So, the history on this truck is minimal. I'm apparently really bad at buying cars (only done it 5 times, 2 of those we had for 16 and 17 years, 2 more we bought new last year), and focused too much on getting a low(ish) mile, one owner truck to the exclusion of things like records and condition. This has ZERO records from Toyota, and only the yearly inspection from TN for carfax. The PO owned a marina, with hired mechanics, so they did the work. My impression is that the mechanical work is fine, but the cosmetic repairs were done with a BFH. On the plus side, the truck only has 192k miles on it, I couldn't find any rust, body damage is limited to a slight push by the passenger rear door and rock dings, belts look new (claimed to have been done 20k miles prior), oil was fresh, front brakes were claimed to have been replaced not 300 miles prior (yet to be confirmed), tires aren't in urgent need of replacement, no codes and it starts/runs/drives well. I think I overpaid at $6k (plus 10 hours travel and another $150 in fuel), but I'm sure opinions will differ.

For now, this is a 3rd vehicle and won't see much use. Actually, for the next month or two it probably won't see Any use as I start addressing the issues that were missed by me and undisclosed by the PO. I'm that a-retentive type guy who HAS to have everything function properly. If it's broken, it irritates me to the point of distraction. My wife is bothered by, for lack of a better word, "ick" ~ so dirty and smells. This thing had Plenty of those as it was used for the dog kennel, and had copious numbers of unknown drinks spilled all over. First course of action after getting it home was to pull the seats and clean the carpets.




My wife tackled wiping down all the interior surfaces with a disinfectant, then a cleaner and lastly 303 for a little protection. While this addressed most of the stench, there's still a lot in there. I'm guessing it's split between the headliner (not sure how those get dirty, I'm guessing big/wet dogs shaking) and the HVAC system. Headliner needs to come out to address the non-operation sunroof (actually disclosed, the only thing that was) so I'll clean that when it's out. The HVAC had to wait because this is a Limited with automatic climate control.... which means it didn't work either. Thankfully, and a large reason I like vehicles with strong community (I'm a motorcycle guy, have been through Hundreds of motorcycles and chatting about them online since the early 90's) is that there tend to be community fixes and support. So my dash is apart, CC unit mailed off to NJ and sitting like this.



I figured while that's all torn apart anyway, I'd go ahead and fix the broken power antenna. No need to spend money on a fragile thing that's prone for damage/breaking, so the Taco Whip makes more sense. I'm also trying to decide on a radio replacement since I live in a state with a hands-free phone law, yet another "while it's apart" thing.




The truck only came with one key, highly chewed and severely worn. Thankfully they wrote the key number down on the owners manual. After being lied to by my "local" (40 miles away) dealer about the key cost and availability, I opted to buy 2 online (claimed OEM) and see if I can find someone else to cut from code. I also have no key fobs, couldn't find the RS3000 unit and took the chance on the factory installed option. Of course, when I go to program it I run into the next issue... the drives door actuator is failing so the "lock/unlock" sequence doesn't work to get into programming mode.

I've also been reading, for several months now, about the other known issues and am working on my plans to resolve those. First up is the radiator, where I have the aluminum Champion unit arriving on Monday with new hoses. I'm going to run a couple coolant flushes through the current system first, to clean out the heater core mostly, before fitting the replacement. I opted to stick with the stock setup for the transmission cooler for a number of different reasons. After that, I'm torn between a functional "want" of shocks and springs (leaning towards OME 881/890 and 5100's) and the more practical/sensible LBJ/ITR/OTR/bushings/etc... I can do one or the other, but the 2nd will have to wait several months to a year (3~5k miles). I suspect that if it's more enjoyable to drive (suspension), I'll be able to talk my wife (CEO, CFO) into releasing some more money.

And talking about enjoyable to drive... these seats are Murder on my back. No idea how they can be SO terrible when I didn't have any issue with my T100 bucket seats (look Exactly the same to my eye). So, based on yet another thread here, I bought some BMW F30 seats to be fitted...