Left the Jeep Club for a 95 Taco

I just got rid of my ungodly expensive 2007 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 4-door for this BEAUTY of a 95 Taco.

The Taco (haven't decided if it's a he or a she yet) is a 1995 Tacoma Xtracab 4WD, 2.7L L4 DOHC 16V. 5 Speed manual with 86,000 miles.

I got a pretty good deal on it, for $8k. I couldn't find another one like it with so few miles.

The dealership that sold it to me put on new brakes, struts, calipers and an oil change the day before I bought it.

I walked into this one knowing that I have a few things to do to it. It needs a new E-brake cable and has an issue with the O2 Sensor, which could mean that the fuel system all needs to be redone. I have no idea what I'm walking into with the fuel, so I'm taking it in next week to have diagnostics done on the whole dang thing.

After crawling up underneath, I notice that I've got some serious rust on the frame. The dealership is going to do their famed "hammer test" and give me a prognosis. I'm of the mind that I can pull the rusted bolts out and replace them 1-by-1 until I've rebolted the frame.

The rear bumper is completely rusted out underneath the chrome. The hitch as well. I'm going to pull these two off almost immediately after the O2 sensor is fixed and sand blast them. Did I mention I run a custom coating shop? I can only coat them "rebar green" but hey- I like that color!







Suggestions on what rear bumper I should slap on the Taco? I have access to a great surplus steel shop down the road and spent a little time welding, so I'm competent. I haven't found any bumper specs or engineering drawings on here. Are there any engineers out there??

Any comments on it are appreciated! I'll try to get pics of the underside rust and post them up soon.

 

Aloha and welcome, yes nice truck you got there and its sounds like a good deal

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Welcome to TW, nice looking truck!

 

I caught a glimpse at the docs from the dealer, who is faxing over the service history Monday, and it looks like it spent a little time in Wisconsin? I can guestimate it's seen its fair share of winters in the road. Since it has such low mileage I would venture to say the original owner used it exclusively in 4WD snow conditions and parked it, leaving it to corrode.

I took a hammer to parts of it today and I think I am going to be okay for complete failure. I plan on using penetrating solution to break the bolts off and replace. the bad ones before removing the bed at work one weekend and sealing what I can get to...or is that too much work?

 

sharp truck, very cool color

 

Welcome to TW from Sparks, NV.