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Yes, indeed, there's quite a bit of variance in the useful life that results from how the vehicle is used (or abused) and the maintenance or modification done. Statistically speaking the manufacturer makes assumptions for purposes of prediction. If you use factory filters, fluids and...

I think your experience @alanymarce just goes to show vehicle wear follows a Bell curve. A 20 year old 80 series isn't worn out but neither should one expect to have zero issues. Many other cars at 20 years are ready for the recycler.

Yaesu makes top end radios so unless the one you're looking at has been modified or severely abused you're better off with it over Baofeng.

I've always bought used vehicles primarily due to budget. My thought was similar to other's about a new vehicle and the advantage of being the only huckleberry to ever have turned a wrench on it. Then I got to thinking with my Tacoma that new might not be all it's cracked up to be. Mine was a...

It's too broad of a subject so I'll only speak to one aspect, the class action lawsuit Toyota settled on regarding 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2008 Tundra and 2005-2008 Sequoia, since it covered my truck. The wording from the final order says specifically...

The original issue was 1995 to 2000 trucks rotting, those got buy-backs. The 2001-2004 trucks eventually got new frames. That then extended to 2nd gen 2005-2010 Tacomas and some Tundras and Sequoias under a lawsuit settlement. Those of us with those trucks got a 12 year extended frame...

I don't have the history of @bkg. Have owned a 1984 regular cab, 1991 XtraCab, 2001 XtraCab and now a 2008 Access Cab. Very good friend has a 1980 long bed and 1985 XtraCab. If I had to say my favorite is the 89-95 XtraCab. Useful size cab but not a huge truck. I think the T100 was a good...

Yeah, not sure what I was thinking. Been a long week.

On my stock receiver this type worked fine. The only thing I would consider it putting on top rather than bottom. With a bike rack it's probably not important but using it the way it's shown puts all the tongue weight on device which in theory could cause the u-bolt to stretch and break...

They're private gating National Forest (public lands) access or are the routes actually county roads (perhaps dual listed USFS) that access private inholdings? There's a lawsuit here in western Colorado that sounds suspiciously similar. A private fishing lodge (The High Lonesome Ranch) in...

While we occasionally recognize the existence of S.I. units we yet choose to remain with the pound-force (lbf) in one disrespectful former Colony.

Since you're asking about a Tacoma I'll mention I did a back-to-back group 25 and 35 in my Tacoma because my goal was under hood redundancy and doing it this way was convenient as there's several established techniques to mount them. From a strictly performance stand-point this is not ideal...

You Mitsubishi guys please correct me but those shields are usually protecting slip yokes in my experience. So while not absolutely critical they do serve an actual protective function. If it's similar to Toyotas (who uses these on 2WD transmissions) you could unbolt the driveshaft and pull...

The 66i comes from the traditional Garmin handheld lineage so it's got physical buttons which just means the screen being 3" diagonally actually seems more like a smart phone since your fingers aren't covering half of it touching virtual buttons. To me, just a personal thing, I prefer the...

One argument against them is the roofs on vehicles are pretty thin. So it's possible with big antennas, low branches to rip an NMO out or at least distort the sheet metal. I made these big disks to spread the load. Also I had to make the metal slightly thicker to prevent the NMO from...

I've heard people either just leaving the NMO or just doing what they do with cop cars and stick a rubber plug, either way just telling the buyer it was for a cell phone antenna. With these little rubber plugs you barely notice and it's usually on the roof so I bet no would ever know. The...

He's not trying to charge a locomotive bank, just hanging a typically sized house battery. Two house batteries is maybe pushing it, but I think it's no worse than using a winch. It's not going to sustain hundreds of amps indefinitely. It's a heavy duty alternator doing heavy duty.

The most wear and tear on an alternator is having it spinning and that's regardless of the load. Usually bearings and brushes go bad before anything else. They can fail from fatigue in the windings or terminals but that's also more mechanical, vibration mainly. Heat isn't good for winding...

Where did you drive a Hilux and which one? I have not driven a Hilux newer than 1995 and the 1st gen Tacoma hadn't deviated nearly as far. The people I rely upon who have drove mostly Double Cab 7th gens in the Middle East for work. They are legitimate ex'po guys who drive and wrench on...

He does have a battery, in the USB battery pack. But the solar panel controller needs a suitable USB output for it to work, which some do have. Using this with a 100W panel and something like a typical 10 A-hr portable USB battery pack is a huge waste of solar energy but it *might* work. I...