"Charlotte"

Our 2001 Toyota Tacoma X-Cab

 

 

 

In February of 2005, Andrea and I decided that the Blazer was starting to get old and we needed something that we could travel, take to races, and could work out of for my job. We looked at a couple of different trucks for what we needed, mainly the Chevy S-10 ZR2 and the Toyota Tacoma.    After doing some research I realized that the S-10s had some reliability issues and really didn't hold there resale value, so we decided to try to find a Tacoma. We wanted one with a v-6, ex-cab, and 4wheel drive of course.

We spent about a month looking at different lots, searching the internet, and all the other stuff that you do when you look for a car. Every one that we found was either, beat up, 4cyl, cost way to much money, or was already sold. One evening after work I got online to check the usual spots when we spotted this one at Desert Nissan. We figured it was a long shot but we loaded up to go check it out. Lucky for us they still had it on the lot so we took it for a test drive and fell in love with her and we bought it. This was a pretty big purchase for a young couple like us but we felt it was right and haven't been sorry so far.

This is the picture that the dealer had taken of the truck and posted on there website. Its amazing how stock and Naked it looks here. I think this is the only picture of it that I actually have that its completely stock.

On the way home from the dealer that night I looked over at Andrea and told her, and I quote "This is the most capable off-road truck that I have ever owned. I think I'll leave it alone and just run it stock for awhile." She looked at me and said she agreed. Two weeks later I swapped the battery for an optima red top. One month later I ordered a daystar 2" lift kit for it. Oh well. What can I say? I can't leave anything alone. Man if she had only know what more was to come.

 

 

Truck specs from Toyota:

I soon started upgrades to make the truck work better in the dirt, and make it more tuned for what Andrea and I were going to use it for, camping, wheeling, and chasing races for her job, amongst many other things. Click on the link below to go to the modification page for each category.

Suspension

 

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