Prerunner Badge on 2003 4x4

Hi - I have a 2003 Tacoma SR5 with 4x4 that has a pre runner badge on the tailgate and I cannot figure out why. I am the second owner so I don’t know the trucks entire history, and would appreciate your insight - or best guesses! Thanks!

 

https://www.motortrend.com/features/what-is-a-prerunner/

"The Tacoma PreRunner was a two-wheel drive truck that sported a slightly taller suspension and wider track width (thanks to wheel offset). The truck also came with a locking rear differential. Early years sported a "PreRunner" badge, while later models did not."

 

following, that looks like a 2 wheel drive truck with 4 wheel drive mudflaps. What's the interior show?

 

The interior shows me that it is a 4x4.

 

Back in the day, the only Toyota trucks on 6-lug axles and tall suspensions were all 4WD. The 5-lug low trucks were 2WD. There was no need for badging; you could glance at a Toyota pickup and tell if it was 2WD or 4WD. Then when they came out with the Tacoma, they decided to sell a tall truck with 6-lug axles, but with 2WD, and call it the Prerunner. They did that all the way up to the 3rd gen Tacoma, which is when they got rid of the low 5-lug truck and make the Prerunner the base model.



Either that or you have a 4WD truck and the previous owner swapped the tailgate lol

 

@ellejay Do you have rear lockers? There's a button on the left side of the steering wheel that says RR DIff Lock.

 

There is no button.

 

Interesting. That black cover next to the dimming knob is where the RR DIFF LOCK button should be. Tacoma TRD's should have came with that option, at least my truck came with that option. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

You do realize badging and/or stickers can easily be added or removed?

Maybe the previous owner did it him/herself.

Maybe there was an insurance claim, and the company accidently added said badging.

Maybe someone stole the tailgate, and it was replaced from a Prerunner.

Lots of different reasons. But to ask something like that on such an old truck can net many different possibilities that many of us will never know.

 

prerunners r lame, good thing you have a 4x4

 

Decal added, simple.

It sits higher than the factory placement.

 

Enter your vin (either at toyota or some other vin lookup sites) and see what your truck was originally sold with.

The previous owner has obviously done some swapping or badge installing. A factory TRD truck would have a diff lock, and a button in the blank spot next to the dimmer.

I'd guess it was originally a prerunner (non-4wd, non-trd), and they've done a 4x4 conversion and slapped the trd sticker on the side.

 

Definitely possible.

 

Have you seen my post count and that thing that says New Member under my name? I *don’t* realize badging and stickers are easily added and removed and I *don’t* know what could compel someone to add a Prerunner badge to a 4x4 model. That’s the reason I’m here, asking for your advice.

The new tailgate is a great theory - thanks so much for your insight!

 

Or the tailgate was damaged beyond repair and they pulled a donor truck of the same color happened to be a PreRunner...

 

2nd Gen PreRunners had that badge on the tailgate...? I just saw one on Sunday...

 

Thanks for the tip. Here's what I got when entering my VIN at Toyota.

 

Not all TRD-package trucks came with locking rear diff. I've seen other TRD trucks that didn't have it. My guess is the Prerunner tailgate was swapped from an actual Prerunner. A giveaway for legit TRD-or-not is whether you have orange backlit interior lights... non-TRD trucks I'm pretty sure were green.

 

Wait, you have white gauges. Yet another indicator that it's a real TRD-package truck.

 

Previous owner may have had to replace the tailgate and just got one from a Prerunner without removing the emblem

Although I don't recall the Prerunners having "Prerunner SR5" on the tailgate....I though it was Prerunner V6 or just Prerunner (for the 4cyl)

4x4s simply had SR5 on them (under the Tacoma emblem).

So it might (probably) just be that the PO wanted to put a Prerunner emblem on it for whatever reason. People do weird stuff like that all the time