Hey everyone I’m Chris and I’m trying to get back into the 3rd gen world. I had an 03 Taco TRD 5speed/Elocker that I bought almost brand new in 04. I had it for a few years then sold it 😞 it was a great truck and never let me down so I’m in the market for a more family friendly version of my old truck.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading and watching YouTube videos and the plan is something like this. 3.4, 5speed, taco box (undecided if it’ll be stock or 4.7) to stock case, elocker if I can find the perfect rig but some type of locker and a selectable front locker, leaning towards 4.88’s but I need to play with the gear calculator a little more and see, a skinnier 33, I’ve always liked 33x9.5’s but there don’t seem to be many options there anymore so maybe 255/85/16’s and of course a heavy dose of armor. The tundra break mod seems like a winner, I know I warped more than a few rotors in my old truck. Plenty of other little things. The intended use would be Family overload, crawler, hunting rig that I can drive to where ever these activities would be taking place.

I’m my rig searches so far I’m seeing a lot of rigs with potential that have either higher mileage than I’d like or engine issues. So I started pricing replacement engines and noticed that for the price difference I might as well get a much lower mileage jdm or rebuild than but from a dismantler. So here’s the question does anyone know of a reputable place to get either a rebuild or low mileage import motor either with cheap shipping or with in a reasonable area of Santa Rosa ca?

Sorry for the long post, I ramble sometimes