still shopping for my Tacoma. looking at cars on cars.com etc and you get>lots of pictures but it's hard to tell who's got manual hubs and who's got>auto hubs. can you tell by looking? if so how?

I don't think Toyota put manual hubs on any new USA spec 4x4 vehicle> or anything from the last few years.>

If you're looking at older models, look at the hub itself. Manual> hubs have rotary switch in the outside end with a small arrow. The> arrow can me moved to two positions, "LOCK" and "FREE".>

Automatic hubs are smooth on the end.>

Here is a photo of a typical manual locking hub:>

Any manual hub will look very similar, regardless of brand. On older> vehicles, manual hubs aren't THAT bad, you can always leave them> locked during snowstorms, or lock them shortly before you leave the> pavement. You don't have to wait for ankle deep mud to get out and> lock the hubs.>

That said, automatic hubs are a great improvement, and I say that as

guy who refuses to buy automatic transmissions. <G>