The question: to build or not to build...

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.

Build it, but do all the maintenance stuff first.

zoski said:

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

If you know you want another

lower mileage 4runner i say sell it or keep it for parts.

Dude, honestly? Check over your underside for rust. Other than that, if theres no rust, build the S H I T out of I T.
No 4Runner left behind
But all I can say is, if what you think your going to invest into a vehicle is worth more than the vehicle itself, its not typically a bad thing, just dont expect much when selling. But if your going to keep it for a long time, why not make it your baby right?! Have fun and like Puppetz said, do all maintenance and then preventative maintenance and then go crazy.

Thanks for that reply izzardking. This is kind of where I am leaning. Option B would be to pick one up that someone has built already (OldSven's, Absalom's, resurectedvikin's all come to mind), but that seems kind of boring...

zoski said:

Thanks for that reply izzardking. This is kind of where I am leaning. Option B would be to pick one up that someone has built already (OldSven's, Absalom's, resurectedvikin's all come to mind), but that seems kind of boring...

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no worries,
yeah.... boring and you won't make very many friends, lol, we're all buddies here for the most part because we share that common bond and pain of trying to remove the rear shocks or learning the process involved for installing/shoving the front lift coils in up front, and the bloody knuckles involved.....sure you can go out and buy a sweet rig but there's no substitute for building it and making it your own flavour, if you look at the built 4runners for the most part generally speaking they are all the same , it's the little details and personal touches that make them stand out and what really makes it your rig, not OldSven's, Absalom's, resurectedvikin ect's rig that so and so is driving, you know what i'm saying.... and really the work isn't that hard it's just the time and effort doing it, and personally that's where i get my pride in the vehicle , it's not that it looks cool that makes me feel good (in a way it does) but what makes me feel really good when i look at my truck is knowing "i did that"
or "i built that" that's where my pride comes from, not the fact that i have a lifted and locked 4runner, but the fact i built a lifted and locked 4runner.

plus doing it yourself will cause you to be on here more and get to know the guys better, we're a really good group of people, though i may be an a$z ...lol
it's how i got to know these people and learned, it was from all of my stupid questions and asking the same thing at least 3 times before someone explained it to me so i could understand it, lol ,


sooo yeah take that for what you will, some people just want to go out and wheel and enjoy the truck, some want the pride and knowledge that comes with completing a build, different strokes for different folks , not going to knock you either way, i just know my heart lies with the latter build it crew.

also like said above, for me rust or "MAJOR" mech issues would cause me to jettison an already good truck with higher miles considering a 0 mile motor is so cheap.

zoski said:

Thanks for that reply izzardking. This is kind of where I am leaning. Option B would be to pick one up that someone has built already (OldSven's, Absalom's, resurectedvikin's all come to mind), but that seems kind of boring...

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It would definitely be cheaper to pick up an already built one. But like you said, there is absolutely no fun in that.

I say it depends on if this is the platform you want to build off of. You prefer an auto over a manual for offroading? Most do. You prefer the interior styling of a 97 versus a 99+? You prefer having the manual J-shift transfer case? For a wheeler I would for sure. And you already have an elocker.

The only thing that could present problems for this platform is the miles on the engine. I definitely would not S/C with those miles.

You could spend $50 and get all new sway bar and steering rack bushings from Wheeler's. That would make a nice difference. You could also replace the bushings on the Front and rear control arms to get rid of a lot of squeaking and improve the ride even more.


Whatever you decide, let me know if you need help wrenching. I would be more than willing to help.

I found myself in the same situation about 2 years ago.

I had 170k on my '97, and was finally getting the $$$ to start a real build. I was back and forth about building the '97 or looking for something new, so I just held off and kept my eye on the local market for awhile to see what popped up.

When the '01 came up for sale, I went to have a look. It turned out it was a 1 owner vehicle with complete service records, and it was bone stock except for what was under the hood. It had a dealer installed 2nd gen S/C, TRD Headers, TRD exhaust, TRD 7th injector, and a TRD trans cooler.

It was never wrecked, had original paint & a perfect body, all matching VIN's on the body panels, ZERO rust, was purchased from a local ABQ, NM dealer, and had only 112K on the clock.

The seller could have offered this truck for $10k WITHOUT any of the TRD add ons, yet I was able to negotiate a price of $10k for the truck as it sat.

I couldn't pass it up, so I bought it and went nuts. Sure I would have liked to install the S/C myself. The headers, not so much (that job is a major PITA, so I was happy to buy a truck with headers already installed). The rest I have since removed/tweaked/replaced/re-installed.

Had I not found such a good deal w/the '01, I'm not sure what direction I would have gone because I haven't seen a deal like that one since. I probably would have dived into the '97 but I doubt I would have built it to the extent that I have built the '01.

I feel like the '01 was a better platform for me to start with... it had alot of things that I was looking for that the '97 didn't. (IE updated interior, sunroof, fender flares, hood scoop, etc). In the end it all depends on what makes sense to you. If I were you I would shop around a bit. Consider what you could sell your current truck for (say $4500) and how much maintenance it needs to be equivalent to a lower mileage truck (say $3000). Then go look at what you could buy for that same $7500. See where the best value is at for your own personal tastes, and do what works for you.

PS... like Rip said, if you need help w/anything let us know. Between the two of us we've done just about everything you can do on these trucks short of pulling out the engine/trans/t-case.

4-Ripcord said:

It would definitely be cheaper to pick up an already built one. But like you said, there is absolutely no fun in that.

I say it depends on if this is the platform you want to build off of. You prefer an auto over a manual for offroading? Most do. You prefer the interior styling of a 97 versus a 99+? You prefer having the manual J-shift transfer case? For a wheeler I would for sure. And you already have an elocker.

The only thing that could present problems for this platform is the miles on the engine. I definitely would not S/C with those miles.

You could spend $50 and get all new sway bar and steering rack bushings from Wheeler's. That would make a nice difference. You could also replace the bushings on the Front and rear control arms to get rid of a lot of squeaking and improve the ride even more.


Whatever you decide, let me know if you need help wrenching. I would be more than willing to help.

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That is awesome. Thanks for the offer man! Your garage looks pretty nice down there, and I'm sure I could learn a lot. I'd love to buy you a combo plate and a beer sometime to check out your rig and talk 4Runners.

As far as mine goes, I like the AT, and this will be a DD/ski assault rig that sees dirt and snow less than half the time it's rolling, but I think driving a setup like yours even as a DD/part-time offroad rig is like having 4WD instead of two --when you need it you need it!

Oh ya, anybody know what a new/rebuilt SC'd 3.4 V6 goes for these days?

BigFishAllDay said:

I found myself in the same situation about 2 years ago.

I had 170k on my '97, and was finally getting the $$$ to start a real build. I was back and forth about building the '97 or looking for something new, so I just held off and kept my eye on the local market for awhile to see what popped up.

When the '01 came up for sale, I went to have a look. It turned out it was a 1 owner vehicle with complete service records, and it was bone stock except for what was under the hood. It had a dealer installed 2nd gen S/C, TRD Headers, TRD exhaust, TRD 7th injector, and a TRD trans cooler.

It was never wrecked, had original paint & a perfect body, all matching VIN's on the body panels, ZERO rust, was purchased from a local ABQ, NM dealer, and had only 112K on the clock.

The seller could have offered this truck for $10k WITHOUT any of the TRD add ons, yet I was able to negotiate a price of $10k for the truck as it sat.

I couldn't pass it up, so I bought it and went nuts. Sure I would have liked to install the S/C myself. The headers, not so much (that job is a major PITA, so I was happy to buy a truck with headers already installed). The rest I have since removed/tweaked/replaced/re-installed.

Had I not found such a good deal w/the '01, I'm not sure what direction I would have gone because I haven't seen a deal like that one since. I probably would have dived into the '97 but I doubt I would have built it to the extent that I have built the '01.

I feel like the '01 was a better platform for me to start with... it had alot of things that I was looking for that the '97 didn't. (IE updated interior, sunroof, fender flares, hood scoop, etc). In the end it all depends on what makes sense to you. If I were you I would shop around a bit. Consider what you could sell your current truck for (say $4500) and how much maintenance it needs to be equivalent to a lower mileage truck (say $3000). Then go look at what you could buy for that same $7500. See where the best value is at for your own personal tastes, and do what works for you.

PS... like Rip said, if you need help w/anything let us know. Between the two of us we've done just about everything you can do on these trucks short of pulling out the engine/trans/t-case.

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You and Rip have a couple of really nice, inspirational rigs. I have been poking around used ones for a few months, and even thought seriously about bidding $12K on an original owner "97 with 39K (ebay, and too far away made me uncomfortable) but I think you really did find "The One"! Seems like I could get a decent 4Runner with about half the miles mine has with options I like (although factory SCs seem rare!) for around $7-9K. I do like the updated interior of the newer models, but other than that (and the factory SC) mine has the options that are important to me (as far as I know --I need to look at Rip's sticky again to see if I'm missing anything sweet). Really, I like the sunroof also, 4x4, V6, AT, and elocker --plus it's white --don't know if there is enough room in town for three superslick grey/silver 4Rs lol.

Kinda thinking if I dump enough cash into rebuilding this thing the only major failure/repair left would be the motor? What I didn't/don't wanna do is pay ~$20K for something I really don't like (newer gen 4Rs). Mine has been paid off for several years, and it just seems like its time to sh*t or get off the pot if you know what I mean. I like the platform, and putting even $10K into it seems like I could have a really nice rig that's essentially "new". Hope that makes sense...

The way I see it, these vehicles will last practically forever. I have 344k on my rig right now and am the third owner. The first owner traded it in 1999 with 10k miles. It was bought from the very dealership where I work and maintained very well by the vehicle's owner. Everyone who see's my truck can't really believe it has that kind of miles and still looks so clean and drives so well. I've got original Motor/Trans/Starter/Front Diff/Radiator and condensor. The A/C blows colder than my wifes 2006 Mazda, it gets the same fuel economy as any 2012 SUV, and it starts up everytime with no hesitation or funny business.

I am building this truck in what I call a "Beach Rig". I don't plan to do much more off-roading than the weekend beach trips, so I just went with a mild/inexpensive lift and plan to run some 265/75 All Terrain tires. I plan to drive this thing till it quits, then park it and swap in a V-8 or a diesel.

I say do it. You already know the history of the truck, and it's a great opportunity to learn how to turn a few wrenches. I had never messed with any suspension short of changing out some shocks on my Chevy truck, and I managed to install a lift kit myself in 1 weekend.

theizzardking said:

no worries,
yeah.... boring and you won't make very many friends, lol, we're all buddies here for the most part because we share that common bond and pain of trying to remove the rear shocks or learning the process involved for installing/shoving the front lift coils in up front, and the bloody knuckles involved.....sure you can go out and buy a sweet rig but there's no substitute for building it and making it your own flavour, if you look at the built 4runners for the most part generally speaking they are all the same , it's the little details and personal touches that make them stand out and what really makes it your rig, not OldSven's, Absalom's, resurectedvikin ect's rig that so and so is driving, you know what i'm saying.... and really the work isn't that hard it's just the time and effort doing it, and personally that's where i get my pride in the vehicle , it's not that it looks cool that makes me feel good (in a way it does) but what makes me feel really good when i look at my truck is knowing "i did that"
or "i built that" that's where my pride comes from, not the fact that i have a lifted and locked 4runner, but the fact i built a lifted and locked 4runner.

plus doing it yourself will cause you to be on here more and get to know the guys better, we're a really good group of people, though i may be an a$z ...lol
it's how i got to know these people and learned, it was from all of my stupid questions and asking the same thing at least 3 times before someone explained it to me so i could understand it, lol ,


sooo yeah take that for what you will, some people just want to go out and wheel and enjoy the truck, some want the pride and knowledge that comes with completing a build, different strokes for different folks , not going to knock you either way, i just know my heart lies with the latter build it crew.

also like said above, for me rust or "MAJOR" mech issues would cause me to jettison an already good truck with higher miles considering a 0 mile motor is so cheap.

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I hear you loud and clear. Who doesn't enjoy some good ole bloody knuckles, lol?! I did a bilstein/lower stiff springs/bbs/fat tires modification on an old 242 Volvo in college, so I know the addictive nature of these things. Now that I am a tad older I can actually afford to do a more complete build, and may even save the booming stereo till last this time! Diving into a big project like this is exciting and frightening at the same time --especially for an ahem shall we say, "inexperienced" mechanic.

Did you mean "MAJOR" mech issues would NOT cause you to jettison an already good truck considering a 0 mile motor is so cheap? Kind of what I asked BigFishAllDay. If I dump lots into a fairly comprehensive rebuild what is left to fail expensively?

shadow247 said:

I've got original Motor/Trans/Starter/Front Diff/Radiator and condensor. The A/C blows colder than my wifes 2006 Mazda, it gets the same fuel economy as any 2012 SUV, and it starts up everytime with no hesitation or funny business.

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Ditto. Original for me on all those also. The AC blows colder than my wife's new Outback, the power windows roll up and down about twice as fast, and I have really just enjoyed the 200K I've put on it on and off road over the years. I'm 99% sure I would prefer spending money to have a nice rebuilt 3rd gen. 4Runner to pretty much anything else I can think of buying within my $20K budget.

zoski said:

I hear you loud and clear. Who doesn't enjoy some good ole bloody knuckles, lol?! I did a bilstein/lower stiff springs/bbs/fat tires modification on an old 242 Volvo in college, so I know the addictive nature of these things. Now that I am a tad older I can actually afford to do a more complete build, and may even save the booming stereo till last this time! Diving into a big project like this is exciting and frightening at the same time --especially for an ahem shall we say, "inexperienced" mechanic.

Did you mean "MAJOR" mech issues would NOT cause you to jettison an already good truck considering a 0 mile motor is so cheap? Kind of what I asked BigFishAllDay. If I dump lots into a fairly comprehensive rebuild what is left to fail expensively?

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well like the guy with 344k on his motor was saying is that are very little "weak points" on this platform, there's just not much to break or fail, the only way i would dump your current ride is if you found "the one" at a great price or BOTH your motor AND tranny were on the way out, motors are cheap enough, i mean think about it, doing a lift for off road done right is about 2.5~3k a new motor is around the same price, and if you're looking at having a 10k bank account to drop into this thing i think your money will go alot further putting 10k into the current rig opposed to selling the current rig for let's just say 7k and then buying a new one for 12k (let's not forget taxes and licensing here... 10k for truck 2k for taxs and ect) that takes your now 17k (7 k for the sale of your truck plus th 10k you had) down to 5k for mods, a good lift kit and tires will run you 3k, bumper up front about 1k shipped/painted and next ting you know you got $1000 bucks left to mod your truck with....sure it's got 100k less on it but it's not half as cool as the 97 would have been for the same price.

now look at it like this, you have your truck you got now and 10k, new motor goes in for 4k installed and is built, that leaves you with 6k for mods and a 0 mile built motor installed, you're now way better off imo than the previous scenario. financially that makes sense to me, but lets not forget your motor is running fine now, so really you have more like 10 k for mods until something goes wrong, and whose to say on the unknown vehicle with 100k less the motor on that doesn't blow because the previous owner ran it without oil for a few hundred miles before he decided to sell it....


so yeah short of just wanting something different and aesthetics i think jumping into a new runner isn't a smart move, you could have a jaw dropper with 10k invested into it and really i'd just drop 8k and take the other 2k and set it aside for a motor rebuild, but i'm planning on giving this truck to my kid in 17 years, lol, this 4runner will be like my grandads old CJ was for me, and i know this generation of 4runner will last and be a classic at one point. so that's where i'm coming from.

but really do what makes you happy, this is your truck, do with it what you will, you won't here crap from me unless you want to slam it with lambo doors or crash it into a pole...lol...either way your not really losing anything, your still in a 3rd gen 4runner ....it's just a matter of your style and what you want more, newer interior upgrades less miles less mods vs older interior with more mods....with 10k you can make alot of changes....i'll shut up now and let you figure this out, my only word of advice is don't forget about taxes and licensing it's a *****, i'm 4k in debit after teh tree hit my truck and that's not the insurance companies fault, it's the states, $2,200 in taxes and licensing on the new truck brought my 8k truck to 10k and i'm doing everything "better" on this rig so that cost me and extra 1.8k as well.....can you tell i'm still a little bitter? hahaha

Allow me to clarify..

When I say the engine is the weak point. I am by no means saying its an immanent failure. By the sound of it Id say you have another 100k easy, just keep changing the oil.

I say its the weak point because compared to that, everything else will go much farther. Except maybe the ball joints.

So dont make plans to change out the motor, shes still going strong.

Btw what part of NM are you in?

This is my same problem and i am happy to see someone ask it....i currently have a 99 with 264k on it....its fully loaded minus the elocker and the option of heated seats....really dont care about the heated seats and cant afford the cost of premium fuel isnt something i think i could cough up everyday at the pumps....

HOWEVER!!! NOT havin the Elocker drives me bat **** crazy!! Cause i am not very mechanical inclined...so i would probably have to find a mechanic to do the install...BOOO!!! :shrug: NOR do i live even close to RIP or BIGFISHALLDAY!! you guys have some BAD ASS rigs and would love to get close to what you guys have....

I dont get it, i live in KENTUCKY so u would think being in the Appalachian mountains there would be a **** ton my 4Runners or tacomas but everyone here usually rolls in chevy 1500s with 20s (95% of the Weiners have the re****ed truck balls hanging off the back of them...personally that makes u a full blown douche!!) or they are rolling around in a busted A$$ Trackers!!! SO :dammit: i am kinda screwed LOL!!!

I did not realize tell just now that there quite s few people from New Mexico on this forum. Assoonas my lift is done lets all go wheeling! Haha

theizzardking said:

you could have a jaw dropper with 10k invested into it...i'm planning on giving this truck to my kid in 17 years, lol,
but you won't here crap from me unless you want to slam it with lambo doors or crash it into a pole...

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The izzardking speaking truth! I think you are right about where this $ needs to go and why, and I know my kid will be licking his chops at the chance to drive it in a couple years --yikes! No slams for me --including trees (knock on wood!).

4-Ripcord said:

Btw what part of NM are you in?

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I hear you. I'll drive it till the motor is dead for sure. I'm just down the road here in Albuquerque. Hope we get a chance to hook up and talk 4Runners one of these days!