TV breakdown 2 days into trip

The water pump on our Ram failed and took the serpentine belt out with it. It was puking coolant and the culprit was pretty obvious. Ours happened on the way home from vacation but it still sucked. It took a few days to get a replacement pump shipped to the small town we were in.

At 60k miles you are inline with the normal replacement intervals on these.
Get your belt and go enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the reminder to replace the belt.
Vehicles are complicated. It is amazing they do so well.
In the 1960s cars did not last and we had break downs all the time. We never went anywhere without a large box of tools.

I hadn’t inspected the belt, I was hoping that Toyota did, but maybe it wasn’t obvious.

The truck is a 2011, so the belt has some years on it. The pulleys all turn smoothly, and I didn’t notice any strange sounds, so maybe it is just the belt. The shop is looking at it now.

It would not surprise me if the belt simply broke apart due to age. Time is harder on some things than mileage. You don't say how old your Taco is, but the mechanic doing the service may have looked at the belt and felt it was fine, not thinking about how old it was also.

If it's the original belt, it's possible it was worn out. Usually it would be cracked and weathered long before it breaks however. Had you ever inspected it? This item seams more affected by age than miles.

The usual culprits for "other parts breaking first" are the tensioner and the belt idler pulley. The tensioner can rust up and seize internally, putting extra strain on the belt. You may not get advance warning that it's seized. But it's easy to diagnose because you won't be able to install the the belt. Bad pulley bearing usually makes noise first, but not everybody recognizes them. That noise can range from crickets chirping to loud squealing or sometimes just a rubbing sound that mimics radio static.

Any other parts that could seize up (alternator, water pump, AC compressor etc) can be easily checked by spinning them with the belt off.