T100 Problems to look for
 

I do not own a T100, but I am looking to buy one soon. There's one for sale right now that I might go look at, and it's a 1995 T100 xtracab 4x4 and I'm pretty sure it's a manual. The engine is a 3.4L V6 (I think because they all came with the 3.4 starting in 1995?). Just wondering what problems these things have, even though someone else already posted a thread about the same thing, just didn't want to steal his thread.
Also, if you have a T100 and tow anything with it, what is your setup, and what do you tow (what/weight/?)? And if you have any pics of your T100 that would be nice, espescially if you have pictures of the inside both front and back seats showing the room you have.

anyone?

you can look in my sig and click on the cruiser pics and you will see a couple pics of my truck, but it was about a year ago.. well i own a 96 t100 4x4 v6 and its grey, its nice, one thing you need to do is make sure they got the recall on the steering rod.. on my t100 my weather stripping is shot.. squeeks like crazy.. i also tow alot with this truck.. i usually tow a 20 foot trailer( 1000 or 2) with 4-5 four wheelers ( they weigh in around 900lbs each)from natchez to sicily island with no trouble and thats about a hours drive.. then i sometimes tow a 4800 kubota (6000 lbs)from natchez to woodville which is about 45 minuts away, its stupid to pull a tractor this big with a v6.. but i had to do it.. they are great trucks overall.. not many people own them.. i am 1 of 5 people that own one in natchez.. the mods i am running right now are a body lift, 33 inch mudders, i have a 9000 warn winch with a warn bull bar, i dont have the stock runnin boards anymore, they are ugly.. i have 2 L7 15s in the back, with enough room to fit 1 person and a few pairs of cloths.. i have currently 107890 miles on my truck.. i will try and get some more pics of it with the lift as soon as i can

I bought a used 1996 Sunfire red pearl V6 Xtracab 4x4 Manual with 30K in early 1997 and drove it about 80K miles until mid 1999. Due to the amount of daily driving I needed to do at the time, I had to trade it. It was the toughest truck I ever owned or drove. I towed a single atv with one in the bed when going on hunting trips with no problem. I pulled a 4500 lb camper on a weekend trip, but only ran 55-65 mph tops due to road conditions. Hills would pull it down in 4th gear. Towing was not the best trait of this truck, but it did fairly well. The only mod I did on it was putting RS5000's on all four corners. Only problem that was found on mine at about 70K was the front of the right headgasket slowly leaking coolant down the front of the block, which my Toy dealer fixed for free when I had them replace the timing belt. I drove this truck hard. Other than that, I miss it and wish I had it back. When I traded it at about 110K, it looked and drove like it did at 30K. Very awesome truck. :great:

NOTE: Mine was a non-SR5 so it had the Recirculating Ball steering and not Rack & Pinion

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I asked about towing was our boat is a 96(I think) Four Wins, and I think my dad said it weighed trailer and boat together dry was about 3200lbs. I currently have a 90 4Runner, 5spd v6, and my dad was bored when we started getting ready for one of our camping trips, and so he put a hitch in mine, and pulled our boat out. Now I imagine if you drove down the street with it, my 4Runner's rear end would be shot. It pulled it out between our gate(in 4wd, and on some granite rocks) and it did ok.

I don't really need something to tow the boat, considering my dad has a 2500 ram, and my mom has a durango, but it would be nice, so that I can matbe someday take it out with my friends. It would serve as a daily driver most of the time, and some wheelin. Maybe after awhile it will be offroaded more.

you should be able to pull that boat fine.. ive pulled a trailer with close to 2 tons of quick cret and she did fine..

also, I might turn out that I get a 1993 T100 over the summer, so does the same stuff apply to it too as the 95 or newer? I think the 93-94 T100's with the 3.0 are rated to tow 4500lbs, so that's still enough to tow the boat. This T100 is:
1993 T100 4x4 5spd 172K rebuilt motor at(?) and is my uncle's, and he takes
extremly good care of his cars, and said that there's no rust because they don't salt the roads there. I'd think this would be a better choice, since it's in the family, and one owner, so he'll know everything about it.

well you wont have the same power as the 96s.. as the 93s have the 3.0 motor and the newer ones such as mine have the 3.4.. but i am sure you will be able to pull a boat fine with these 2 trucks.. you might struggle a little more with the 3.0 motor but you wouldnt be able to tell the difference.. its all up to you and how much you want to spend and which one that you want.. im just here to help you out.. my truck is getting a new paint job and a big dent in the backend from slidding into a mud hole going down a gravel road at 35mph.. it should look real nice... in my opinion the t100 is smaller than the tundra in power, but its like the f250 of the tacoma... im not saying my t100 can out tow a new taco, but i know in the older models i can.. my friend and i did a test on this..

yea my uncle's is only the reg cab, which isn't bad, but there's no back seat. I know the backseat in the xtracab aren't very spacious, but I wonder if I just mounted a back seat in the bed and had a carpet kit and a t.v. and...

the backseat in my truck is pretty spacious.. i can fit a solorbaric l7 15 in a box with room to lean my seat back a good bit

so there were 2 different steering setups on t100s? didnt know that, i thought all were the cross-over steering like 2nd gen runners and 3rd gen trucks. interesting. i dont supose anyone would have/can get pics of a t100 rack and pinion from underneath? does anyone know if they redesigned the front suspension, or any of the pickup points for the rack and pinion?

not sure.. i own the 96 model t100 4x4 auto extended cab.. i had the recall on my steering rod.. if anyone of you are planning on buying a t100 ask if they have recieved the recall on the steering rob and have gotten it replaced...

I have owned a '95 T100 Xcab 4WD for about 6 years. It has 215k miles and still running strong.

Things to watch for:
[list][*]Clutch bracket on 5 speed models
Factory clutch bracket is a weak piece of junk probably cut from a coffee can. It will flex and cause the bracket and the firewall to crack. You will know this if you hear a popping sound when the clutch is depressed. Replacement part is $70 and much stronger.
[*]Transmission Service
Make sure you service the 5 speed tranny. Mine died at about 180k miles (locked into 5th gear) and $2000 later is still not right.
[*]Front Brakes
Seems like the front brake pads wear quickly. Maybe it is the cheap parts I am buying but I seem to be replacing them alot.
[*]Starter
Starter would continue to run a minute or so after engine started. This happened a few times until finally it would not stop at all and smoked the cables. Replaced the starter. (the same thing happened to my wife's '96 4-Runner.

I consider these to be minor issues (except the tranny). Overall it has been a very dependable vehicle

i have a 97 ext cab 4x4. auto. has 203k on it and still runs like a charm. imho i think the 3.4 is a little on the small side for the truck, but thats why they make a supercharger for it. i have driven a taco with the supercharger and i think that is the ticket. but overall i love it and would buy another in a heartbeat

the 2wd had the rack and pinion

I have a 1995 T-100 SR5 4x4..As stated Clutch Pedal bracket broke...Cluth was replaced at 161,00 miles due to bad pilot bearing...other than those everything is holding up fine but a noise in the rearend..Great Truck..JUst got a reacll in the mail about the Stearing could go bad..The delay timmer on wipers went out at 90,000 and the power mirrors stopped working about the same time

I have a 97 T100 4x4 SR5 Extra Cab. Has about 126,000 miles. I tow my race car with it. Car is a 2400 + lb Nissan 240SX and trailer is a 2000lb full deck steel trailer. Plus the truck is normally loaded with another 4-500 lbs of gear. The truck tows pretty decent but mileage is about 12 mpg if I'm lucky. Uphills it really struggles, but otherwise considering what I am asking the truck to do, it does it. I HIGHLY recommend getting the weight distribution for the hitch. It is worth every penny. It made an otherwise white knuckle drive towing into almost a pleasure. We love the truck and feel it will run forever. Only problem so far is the power locks quit on me, don't know why, not a big deal, might just be the door switch. Another con is that at least on my truck the braking is awful. I tried Brembo rotors with Hawk Super duty Pads and it was worse! Stock Toyota pads are better, but still braking is poor. I like the small size, but if I had to do it again I would buy an older Tundra with a V8.

cool, thanks! is it like 2nd gen runners 3rdgen trucks where the 2wd has different upper and lower control arms? or are they the same as 4wd? are the spindles the same? is it mounted behind the lower control arms like a tacoma/3rd gen runner?

not sure, my t100 breaks suck big uns.. im getting my dad to order me a set of bear brakes tomorrow.. i needed to get my brakes fixed and im starting to pull alot of heavy equipment now that my dad is out of town.. and i need these brakes especially when i pull my friends other race car to the track in 2 weeks.. i wouldnt know much about the spindles.. i havent had much time under the trucks lately, i been working my rear off trying to get my four wheeler put back together.. i will let you know about the spindles and all something this week..