Obligatory "about my truck"

Yeah, it's that time again. I got some fresh oil put in that sucker and it's back to purring like a mountain lion... or at least it is in my head because it's actually really quiet what with being a 4cyl and all. I've had this urge to get some window visor things. I used to think they were really only for Nampa-style vehicles (people from here will maybe get what that means) but I've seen them on some Toyotas around town and they do look kinda cool. Give a little bit more wideness to the truck. I haven't looked into if they look better w/ tinted windows and bad w/o tinted windows, but before I make any decisions I think I should look into that.

I often find myself wishing I had a friend that was really into vehicles so that I could take them off-roading and when something breaks, they could show me how to fix it. And maybe show me how to take care of the more... complex things (or at least what to look for). Like, I was reading about the timing chain in these pickups and one site showed a picture of it. They talked about how they're built using plastic guides that tend to break... and if they do break and the chain comes loose and eventually off the guides, it can destroy the engine (it's actually right in with the camshaft). There's also things like the water/fuel pumps that I don't know what to do about... and some more things that the Toyota book talks about but shows no picture of, so I'm left wondering wtf to look for. With the whole offroad thing, you're talking about some serious damage to parts that aren't like "yeah, just turn this here and it'll be good again" and having someone that could help with that would be nice.

Unfortunately, I know no such person. So I'm left going slowly over areas I know I can't get stuck in, hoping that my luck holds through and nothing ends up breaking. It's kind of worrying to think that I'm putting a lot of money into taking care of whatever I can on my truck... and yet some stupid thing like a plastic guide could end up taking the whole thing out. Not that I wouldn't mind throwing a newer, bigger engine in it, but I just can't afford the new engine or all of the changes that would be needed to accomodate a larger engine. Programming I can do, but mechanics are very much a mystery to me.