I really enjoy a challenge, so imagine my chagrin when I was told my new company trail vehicle was a UA vehicle that had been beaten to death and left for dead. Ahhhh, how cool! I still see the beauty in the beast, and at least as I see it, the ’01 Taco has quite a few more years of life left in it, and I know guys that would kill for it.
In the following months, starting with the June issue of your favorite magazine, you will be reading about the resurrection of a UA vehicle. It’s all about bringing the dead Tacoma back to life, and I will be restoring it to the full glory it once was. This series of articles will include sheetmetal fabrication since the Taco has been rolled a couple of times, engine performance, and engine cooling tech. There’s also the slight possibility of front axle swap since the staff has worked its way through multiple axleshafts over the years. I am tossing around the idea of replacing the Taco’s current Dana 44 with some sort of light weight axle since a heavy Dana 60 would kill the form and function of why this nimble truck was built. However, I think this would also be a good time to test some alloy shafts for the 44 to see just how strong they really are. If you have some thoughts about the front axle let me hear them!