Originally Posted by JZiggy

Been through that before. Are you planning to report the issue to the authorities?

I'm guessing the person who brokered the deal with you is supposedly 1-2 people away from the "real" owner, right? And now that you've uncovered an issue they are aghast, have no idea how it happened, and don't really know how to get in touch with the "real" owner?

Originally Posted by MarkBlack

I wasn’t planning on reporting it. But maybe I should! I’ll look into reporting it and reply back with details.

Originally Posted by jgue467

3rd gen runner's odometers cannot be "rolled back". How????

Originally Posted by JZiggy

Rest assured the guy who brokered the deal is in on the fraud. Put him on the hook for it unless you want to simply overpay for a high mileage truck.

Originally Posted by gamefreakgc

The "clank" you hear from a stop is the rear slip joint on the rear driveshaft. Get a grease gun and hit up all the zerks but especially the one in the back just before the last u-joints. It will take a LOT of grease if it's run dry.

Originally Posted by UnderFire

Hopefully you didn't overpay too bad, but there really are worse vehicles for it to happen with. Might as well ride it out, just treat it like a 300k mile vehicle.

I found out my first 4runner likely had a similar rollback at some point in its life. Clock showed 137k when I bought it, a couple years later I decided to run a report, which showed services past 200k miles, oddly enough the jump back to 130 and change at registration didn't trigger any rollback warnings on carfax or autocheck.

At this point I've come to terms that mileage is just a number with these 20+ year old vehicles and that will only become more true as time goes on. My current fleet consists of the rolled back runner that's had so many parts sunk in it doesn't matter, and 2 beautiful 2 owner Toyotas, my original power train 265k mile 02 Taco, and a 97 4runner with 270k that I did a top end rebuild on and am refurbishing.

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Originally Posted by MarkBlack

I have this thing where I believe all people are good. So I honestly thought he didnt know. But I guarantee your right. The whole transaction seems shady in hindsight. He was asking $5,500 but If I came that night he would take $4,000 cash. And he said he worked with cars interior. But he still always responds with any questions I have. Im going to pry a little harder into finding out if he knows the previous owner.

Originally Posted by JZiggy

You’re not in the Novato area are you? The guy I dealt with was pretty much peddling the same story. He had bought the truck to swap out interiors and was then selling it immediately after.

Originally Posted by JZiggy

You’re not in the Novato area are you? The guy I dealt with was pretty much peddling the same story. He had bought the truck to swap out interiors and was then selling it immediately after.

Originally Posted by MarkBlack

So I checked the driveshaft. It seems quite dry. I need to find the best way to lube it up. I took it to a local shop and tried to explain. They told me that is was fine because there isnt any play in the driveshaft? I'm not sure if that makes sense. But they said it could be the transmission. I'm going to coat it with white lithium grease until i get the proper grease to actually get deep in there.

Originally Posted by gamefreakgc

You'll be looking for these little guys (not my photo):

You need a grease gun because there's a little check valve that only allows grease in. The parts that are dry are inside the driveshaft itself. The grease gun has a little twist on fitting that creates a good seal and you just pump the grease right in. Moly grease is fine, been using that for years. Comes in those round cartridges that look like crescent roll containers.

Originally Posted by MarkBlack

Thank you for the photo!! So there's an attachment that fits onto those valves and I just it full into the old grease starts coming out?