[toubabokoomi]

well this is my problem..i have a 03 TRD tacoma v6 it has 42,000 miles on it but has a 100,000 mile warranty. my mom wants me to put alot more miles on it before i lift it. so i can pay her back the money i still owe and that way if anything goes wrong it is covered..and in a year or so i will have about $7000 to spend on it..so what i was thinking was having an ARB locker put in the front and as for wheeling mods hold off until i get the money and can use that to lift it...but then i also really want to start getting into rockcrawling so i dont know if i want to put the locker in and then a year or so later do SAS..so should i just save all my money and in a year do SAS and put a locker up front then? or put one in now?

I have also been told to just get it lifted with IFS first and see how i like that and then if i want a solid axle the swap..but i dont want to spend the money on getting the IFS lifted and then later decide to do SAS because i know a part of me will always be craving the solid axle.i just need some opinions on what you guys think i should do?

 

[Oppositeboy]

SAS it later. Learn to wheel before you cut it up. Keeping it stock or close to stock will help teach you to be a better wheeler. Save your money. Pay your mom back. It may suck, but it is better this way.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Pay off whatever you owe your mom or family first(just some good life advise here) before spending any money modifying the truck. . Skip the front locker until you get your personal preferences figured out. Once you are out of debt with family you should put protection on the truck first. Then you can start going on some trails and figuring out what you want to do.

 

[SteveO]

Keep it as a daily driver and buy a trail rig. I wish I had put the money I have into my Taco towards a Samurai or older SFA Toy. If I did I'd probably have one of the most tricked out Samurais on the planet and not have to worry about not being able to drive to work in a broken rig. ....Steve

 

[Kyota]

Buy a 95 single cab 4x and SAS it. If you have the money...

 

[mudferret]

Keep it as a daily driver and buy a trail rig. I wish I had put the money I have into my Taco towards a Samurai or older SFA Toy. If I did I'd probably have one of the most tricked out Samurais on the planet and not have to worry about not being able to drive to work in a broken rig. ....Steve

A tricked out older Toyota SFA is what you'd have, a Toyota...

 

[toubabokoomi]

SAS it later. Learn to wheel before you cut it up. Keeping it stock or close to stock will help teach you to be a better wheeler. Save your money. Pay your mom back. It may suck, but it is better this way.

i have heard people say keep it stock so you can be a better wheeler...but how does keeping it stock make you a better wheeler exactly? like you can see how different things work and what things would be better for the trail or what would make it better? is that what you mean by a better wheeler?

and i was asking what to do after i get mom paid off..i will have her paid off within the next year and she is planning on giving me the money back after i pay her off..she just wants me to actually pay her back so i can see that you have to do that before you can do other things

 

[98 Taco]

where are you located?

 

[Oppositeboy]

Being a better wheeler would relate to being able to choose better lines (in reference more to trails and rock crawling vs mudding/faster desert stuff), getting used to the limitations of your truck (approach/departure angles, how far you can lean without flopping, etc), stuff like that.

If your mom is going to give you the money back once you pay her, you've got a heck of a deal going. I would recommend stuff that would help you on the trail before any major mods (SAS). Depending on what kind of wheeling you have, I would recommend armor first (sliders, aftermarket bumpers with tow points, maybe stronger skid plates, t-case skid plate, etc), maybe a winch, crawler, recovery gear like a tow strap, a first aid kit, a high lift, etc...

 

[tobsilent]

Keep it as a daily driver and buy a trail rig. I wish I had put the money I have into my Taco towards a Samurai or older SFA Toy. If I did I'd probably have one of the most tricked out Samurais on the planet and not have to worry about not being able to drive to work in a broken rig. ....Steve

I can relate! I owned a y2k wrangler and put $4k in mods into it. I wheeled it hard though it was my daily drive which I run 30k miles/yr.

I now have a samurai that I wheel and keep my Tacoma to daily drive and to tow the sam. Total investment in the sam is $3700.....and I don't worry about breaking it.

 

[toubabokoomi]

where are you located?

im in salem, Oregon

 

[toubabokoomi]

Being a better wheeler would relate to being able to choose better lines (in reference more to trails and rock crawling vs mudding/faster desert stuff), getting used to the limitations of your truck (approach/departure angles, how far you can lean without flopping, etc), stuff like that..

ok i see...so by the time i get the money back that would give me a good year to find the trucks limitations and what not..and get alot better and wheeling...and then be ready for the good stuff

 

[hytenor]

well this is my problem..i have a 03 TRD tacoma v6 it has 42,000 miles on it but has a 100,000 mile warranty. my mom wants me to put alot more miles on it before i lift it. so i can pay her back the money i still owe and that way if anything goes wrong it is covered..and in a year or so i will have about $7000 to spend on it..so what i was thinking was having an ARB locker put in the front and as for wheeling mods hold off until i get the money and can use that to lift it...but then i also really want to start getting into rockcrawling so i dont know if i want to put the locker in and then a year or so later do SAS..so should i just save all my money and in a year do SAS and put a locker up front then? or put one in now?

I have also been told to just get it lifted with IFS first and see how i like that and then if i want a solid axle the swap..but i dont want to spend the money on getting the IFS lifted and then later decide to do SAS because i know a part of me will always be craving the solid axle.i just need some opinions on what you guys think i should do?

forget the front ARB, save up for the SAS.

 

[toubabokoomi]

forget the front ARB, save up for the SAS.

but wouldnt the front locker help in my conquest to be a better wheeler?? i usually need to go in pretty deep snow and mud and i figured it would be nice to have the locker up front too

 

[hytenor]

but wouldnt the front locker help in my conquest to be a better wheeler?? i usually need to go in pretty deep snow and mud and i figured it would be nice to have the locker up front too

Oh, it's nice; I have one, but I have discovered that I rarely use it. when you finally go with a SA you will NOT be able to recoup the $ from it. If you do a lot of deep snow or rock crawling then the front locker is nice to have. It's really a matter of justifying the expense. If you have the $ to spend and don't mind selling it later for much less than you paid AND you think you'll use it from time to time then go for it. That's what I wound up doing.

 

[not2XS]

Op has it right. Get some body armor and then "wheel it like you don't want to break it". You will learn that tire placement is everything. You will learn that faster than too slow is too fast. You will learn to find the smoothest lines keeping all the wheels on the ground. You will learn the difference between speed and momentum. If you start out with a rig that will do it all for you, you will just get into deeper doo-doo before you realise you don't know shit.

You will also know for yourself what your mod priorities really are.

 

[hytenor]

Being a better wheeler would relate to being able to choose better lines (in reference more to trails and rock crawling vs mudding/faster desert stuff), getting used to the limitations of your truck (approach/departure angles, how far you can lean without flopping, etc), stuff like that.

If your mom is going to give you the money back once you pay her, you've got a heck of a deal going. I would recommend stuff that would help you on the trail before any major mods (SAS). Depending on what kind of wheeling you have, I would recommend armor first (sliders, aftermarket bumpers with tow points, maybe stronger skid plates, t-case skid plate, etc), maybe a winch, crawler, recovery gear like a tow strap, a first aid kit, a high lift, etc...

Well put!

didn't Bob run the mini Rubicon at Hollister...bone stock?

one of these days I'll learn how to drive, LOL

 

[JBL13]

but wouldnt the front locker help in my conquest to be a better wheeler?? i usually need to go in pretty deep snow and mud and i figured it would be nice to have the locker up front too

A few others have covered this ground, but I'll toss in my $.02. I bought my first four-wheel drive in 1987 (a new '88 Samurai). Except for a 2" suspension lift and aftermarket tires, it remained stock. I tore up a couple sets of tires before I learned how to four-wheel without tearing them up. I also became very familiar with how the vehicle performed in all types of terrain; I learned what the vehicle's limits were and what mine were. I learned how to "read" the terrain, determine my likelihood of conquering it, and assess the consequences of failure (getting stuck, hitting bottom, possibly rolling over, incurring body damage, simply sliding off the trail, etc.). I did get into some pickles, but nothing that caused significant damage to the vehicle. And I got to where I could embarrass some guys driving more capable rigs because I learned how to drive off-road.

I did the same thing later when I had a bone-stock '95 four-door Sidekick. I recall embarrassing a guy in an FJ-40 (his vehicle had 2.5" suspension lift and 31" all-terrains) who could not get his Cruiser to follow my little ground-scraping (though not that day) Sidekick through a rocky stretch of trail. He repeatedly lost traction. When I jumped out to spot him through, his first question was if I had lockers. I didn't, of course. I've gotten that question several times over the years.

I then had a '99 Suzuki Grand Vitara, again stock except for slightly larger tires.

I now have an '02 regular-cab Taco with a No-Slip locker in the rear. I've had the locker for only two weeks -- my first traction differential in my life, and here I was doing Moab without one (or two). I'd like to have gotten a locker many years ago, but I've enjoyed seeing just what I can get a vehicle with open differentials to do -- without abusing the vehicle. My suggestion is that you try your truck out in a wide variety of terrain without using the locker. Use the locker as a back-up if you get into trouble or you have good reason to think yo'll need it. You can have a lot of fun w/o the locker once you get good at reading terrain and discovering how to get your truck over it at a nice, slow pace (mud and sand excepted).

 

[BMWTACO]

First of all, like others have said pay back the money you owe first. And I might add that if mom is giving you back this cash, you are one extremely lucky individual. You can wheel a stock truck with a decent set of all terrains on most trails (extreme rockcrawling and super deep mud not included) just fine. I have wheeled the same trails in a stock truck that I have on 35's. But you just have to learn a more graceful line in most cases. Also when it does come time to spend some dough, you have to decide what you really want. Most people are not going to want to drive a sas tacoma on 35's or bigger as a daily driver. In fact my last tacoma a 95.5 regular cab with a pro comp 4" lift and 33's didn't ride real nice either on my 90 mile a day commute. For the same kind of money to build a sick tacoma, you could a have a dedicated trail rig that you don't have to worry about scratching, denting, getting to work on monday, etc. I sold my 95.5 to buy an fj40 3 years ago to have as a toy. Unfortunately that project took a turn that I didn't expect and I wound up doing a ground up restoration. So it's actually a little too nice to wheel without feeling bad. But it does see some local trails on a regular basis. But you can still find 79-85 toyota 4x4's that already have a solid axle for cheap money. They are simple to work on and parts are dirt cheap. For 7 large you can make a trail rig that will walk all over even some of the most capable tacomas. And you can still drive to work on monday if you roll it, snap a birfield, etc. Of course unless you plan on trailering it, you have to insure 2 rigs also. And I'm guessing if your mom helped you buy this thing, you are young and insurance is insane.

 

[toubabokoomi]

Of course unless you plan on trailering it, you have to insure 2 rigs also. And I'm guessing if your mom helped you buy this thing, you are young and insurance is insane.

yea i am almost 18 so yea i think im too young to have two insured vehicles..and i would trailer it but i dont think my father would appreciate having another car..but maybe some convincing would change that though