Reg cab Newbie

[ACTaco]

Hello to all! This is such a great forum! I'm hooked. Great folks, great rigs...and a wealth of info! I have learned a lot in a short time. I am in the early stages of an exped-style build up of my daily driver '01 2.7L reg cab 4wd taco w/ a 5 spd, 31's and open 4.30's.... There are a few questions about some items that I haven't been able to answer through searching the forums, so mucho appreciation to anyone who might help clear these up:

Seems as though the majority of Taco folks here work with v6 extended cabs, whereas I'm working with a 4cyl regular cab... I'm looking at 2"-3" front lift set ups so I can run 32's or 33's: OME or Demello currently... I have a custom set of Alcans on the way to give me 2 1/2" of rear lift with 375#'s of bed cap and gear, so I would like something that will work well with that set up. I would like to eventually run a TJM winch bumper at some point down the road.

How much does the weight of the reg cab 4cyl vs. the V6 ext. cab factor into choosing spring rates for the front? Is there a huge difference in weight?

Also, being a lighter truck with 4.30's, could i get away with running a 33" tire without as much performance penalty? Regear would be aways down the road...:beer:

I love the small wheelbase (works well in the Smokies!) and welcome any advice as to setting one up. Thanks again. Sorry for the novel!!

 

[Scott Brady]

Welcome

What are you primary travel/trail goals with the truck?

 

[datrupr]

Welcome to ExPo!!!

 

[alpha_nett]

wow! you got one of the few 4.30 geared trucks. by any chance is your truck one of the few 01's with stock manual locking hubs also?
i think that your gears with 33's would be fine. i have two buddies with 2.7s and 4.10's. they do want to go a little lower but they still do just fine at high speeds and on the trail. i am going with 4.56s, but i have the v6. and on my Runner i have 4.88s with the 22RE and 33's. with the runner i can barley do 80 on the highway. so 4.88 might be too high.
sorry i dont have any 4.56 with 2.7 exact knowledge. hopefully someone else will.

 

[Hltoppr]

With any four cylinder rig, I try to stay to 31" tires or 30" tires. Regardless of gearing, you only have so much torque and hp.

If you want a crawler rig (read...not really a daily driver) then gear it low for the trail, and buy a trailer to get to the trails.

Even on my FJ80 I never really found the need to stress the 3FE out with bigger than 31s....

The approach, departure, and breakover angles on my 86 Reg cab are just find with 235/75R15s....and I don't have to worry about changing gearing....

-H-

 

[Willman]

Welcome to the ExPo!

Where's the pictures of this beast?

:chowtime:

 

[Nullifier]

Welcome fellow reg cab owner! Here are my thoughts on owning the same rig. I would say going to to either a 32x11.50 or 265/75 would be fine witht he 4.30 gears. Most taco's with 31" tires run 4.10 gears so a 4.30 will run a 32" tire no problem. You will have plenty down low and still be able humm along nicely on the interstate.

With a 33" tire you will want at least a 4.56. I run a 4.88 with 255/85/17 which is a large 33" tire basically.

Not ot open anoth can of worms but if you can run aluminum wheels that will help significantly . THe lower wieght of the wheels will help the 2.7 get all that mass up and moving in a nut shell every 7lb of wheel and tire weight you add over stock is the loss of one h.p. in pperformance. So keeping the wheel and tire wieght low is important if you care about performance.

As for suspension if your budget allows for a nice set up like Donahoe or Camburg then hey go for it. I have been running the OME 882 springs up front in mine. I have no regrets so far. I run a really heavy garage built bumper with 9000# winch and have no sag issues at all. The difference in driving over stock was fantastic. They perform well on corrogations, rocks, mud all of it. THey also run great on the street not jarrng at all. O and really inexpensive. You do not have to spend big $ to get a good suspension system. If you run your truck at 50 mp on wash board roads yes you will reap the benefits of a really high dollar suspension. But it is not neccessary I figure the $7-800 I saved over a full donahoe set up bought me a bunch of other goodies that I would not have budgeted. And I do not regret that decision one bit.

Oh and yes the shot wheel base is great!!!

 

[DenCo40]

Welcome Reg cab!! Let me know if you have any questions about reg cabs, I built an 02 a few years ago just like yours... I know tons of tricks....

 

[p1michaud]

Expo

Welcome to ExPo!

 

[bac0701]

i just joined to, also a reg cab newb, i just bought a 1999 2.7 5sp,,, are any other guys on here with expedition style reg cabs? id love to see some pics. id like to do something like that with mine, i have donhoes and bilitiens on comeing in a few days! pumped

 

[XJxplorer]

sorry, but I have to but this up to see if there are any reg cab expedition guys on here!

 

[FshTaco99]

I looked into the regular cab. But, all I could squeeze was my shotgun behind the seat. I'd rather fit my Benellie, a thirty pack, and my Sig without issue... Hence why I chose the extended cab.

 

[Nullifier]

sorry, but I have to but this up to see if there are any reg cab expedition guys on here!

I'm it as far as I know. Check my sig for truck build.

 

[Hangtowncruzr]

I am building a 93 expedition in mind Baja rig. I am thinking about a RTT positioned just above the bed so that I can use it without unloading and still not ruin the minimal aerodynamics.

 

[rbrownmr2]

gearing

I am new here now too, and seem to have come across this some time after the original post. I have had four Tacoma 4cyl. 5 spd. trucks. A 1997 regular cab, an 08 reg. cab, an 09 extra cab, and my current is an 02 regular cab. With the 97, I put 32" BFG MT's, which made the truck seem even more gutless than it did before, often requiring a downshift to 4th on the freeway to maintain speed. This being with only the added weight of an aluminum camper shell. I decided to re-gear and after much reading on forums I decided on YG 4.88 from/installed by Randy's Ring and Pinion. With the 4.88's and 32" tires, the trucks revs were quite a bit higher on the freeway than I wanted, so I bought 33" BFG MT's and it was perfect from then on- a perfect balance of freeway manners and low range for off-road, plus the speedometer matched my GPS too. I miss that truck, probably why I ended up with another one. It was rear-ended by an F-250 after a seahawks game. My rear bumper ended up in front of my rear wheels, but the truck still drove me home that night in snow about two hours away!