening free therefore the rear shaft will not give any resistance. It means will not take any power from the engine. All engine horses (100% power) will be delivered to front axle.

If at least one rear wheel and one front wheel is off the ground than both shafts will be spinning free and no power will be delivered to any wheel meaning the engine will spin free (like on neutral).

The only time power is split betwen shafts is when all wheels are on the ground (not free spinning).

 

How?

 

For every one guy that says 04 is the best there's another one saying 02 is the best. No drive by wire is a huge plus for the 02 imo. And most didn't have ABS in 02.

 

It's not a true drive by wire system anyone who thinks otherwise is misled

 

Sorry - you're right. I worded it badly. What I meant by 50/50 split is that the front and rear driveshafts spin at the same rate.

 

Check this video out, I hope it helps to explain it way better than I ever would be able to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1qj8dHTmP4

 

It seems to me that it is locked, by way of the chain. Good to know.

 

Been enjoying to get to know the truck, and studying threads on here quite a bit.

One thing I'm having to do is grease the driveshaft every couple weeks or else I get the drivetrain "thuds" when I let off the brake.
Any ideas why? This zert right here:

 

Sadly, even the bottom of the new one is starting to rust. There is a local place that can put the truck on a rotisserie, dustless blast it, then epoxy prime it afterwards. All for around a grand. Prolly will go that route.

 

I love my 04 DBC TRD off .....but so far I got to say this 3rd gen !
Congrats on your limited . Looks great.

 

What's stopping you from putting fluid film over the new frame. Much cheaper.

 

Car rotisserie? That's pretty cool. I've seen people do it with total restorations on old cars, but never a running vehicle. Obviously you'll need to drain and refill all your fluids... but that's pretty neat.

 

You sure it's not "axle wrap"? We all get this where when you come to a stop the rear leaf(s) wind up a little and when you release the brakes they abruptly unwind with a "thunk".

 

It goes away when I grease it. The first time I greased it it took a while mini-tube of grease.

 

I bought a bottle of that after reading that huge thread on here of all the different rust products, but the only way to get rid of rust is to remove it.

 

Two corrections.
1. You need 6 bottles, not 1. Half of that will go inside the frame tube - 1 bottle just to spray the inside the frame tube where the rear suspension shackles are.
2. Removing rust doesn't stop it from coming back. When the frame is new or like new the only way to keep it rust free is to treat it constantly. It would be like putting a new engine and never change oil in it.

 

That sounds like a lot of grease being pumped into your slip yoke

 

I'm pretty sure its gonna cost more if they have to remove alot of stuff off of the frame before putting it on the brotisserie

 

Welcome! Great looking truck OP!