Anyone still take their T100 on road trips?
12-08-2017, 07:10 PM
#2
I have a 98 as a daily driver and two 97s for parts. My dad also drives a 95. Mine's at 220k miles but is very rusty (typical for Michigan), my dad's was from down south so it has a nice body with 300k. Other two from memory were around 250-270k and were beat on super hard, both have crank sensor bolts broken off and one has a broken torsion bar from offroading it so hard. Owner wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack from what I could pickup. Sadly around my area the T100 is pretty uncommon or else I'd probably have more parts trucks.
Also I bought my T100 with 212k miles with a bad computer. Swapped in another from an AT (mine is MT) and did a bit of pin swapping and got it running. Computer failed because of a rust hole in the fender well and salt water. Basically checked the oil and hauled around 30 face cord of wood with it in a couple weeks, and shortly after that went on a ~700 mile round trip to pickup a Lexus LS400 for parts (mainly for the 1UZ v8 engine). Still haven't gotten to check the diff or trans fluid levels even though I need to check em. So far it's been well worth the $500 investment since shortly after I got it, my Tacoma frame rusted apart at the rear leave spring shackle (front one on the driver's side) so it wasn't suitable to haul wood.
Also I bought my T100 with 212k miles with a bad computer. Swapped in another from an AT (mine is MT) and did a bit of pin swapping and got it running. Computer failed because of a rust hole in the fender well and salt water. Basically checked the oil and hauled around 30 face cord of wood with it in a couple weeks, and shortly after that went on a ~700 mile round trip to pickup a Lexus LS400 for parts (mainly for the 1UZ v8 engine). Still haven't gotten to check the diff or trans fluid levels even though I need to check em. So far it's been well worth the $500 investment since shortly after I got it, my Tacoma frame rusted apart at the rear leave spring shackle (front one on the driver's side) so it wasn't suitable to haul wood.
12-09-2017, 07:45 AM
#3
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96 T with the 3.4 and 175K! It's from the northeast so it's a bit rusty but the last owner kept surprisingly good care of it. I live in the back of this thing on the off seasons (I work seasonally) and have been traveling around in it for a couple years now. Cross the country, Idaho to SoCal to Utah, to OR. I'm about to start driving it for a FedEx subcontractor for the holiday season and keep racking up miles. She just keeps going and has been really good to me. Only thing aftermarket is a tranny cooler and eventually a little lift and 33s. I'd love a little more power from the motor but hey, can't complain about this awesome truck
12-09-2017, 08:22 AM
#4
There's an easy bolt on upgrade for more power, but it costs a fair bit (like $3k new). There's a Toyota supplied supercharger for the 3.4L engine, but I think you need 97+ ecu to make it fully happy. That's going from 190hp to 265hp. I'm currently running 32in tires on my 98 with 4.10 gearing and power isn't a problem at all, in fact if I take off hard at all I risk burning off the tires in first and second gear lol. I have some 31in mud tires I plan to put on it some time but I do like the larger sized tires for the ride and slightly higher gear (better mpg when drove right).
Does the T100 even need a lift to clear 33's? I know 32's are a tight fit on a 96 tacoma, but my 32's on my t100 seem to clear well except a tiny bit of a rub spot on the plastic inner fender well. With that removed it probably would clear another inch larger tire I'd think.
Does the T100 even need a lift to clear 33's? I know 32's are a tight fit on a 96 tacoma, but my 32's on my t100 seem to clear well except a tiny bit of a rub spot on the plastic inner fender well. With that removed it probably would clear another inch larger tire I'd think.
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12-10-2017, 05:05 AM
#10
The tons of grounds idea is kind of a weird one for more power, what's the theory behind it? I've never heard of anyone with bad grounds on a T100 and the only power increase I could think of would be a stronger spark suggesting the ignition system needs a better ground. I've seen one other person add a bunch of grounds to a 3.4L in a 2nd gen 4runner trying to fix a no start issue, and it was the mass air flow meter that they "rebuilt". My T100's body is shot, cab corners gone, rusty front fenders, back side of the passenger fender had a hole about 4 in around which took the computer out, the rear fenders are just starting to rot out enough that the fender trim is going to need to be removed soon, and the tail gate is getting heavy rust on the lower 1/4-1/3. I bought the truck from Northern Michigan and we use a lot of salt here on the roads, so pretty typical. T100's seem to hold their body a little better than the 89-95 pickups, there's almost no 84-88 pickups here because they all rusted to nothing (I have never had one with a good frame yet out of the 5 or so I've bought except one from AZ). I suspect your area must have either no snow during the winter, or salt isn't used in your state.
Here's a photo the helps demonstrate the properties of salt a bit more. 18 gauge wire is what most of the harnesses are made out of for most cars/trucks.
Also thanks for the super charger info, I'll save it with my manual collection. Sadly I probably won't be installing one, atleast not until I'm rolling in money since most T100's are about $1500 here and all have atleast some type of rust on em. Hate to say it, but it's more common to see a 350 chevy in a toyota than the supercharger kit around here
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Here's a photo the helps demonstrate the properties of salt a bit more. 18 gauge wire is what most of the harnesses are made out of for most cars/trucks.
Also thanks for the super charger info, I'll save it with my manual collection. Sadly I probably won't be installing one, atleast not until I'm rolling in money since most T100's are about $1500 here and all have atleast some type of rust on em. Hate to say it, but it's more common to see a 350 chevy in a toyota than the supercharger kit around here
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12-10-2017, 01:12 PM
#12
I'll get a couple pics, the frame isn't bad, just scaling up some, but the body is getting bad. The other two trucks that were for parts are toast. Even the two Tundra's I have that I plan to make 1 truck out of are both rusty, but both are from up north too.
As far as the electronics, do you have any links about the extra grounds? I know it can't hurt anything, but the resistance of the steel alone is higher than what a larger copper wire will be vs factory. Longer life on the alternator, battery, and electronics I'm also questioning, since at best you're providing 0.1v higher voltage to them (I could do the math but I'm being lazy). I'm pretty sure the electronics are designed for a wide range of voltage input or else just the act of starting the truck would damage them from the voltage drop. Also I've never had a bad alternator in a Toyota vehicle yet and my dad has replaced one in a Camry. I've read the 3.4L has more problems with the alternator because the valve covers leak oil into and collects dust and dirt which takes out the bearings.
Also should mention the alternator is hooked directly to the batter though a fairly heavy wire, something like 6 gauge, it's the wire that bolts to the alternator with the 10mm nut.
Now if we changed the subject to say a USA built pickup (won't name a brand so I don't start a flame war or anything), they are more or less known for bad grounds from this era and older. They have a major design difference though, nearly everything grounds though the body/frame and the grounding points seem to be prone to get rusty and make bad connection. I can see them benefiting from dedicated grounds since most of the electronic path is though steel. The toyota's on the other hand I've studied the EWD for a couple different vehicles including 98 and 97 T100's and just about every single electronic device has a dedicated wire for ground, instead of using the body. The alternator, starter and ignition are about the only things I can recall that uses the body ground, so dedicated ground wires to them would probably be ideal. The ECU in the T100 has something like 4 or 5 pins that are ground wires. I know some of them wires run to the body, I didn't trace them out to see if they ran direct to battery or not, but it's a more shared common ground instead of multi-able single point grounds.
Anyway, just want to be clear, I'm not trying to argue or anything, I'm interested to hear your details, since if it's something new for me that can be proven or atleast has a solid theory behind it, I might start doing it myself.
Here's the photos, enjoy the snow and rust pics lol. I have a lot more examples since I have a bunch of parts cars/trucks around.
First up of course is the 98 T100 4x4 3.4l MT running an AT ecu (re-pinned) with 220k miles. Since it's white you can really see the rust. Really the rust is mainly a visual thing to me, but the driver's side door sill trim is just sitting there because the metal is so rotted out. Hard to really tell in the photos, but the rockers are shot, I could put my foot though probably upto about half the length of the door. Tail gate is mainly pitting rust, some day I plan to sand it down and try to slow down the rust. Bumper is completely useless, but the hitch goes stright to the frame so not a big deal.
Next up is around a 93 4x4 pickup v6 MT with 104k miles. I was tempted to use it as a yard buggy for work and such, but sadly the frame is toast right behind the cab on the driver's side. Body wise, it's about average of what you see around here unless it was kept in a garage and washed often etc.
Next is a 1987 Toyota pickup xtra cab long box (7ft) 2wd that had 127k miles on it. This was a daily driver when I bought it, it quit getting fuel for some reason and the guy decided to sell it. I didn't take a pic of the frame, but you can see it in the cab to box body line that it's sagging a bit. Defo not safe for the road. The cab is probably 9/10 though besides a couple dents (door and fender), but that box is toast. For this body style, I've only had two with OEM boxes at all, all of the others have had them replaced with flat beds, or just nothing.
Last up is my yard beater, 1991 Toyota Corolla wth a 1.6L automatic and 280k miles. This was also a daily driver before I got it but head the head gasket go and the guy didn't want to sink the money into fixing the engine. Back then it had a rear bumper with a small hitch attached to it, but as you can see it fell apart. It worked well for moving wood around with a trailer though lol. Front fender is missing since it was in a minor accident there and I pulled it off. This car for it's age is probably slightly better than average for what I've seen for rust on the rear fenders, never seen one for sale without the rear bumper though lol.
A true rust free T100, or pickup is worth something like $5k here, but it's quite rare to even see them for sale. Most are $1000-2000 for 86-98. Tundras jump up in price to more like 1500-2500 if you can find a good deal, most nice ones are $4k+ though. Tacoma's sadly fall apart like crazy here too, I've had 4 out of 6 with bad frames, both trucks with good frames are from out of state, but were rolled so plenty of body damage to keep them from being on the road.
I guess long story short, don't buy a vehicle from Michigan lol.
As far as the electronics, do you have any links about the extra grounds? I know it can't hurt anything, but the resistance of the steel alone is higher than what a larger copper wire will be vs factory. Longer life on the alternator, battery, and electronics I'm also questioning, since at best you're providing 0.1v higher voltage to them (I could do the math but I'm being lazy). I'm pretty sure the electronics are designed for a wide range of voltage input or else just the act of starting the truck would damage them from the voltage drop. Also I've never had a bad alternator in a Toyota vehicle yet and my dad has replaced one in a Camry. I've read the 3.4L has more problems with the alternator because the valve covers leak oil into and collects dust and dirt which takes out the bearings.
Also should mention the alternator is hooked directly to the batter though a fairly heavy wire, something like 6 gauge, it's the wire that bolts to the alternator with the 10mm nut.
Now if we changed the subject to say a USA built pickup (won't name a brand so I don't start a flame war or anything), they are more or less known for bad grounds from this era and older. They have a major design difference though, nearly everything grounds though the body/frame and the grounding points seem to be prone to get rusty and make bad connection. I can see them benefiting from dedicated grounds since most of the electronic path is though steel. The toyota's on the other hand I've studied the EWD for a couple different vehicles including 98 and 97 T100's and just about every single electronic device has a dedicated wire for ground, instead of using the body. The alternator, starter and ignition are about the only things I can recall that uses the body ground, so dedicated ground wires to them would probably be ideal. The ECU in the T100 has something like 4 or 5 pins that are ground wires. I know some of them wires run to the body, I didn't trace them out to see if they ran direct to battery or not, but it's a more shared common ground instead of multi-able single point grounds.
Anyway, just want to be clear, I'm not trying to argue or anything, I'm interested to hear your details, since if it's something new for me that can be proven or atleast has a solid theory behind it, I might start doing it myself.
Here's the photos, enjoy the snow and rust pics lol. I have a lot more examples since I have a bunch of parts cars/trucks around.
First up of course is the 98 T100 4x4 3.4l MT running an AT ecu (re-pinned) with 220k miles. Since it's white you can really see the rust. Really the rust is mainly a visual thing to me, but the driver's side door sill trim is just sitting there because the metal is so rotted out. Hard to really tell in the photos, but the rockers are shot, I could put my foot though probably upto about half the length of the door. Tail gate is mainly pitting rust, some day I plan to sand it down and try to slow down the rust. Bumper is completely useless, but the hitch goes stright to the frame so not a big deal.
Next up is around a 93 4x4 pickup v6 MT with 104k miles. I was tempted to use it as a yard buggy for work and such, but sadly the frame is toast right behind the cab on the driver's side. Body wise, it's about average of what you see around here unless it was kept in a garage and washed often etc.
Next is a 1987 Toyota pickup xtra cab long box (7ft) 2wd that had 127k miles on it. This was a daily driver when I bought it, it quit getting fuel for some reason and the guy decided to sell it. I didn't take a pic of the frame, but you can see it in the cab to box body line that it's sagging a bit. Defo not safe for the road. The cab is probably 9/10 though besides a couple dents (door and fender), but that box is toast. For this body style, I've only had two with OEM boxes at all, all of the others have had them replaced with flat beds, or just nothing.
Last up is my yard beater, 1991 Toyota Corolla wth a 1.6L automatic and 280k miles. This was also a daily driver before I got it but head the head gasket go and the guy didn't want to sink the money into fixing the engine. Back then it had a rear bumper with a small hitch attached to it, but as you can see it fell apart. It worked well for moving wood around with a trailer though lol. Front fender is missing since it was in a minor accident there and I pulled it off. This car for it's age is probably slightly better than average for what I've seen for rust on the rear fenders, never seen one for sale without the rear bumper though lol.
A true rust free T100, or pickup is worth something like $5k here, but it's quite rare to even see them for sale. Most are $1000-2000 for 86-98. Tundras jump up in price to more like 1500-2500 if you can find a good deal, most nice ones are $4k+ though. Tacoma's sadly fall apart like crazy here too, I've had 4 out of 6 with bad frames, both trucks with good frames are from out of state, but were rolled so plenty of body damage to keep them from being on the road.
I guess long story short, don't buy a vehicle from Michigan lol.
12-10-2017, 03:45 PM
#14
Sounds good.
My T100 I'd say is a bit too far gone to be worth doing body work on. would need both cab corners, rocker panels, passenger floor pan (or patch it), both front fenders, and rebuild/replace the two rear box fenders. I don't have body experience, but most of the body work I see around here falls apart within a few years. Bondo doesn't do well with our weather or something. I've heard bondo attracts moisture, so maybe that's why it rusts so bad under the bondo. Here's an 86 4runner I picked up that looked to have been reworked at some point in time and loaded up on bondo, kind of shows what I'm talking about. Probably not easy to see, but the whole fender well about 1/2 of the lip is all bondo. Front half of the truck is untouched. Driver's side is doing the same thing. The rear half of the frame is pretty toast on the truck or else I would have thrown a 2.7L in it and drove it.
The other side effect of doing body work on a truck I own, I'd probably be selling it right afterwards since I use my equipment and things are going to get scratched and dented up. Talking about that, here's my dad's old 89 Mazda with a "small" load of wood lol. Normally he'd get another row on the tail gate, and a 14 foot trailer full. Now he does the same thing with a T100 and can actually go over 40mph with out the front tires trying to come off the ground. BTW the Mazda is from out of state, that's why it isn't rusted out and has something like 225k miles, about 50k miles on the replacement engine based on what the last owner said.
Oh just for giggles, here's the 86 4x4 pickup, first 4x4 toyota I owned, but sadly wasn't safe for the road (driver's side frame rotted apart and most of the back half). The body looks ok in the photos, but the driver's side rocker is completely gone (just hanging there), and the floor pan is rusted though all the way around the body mount. Both rear body mounts were broken and the since the frame is broken too, the body was twisted so much I couldn't get the door the latch any more. The box was aftermarket, so the bed sides are all fiberglass.
My T100 I'd say is a bit too far gone to be worth doing body work on. would need both cab corners, rocker panels, passenger floor pan (or patch it), both front fenders, and rebuild/replace the two rear box fenders. I don't have body experience, but most of the body work I see around here falls apart within a few years. Bondo doesn't do well with our weather or something. I've heard bondo attracts moisture, so maybe that's why it rusts so bad under the bondo. Here's an 86 4runner I picked up that looked to have been reworked at some point in time and loaded up on bondo, kind of shows what I'm talking about. Probably not easy to see, but the whole fender well about 1/2 of the lip is all bondo. Front half of the truck is untouched. Driver's side is doing the same thing. The rear half of the frame is pretty toast on the truck or else I would have thrown a 2.7L in it and drove it.
The other side effect of doing body work on a truck I own, I'd probably be selling it right afterwards since I use my equipment and things are going to get scratched and dented up. Talking about that, here's my dad's old 89 Mazda with a "small" load of wood lol. Normally he'd get another row on the tail gate, and a 14 foot trailer full. Now he does the same thing with a T100 and can actually go over 40mph with out the front tires trying to come off the ground. BTW the Mazda is from out of state, that's why it isn't rusted out and has something like 225k miles, about 50k miles on the replacement engine based on what the last owner said.
Oh just for giggles, here's the 86 4x4 pickup, first 4x4 toyota I owned, but sadly wasn't safe for the road (driver's side frame rotted apart and most of the back half). The body looks ok in the photos, but the driver's side rocker is completely gone (just hanging there), and the floor pan is rusted though all the way around the body mount. Both rear body mounts were broken and the since the frame is broken too, the body was twisted so much I couldn't get the door the latch any more. The box was aftermarket, so the bed sides are all fiberglass.
12-10-2017, 06:47 PM
#16
Haha, that wood pic was a couple years ago and only one truck load. I have about 30 face cord atm on hand for winter. That's 6 stacks of wood, 8 feet tall, 20 feet long and yea I burn wood for heat, just can't beat how warm it is in winter vs fuel oil or LP furnaces and the cost is so much cheaper since standing dead wood is so abundant here.
I wish I had a spare body, but the best I have is an 87 pickup xtra cab in pretty nice shape and the two tundra cabs, one pretty toast, and the other usable. It's amazing how build quality dropped from the T100 Japanese built trucks, to the Texas built Tundra's. I've never seen a toyota with bad door pins... BOTH Tundras have worn out door pins. If the Tundra wasn't the only cab that had the rear doors that opened I'd be switching to another cab that was built in Japan. I don't really need the 4.7L 2UZ v8, but the mpg is basically the same as the 3.4L so figured why not.
Seems like the T100 is the best mix between old design, japanese build quality, but newer modern engines that puts out pretty good power and acheives pretty good mpg for the era the truck's from.
I wish I had a spare body, but the best I have is an 87 pickup xtra cab in pretty nice shape and the two tundra cabs, one pretty toast, and the other usable. It's amazing how build quality dropped from the T100 Japanese built trucks, to the Texas built Tundra's. I've never seen a toyota with bad door pins... BOTH Tundras have worn out door pins. If the Tundra wasn't the only cab that had the rear doors that opened I'd be switching to another cab that was built in Japan. I don't really need the 4.7L 2UZ v8, but the mpg is basically the same as the 3.4L so figured why not.
Seems like the T100 is the best mix between old design, japanese build quality, but newer modern engines that puts out pretty good power and acheives pretty good mpg for the era the truck's from.
12-16-2017, 11:45 AM
#18
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I've got a 95 T100 SR5 4x4 extra cab that's got the 3.4 and an AT. I live in NC and the truck is my daily. The T had 124k miles on it when I bought it in 2015 and I've got 160k now. I've taken the truck on road trips to Indiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. I'm fixin to take the truck back to Indiana next week on another road trip, should be around 1k miles each way. This is my favorite truck I've owned and I've had.
12-16-2017, 10:47 PM
#20
Wow most of yours are the standard cab long box, is that by preference, or just more common there? Over here I've seen I think two long boxes and atleast 10-15 short box/extended cabs. I think both long boxes I saw were 2.7L 2wd manual trucks. All 3 I've owned + my dad's are all extended cab 4x4 short box, but we also only get 95+ for the 3.4L.
I wouldn't mind finding a 2wd t100 or 4runner around with the 2.7L for a machine to go on longer trips with and to town etc for better mpg and keep the v6 truck more for just work, but seems the 2.7L is quite rare in my area. It's common in the Tacoma's, but their frames just fall apart here so bad from rust it's crazy.
I wouldn't mind finding a 2wd t100 or 4runner around with the 2.7L for a machine to go on longer trips with and to town etc for better mpg and keep the v6 truck more for just work, but seems the 2.7L is quite rare in my area. It's common in the Tacoma's, but their frames just fall apart here so bad from rust it's crazy.
