I've been a long-time lurker here and finally decided to buy a 3rd Gen, but I need some advice to whether this particular one is too shady or I should buy anyway:

It's a 1998 4Runner with manual trans, 4WD, and e-locker. It also has nearly new 31" tires on aftermarket wheels (similar to those Rockstar wheels, but not as gaudy). He advertised it on craigslist with 133k miles for $6500. I drove it and it drives great, little noise from the tires, no big deal for me. The 4L and 4H engage just fine, couldn't test the e-locker. The interior's a little rough...the black bezels around the gauges and switches have been painted like a riced Civic, and the brown leather's a little beat up. The brakes are bad -- pedal goes almost to the floor; either needs pads or bleeding. The speedometer needle also bounced around the 50mph mark, regardless of speed (had a similar situation with an old 240sx when I replaced the speedometer). But the big thing for me was the timing belt -- at 133k it's either way overdue or pretty fresh. He said it's been replaced, but being real vague about it -- "the timing belt situation is fine".

Now I go do a carfax, and the last registered mileage in July 2013 was 184k, which leads me to believe this is now a 200k mile truck. I'm fine with that, but the timing belt situation is still weird. Given all that, the lowest he can go is $5600.

I know the 5MT w/e-locker Runners are pretty rare and it's in otherwise good condition (no rust), so $5600 would be great for a truck with solid history. But are there too many questions and should I walk away? Or is this worth jumping on?

Seems too sketchy for me. The mileage doesn't add up, the seller isn't being straight forward, and it doesn't sound like it's been treated too well. $5600 is still too high for all the unknowns.

From the outside looking in...that's what I thought. Just making sure I'm not passing on the holy grail of 4Runners that's worth $20k in any condition