Quote:
Originally Posted by zoski
My 1997 SR5 4x4 with 3.4 V6, AT, and e-locker has 250K. It needs brakes and tires are not far behind. Timing belt/water pump were done at 190K, and it's been fairly well maintained since I bought it with 40K (regular oil changes, recommended maintenance). It's straight, decent paint, drives well, but the springs creak and groan, there are a few rattles here and there, steering rack could be up next --at least bushings. Engine doesn't leak or burn oil, starts up and runs fine. I'd take it across country tomorrow --it's never let me down. I am not a super-wrencher by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a decent build budget, and am looking for opinions on whether I should look for a lower mileage starter 4Runner (I'm committed to building a 3rd gen), or just dive into this one and hope I don't run into expensive surprises. I'd ultimately like an SC (pricey I know), and have been inspired by BigFishAllDay and 4-Ripcord's NM 4Rs. It's time to get my act together and start driving the T4R I know I want.
Sorry for the lame first post blog, but any ideas/thoughts/suggestions will be appreciated, and I"ll put up my build whatever it ends up being. Thanks guys.
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not lame at all man, the way i see this is why go and get another 4runner when you already got what sounds like a good package, sure the mileage is high but the new to you 4runner will have issues as well that will need to be fixed before you can start a build on that, the way i look at it at least is a new motor is around 2~3k which is much much cheaper than the cost difference for trying to buy a low mile 4runner , compare vehicles thats have 130k vs 250k , the price differeance tends to be around 3~5k depending and then your paying basically 3~5k for 100k miles, when for the same price you can have a 0 mile motor installed in most cases.....
personally i'd rather have a new motor in a higher mile 4runner than a truck at has 100k less on it all togther, i would be telling you differently if we where talking chevy's or some other brand (SOB) but the 4runners are good soild trucks and as long as what you have now is clean and doing well i'd just hold on to it and start putting a little bit of cash back each month for a new motor (but really with 250k you could be going another 100k or so at least if it is in good shape)
i say start with your build if you commited to this platform and just keep up on maintince put a little money aside for a new engine or some bad ass swap in the future, but as always start with maintince first, if your up to par start with lift then tires as there is no other way to do it, lol
i just went through all of this when a massive tree dropped on my truck and was forced to buy a new one, i was comparing trucks that had 100~120k vs trucks that had 150~180k and made the decsion early on to go with the higher miles as sooner or later the lower mile one would need the same work as the higher mile one and at the cost difference between the two it was better to just go with the higher miles as these trucks run for ever, like i said if this was chevy or chrysler i'd be telling you not to buy anything with less than 50~80k on it...if that, lol
