Have you guys tried the feature chicken at earls with the white wine sauce? Man that is good stuff.

If you're going to derail it, might as well take the whole train off the tracks:

Quite honestly a stock 5vz-fe 3.4 could tow pretty much anything you would want to tow with a Toyota compact truck (should I ever consider a swap). Even though I know my truck is tough with a stiff, solid fully boxed frame, it's the width factor and stability that really influence what you want to tow in the end. Quite honestly 3500 pounds is probably about the real world safe towing capacity for not just towing weight but towing handling for Toyota compact trucks, both the 1st gen Tacoma, and the Pickups. Anything above that and you'll want the heavier and wider full size just to control it better. My opinion of course. YOu can definately get bigger loads moving but it's about control and surefoot-edness.

 

To be honest, my biggest worry would be stopping. My truck seems to lack in that aspect. Possibly time for rear discs!

but damn, I love the sound of that all alum v8!

 

I quite honestly think the brakes on these trucks (at least the V6 ones) are better than people give them credit for. If you keep your rear drums in adjustment and you opt against using hack show brand front brake components, you could almost do a brake stand with these trucks if ever needed. Sure if you are pounding your front brakes the discs will become warped overtime but if you're reasonably conservative with the odd emergency stop mixed in if ever needed, these brakres are actually known to go a very long time - 100,000 km's (60,000 miles) or more (and I've heard stories of grandpa's with these trucks running much longer even so). AT the rate I break it seems to be just under 1% of brake pad loss for every 1000 km's (600 miles)-ish, give or take of course. This is based on when I've had my brake pads evaulated over the course of having my truck serviced and lining it up with how many clicks I have on my truck.

Towing wise one guy impressed upon me his opinion that I think sounds pretty good and that's if the towing weight you are moving around weighs more than what your truck could safely haul payload wise, then you might want to consider trailer brakes. Myself personally if I was towing more than 1500 pounds with my truck I'd probably want surge brakes at the minimum. There are also laws, like I think in the states, could be wrong, that if your trailer exceeds 3000 pounds you have to have trailer brakes. Your trucks vehicle owners manual might also have some suggestions or requirements about towing weights. But I still stand by what I said..... Think about it. We have trucks that weigh about 3900-4100 pounds-ish. And you want to haul a trailer that weighs more than your truck. Who would be controlling who in this instance. Yes I realize full size trucks like 1 ton Fords, Chev's, etc. that weigh around 6500-7500 pounds-ish are rated to tow double or more of their weight but that also have wider tracks and longer wheel baseds which really helps stability.

I just had the entire front brakes redone (calipers, discs, pads - all OEM) I had to do a bit of a short stop a few days back day in some snowy conditions and I finally really felt the rear ABS working for the first time to keep the truck straight (very short pulsations in the brake pedal). Or at least it's the first time I've noticed it. Before I couldn't notice it because I had slightly warped front rotors. The one thing I love about these trucks brakes is how isolated and smooth the brakes are. They don't give you any feed back at all.

 

I remember I drove my truck for almost a year till I adjusted the rear brakes. My god what a difference that made!! It actually felt safe to use them.

I have tons of meat on my pads, new front calipers and lines but have a booster leak ( occaisional sinking pedal on hard stops). But I have never felt my ABS work. I have locked up the rear tires quite a few times unfortunatly.

I have never felt the need to use my e-brake to assist braking. I don't really trust the line. I usually go pretty slow anyways, so its not a big deal.

I had the back of my truck loaded so full it was almost resting on the bumpstops, still drove okay!

and I can attest that the brakes are stong enough to do a brakestand