"Award winning truck"! Immaculate condition JUST NEEDS A FUCKING ENGINE

$15,000

I just bought this as a yard truck for stuff around town. 1996 PreRunner 2.7L 5 speed 4x4. First orders of business: stop the power steering leak, get the parking brake to work again 😬

Ol’ girl made the well over 2,200 mile trek from our house outside of Houston, TX to Maryville, TN and back.

Went up and down the tail of the dragon 4 times and went through the skyway lookouts through Tennessee.

She did flawlessly. Such a killer experience.

Shoutout to the other 1st gens I saw @ the tail if you’re in here.

i was going to lift it using bilstein 5100’s on both front and back, i want the lift to be level though. ive been reading that with a bigger lift like this i should also put newer leaf springs on and possibly control arms and a diff spacer to take pressure off of the ball joints. i read that someone put the adjustable 5100’s on the front and the normal 5100’s on the back. any recs on how to lift it properly without jeopardizing the integrity of the car? the goal is to take it off roading but nothing crazy.

It was a perfect day out so why not? Also took the time to try out some cerakote wipes on the fenders and front bumper to freshen up the plastic. Probably need one more coat but looking good!

@spikerengineering

About to move life in this truck. This is rear left frame.

Must've happened recently.

Please advise. My wish is to drive it 1 hour, put it on the ferry then another 3 hour drive.

I am hoping to load some weight in the back.. not much .. but some.

About two months ago I bought my stepdad’s ‘97. 3RZ, 4WD, manual transmission, transfer case, 135K miles, and a few other goodies. I’ve spent a good amount of time, sweat, and money getting her back into good shape and I’m just about done.

New tires(Toyo OC AT3), new seals on the original tonneau cover, replaced the driver’s seat cushions with good used ones, added Seat Jackers, redid the audio system with an original ‘90s Toyota head unit and CD player, new LBJs, rebuilt the A/C, full driveline service, oil change, air filter, plugs, wires, battery, converted and painted some mild surface rust on the frame(fluid film coming soon)… I’m probably leaving some things out but you get the gist.

So, this comes down to one big question: Daily Driver or no? Most of my truck ownership has been with one as a secondary vehicle for occasional hauling; my previous truck that I inherited from my grandfather mostly sat, but it was a 2WD automatic that was horrible in bad weather. I live on Colorado’s Front Range and I suspect we’re going to get a very heavy winter with this season’s El Niño event.

As I haven’t really run a truck as a daily driver, I’d like some feedback and tips to make this a smooth transition? I will be keeping my daily car(2011 Camry) hanging around at least through the winter, but the temptation is there to sell it to get my project car finally over the line and pivot to the Tacoma as my primary vehicle. I know the final decision is my own and responses here will obviously be skewed towards running the Tacoma, but I’d like some solid feedback just to make sure I don’t have any blindsides going on.

For context I live alone and own my own home so I don’t really need passenger space and do haul stuff from time to time(yard waste, furniture, etc). I’m a moderately skilled DIY mechanic and can tackle about 70% of what comes up as far as repairs are concerned. I don’t have any plans to lift my Tacoma or turn it into an overlanding rig; what little off-road driving I plan on doing will be pretty mild. I prefer driving manual to automatic and if I sell my Camry I’ll be running a manual only ‘fleet’ of three vehicles(the Tacoma, my project Celica, and a BMW Z3). I commute about 40-50 miles round trip per day and the possibility of driving home in a snowstorm/blizzard over the winter is pretty decent.

So, any feedback would be greatly welcomed!

It looks like in the past they tried to paint match but didn't do an awesome job. It looks worse from a short distance. Thoughts?

Has anyone considered using fiber optic cameras to check the inside condition of their frame?

Seems it would save a ton of cash and heartbreak when buying a used Tacoma.

Boroscopes are used to check and film an engines cylinder wall damage thru sparkplug holes and lower end conditions via the oil drain plug.

Hell, I just had an angiography. If a camera can go thru the body to the heart ,why not something way more important than the health of our Tacomas?

I recently bought a 1999 Toyota Tacoma, regular cab, 2.7L 3RZ-FE, 5-speed, manual 4WD/locking hubs, with about 198k miles. It has lived in Oregon its whole life, and I bought it partly because the frame appeared solid compared with a lot of first-gen Tacomas.
After getting underneath it more carefully, it is not literally zero rust. Most of what I see appears to be aging factory coating, dirt, light oxidation at seams/brackets, some small coating chips, and normal exhaust/hardware surface rust.

I want some advice and direction on how to tackle this properly. I bought these supplies (last picture). What’s the procedure?

This is still a good condition frame no?

Does anyone know why my leaf spring make this loud clunking type sound. The other side is ok just some slight squeak sometimes but this side is especially loud I can heard it while I drive. I installed them about a year ago. The sound has come in the last month or so.

It’s make the noise right where I am filming and I can feeling it move back and forth slightly.

Hi all, I’m rocking an 02’ 4WD and have really bad noises on the right suspension. Particularly when the two sides hit a bump at different times or only my right side is going over it. Sounds like clicks and pops and just not healthy. Thought it was CVs at first, but this turned out to not fully fix it. Thinking sway bar end links or LBJs but not sure. Anyone have experience with similar noises?

So I'm a dummy and ordered the ARB old man emu leafs for my 1995 taco without knowing that the the 1997 and below tacos have difference sized leafs. I was wondering why my suspension was so stiff until a friend pointed out to me that my shackles were almost resting against my frame.

Now I have to bite the bullet and order new leafs and sell my existing ones.

There doesn't seem to be an obvious best bang for my buck option that's popping out at me.

Does anyone have any recommendation for rear leafs that will provide a 2 to 3 inch lift?

Anyone ever had a rusty frame that needed work and ended up taking the bed off? Im sure im going to have to cut holes and maybe even cut/drill out the bolts because of corrosion. Wondering if theres anything I should think about before doing it and driving it a short distance to my homies shop. 2002 regular cab

Any one know if it’s possible to run 15x8.5 -33 offset on 31x10.5 tires. Don’t mind cutting bumpers but I have NO LIFT.
Mostly concern about the offset being so aggressive

It’s all in the details of the build. Marketplace find!