Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Went to buy a new Tacoma......

Thanks guys for the ball joint info.

When do the generations change? Mine is an '01.

I'll look into getting some of those spare parts, fortunately, most places I hunt are within a decent walk of help. As in 10 miles or so.

Geno

Nissans have had a lot of problems of late since their marriage to Renault. Sad to see as they were once of the best.

Horsecheit..... try to take a Tacoma through the Rubicon, it would be junk if it made it. Jeeps do it by the thousands , without damage.
But then again a Texans version of offroad is probably not really a challenge to a well set up vehicle....

My elk hunting partner bought an 89 Tacoma and added an ARB to the rear and a Lock-Rite to the front with locking hubs with nothing else (factory tire size and suspension) and had zero issues with the Rubicon, multiple times. Were the Jeeps base models?

Give me an old Ranger any day...

You girls buy a compact pickup truck and bitch about the ride and road noise? Lord help us if there really is another civil war.

Jeep wins that contest, stock Jeep against stock Tacoma, I'll give Jeepers that. Best out of the box set up vehicle for that kind of fun. Lockers both ends, better approach, departure, break over angles. Solid axles both ends, and better clearance. And (like the Tacoma) a boat load of available aftermarket items to mod.

But here's why I don't own one. I don't trail ride. Rubicon, Moab, etc., is "wheelin' for the hell of it". You aren't wheeling to get somewhere, you're doing it for chits and giggles. And there are tens, if not hundreds of other folks close by to assist with spare axles, shafts, u-joints, tie rods, belts, hubs, etc., etc., or failing that, a lift out to civilization. Get a group together on the Rubicon, you could damn near build a jeep with a collection of the spare parts and tools (like welders and air tools) everyone carries or someone is bound to have.

But if I want to carry things (like a decent camp load, wood, dead animals, etc.) without towing a trailer, the Tacoma wins. As I'm out alone, often for weeks at a time, with minimal spare parts and tools, and far from civilization and help, the Tacoma wins. But I'm out and using the truck to get from point "a" to point "b". From camp to that glassing point 8 miles away. From canyon here to mountain over there. Not crawling along at 3mph on a 2 mile trail of the most difficult obstacles a vehicle can be put through just to see what it can do, when a perfectly acceptable bypass which might not ever require 4wd or lockers is a half mile (or yards) away. Nope, I'm haulin' azz, often over some pretty rough chit and need the vehicle to stay together while I do it.

If that's someone's thing...great. If it was mine, I might own a Jeep. Or even better an FJ40 Lancruiser. But it's not my thing. Going over vehicle defying obstacles with 10 vehicles ahead of me and another 20 stacked behind me, and nobody moving faster than they could get were they to walk, won't ever be a thing for me. What is a thing for me is getting way the hell out there where there are few if any people, for lots of miles, over a lot of chitty rough roads, for weeks at a time, and then getting back to pavement when the trip is up without assistance of others or tow vehicles. Hopefully with a dead elk or muley in the back. And that is where the Tacoma wins hands down.

The Tacoma will get me anywhere in the country that doesn't involve trail ride coordinators, spotters, clubs, trail markers, permits, and a tree cop around every turn to hassle about CARB compliance, green stickers, etc.,etc., that I could care to go. And will almost certainly get back in one piece (if history is any indicator).

Decent angles and clearance, locker in back, electronically limited slip (MTS) in front, reliable and tough as hell. This damn truck will go places. Take a stock Tacoma and throw a decent set of off road tires on it, and it will go anywhere most could ever want to go.