New (to me) Tacoma owner-learning all the tips/upgrades/issues

Just recently bought a 2010 Tacoma DC SB 4x4 TRD with 40k miles. Carfax says no previous accidents or any sort of major repair, etc. I have been buying new GM trucks every few years since the mid-90s and wanted to give a smaller truck a try for certain applications. The main reasons being that I regularly travel about 300 miles to go hunting during hunting season and a smaller, lighter truck seems to perform better when I am in the woods (my Sierra 2500 Z71 can look at soft spot and get stuck it is so heavy). There are some other reasons but that is the primary one. So my plan is to give this truck a try and see how I like the smaller size, etc. I have held on to my GMC 2500 as the Toyota will not be able to pull my boat and other equipment, etc.

So now I have spent the last three weeks or so getting up to speed on the ins/outs of my model Tacoma. I will list the main things I have run across and would be interested in any additional items that I am overlooking that need to be addressed/considered.

- I noticed mine had the squeaky/noisy AC blower at low speed. I removed it twice trying a few of the recommended fixes and the squeak would come back. I bought a replacement at oreilys and the squeak/squeal is gone.
- I had what was apparently a rattle coming from the dash in certain choppy/bumpy road condition. I got some black pipe insulation and cut a small piece and stuffed between the edge of dash and windshield on passenger side and this seems much better.
- I want to level the front of the truck and get new tires. I just got in some front Bilstein 5100s and plan to have them installed along with some new 265/75/16s next week. Right now I'm thinking about setting them at the .85 setting.
- I noticed I have the 3 leaf rears but I am out of the base warranty and so I will not pursue having them changed (I.e. pay to have it done) since the truck will mainly be light duty. I may consider some spring helpers or timbrens if I decide to use the truck to pull my smaller boat or smaller trailer that may drop the rear too much.
- going through the service manual I was surprised to see that the plugs should be changed at 30k miles. I am not sure if this was done in my truck by the previous owner so I went ahead and bought some today to and plan to install in next few days.
- I also noticed in the service manual about greasing the fittings on the drive shafts. I did that and it looked like that may not have been done in the past.
- I looked at the gas pedal and it appears to have been cut down (assuming in regards to previous recall).

So what are some of the other common items I should look for or expect with a truck of this year and mileage?

 

Tacomas are notorious for frame rust issues. As soon as spring comes around I will be under my truck with a bucket of soapy water scrubbing all the salt off and then applying fluid film after it dries

 

Thanks for the tip. Fortunately I am on the Gulf Coast and there is no salt on the roads. I looked underneath the truck before I bought it and when I greased the driveshafts the other day and it all looked clean.

 

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Thanks for the info. I found that link previously on the blower repair. I took it out like that and greased it but it didn't last long. That was the second time I took it out. So I decided if I was going to remove again I was going back in with a new one.

Just changed the plugs this morning. Pretty painless. Took an hour or less. The plugs were original (mix of NGK and Denso)

 

That's how they came from factory for some reason. Enjoy the truck, and welcome to TW.

 

I also noticed that the factory running boards seem to stick out to far for my taste. My pants legs rub on them when I got (unless I make a conscious effort to miss them). I'm 6'1" and don't need them. So I will probably take them off.

I notice the bottom of the doors has some extra coating/protectant. I guess for rocks, etc. Toyota must really not want you to get any rock dings since they have the mud flaps, this coating and really the wide running boards.