This thread is a long time coming.... I'll explain...

My name is James. I'm from North Houston, TX. I'm an avid car/truck guy. So much so, I've owned in the range of 40 (trucks/cars/street legal bikes). Many of these I bought cheap, did basic fun builds and sold or traded them off. Many of them I did full on builds, anything from lifted to bagged trucks, etc. Now that I've got a small family going, I want to build this one how I've always wanted and KEEP one for once. Over the past 5 or 6 years, I've become obsessed with prerunners, chase trucks, trophy trucks and associated. I've had a few mild builds, including fab work done here by myself such as bumpers, hoops, etc. Enough about me, back to the T4R.

So over the past couple of years I've been really wanting a clean 4th gen. I've looked at tons, but never pulled the trigger. Through a family member buying a new car, I ended up buying a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder that I did a mild build with (I actually really liked it...).... Until one day, pulling my camper, it decided to eat a rod bearing at just under 235k miles. I needed reliable transportation ASAP, so that's where my want for a 4th gen falls in.

Now I introduced you to "TBD".
I picked up a 1 owner 2003 Toyota 4runner, Limited, RWD, V8 with just a click over 118k on it.
Interior is near perfect (9/10) besides the normal cracked dash. The exterior is in good shape, but the paint has some major fading and clear coat failure.I will probably end up wrapping it myself.

Key issues (some corrected):
Window seals... It had pretty much no window seals left, seriously, they were almost all completely dry rotted and had fallen into the doors. This left me with the infamous water filled hatch as well. I went to a Toyota dealer near my work and picked up all 5 seals and replaced those this week.

Timing belt... No indication that it has ever been done. Based on the tire and seal rot from sitting, this is high on my priority list.

XREAS... Minor fluid leaks, causing uneven sagging and a pretty bad ride for a generally good riding vehicle. I am picking up some lightly used 5th gen struts and shocks this weekend to get me by until I get to "stage 2".

Head lights and tail lights... Heads have pretty bad oxidation, I've sanded and polished them but it is pretty bad and will bother me if I don't replace them. Tails have some weird fading, they're almost pink. I will pick up factory LED style tails asap.

Plans, current "mods", etc.
I picked up some 5th gen wheels and threw them on because the current 2006 labeled tires were SO rotted. Ended up liking the wheels a lot so they will stay until I continue to my future plans.

Pulled the ugliest running boards ever, off.

Had some 275/70/17 Nokian Rotiva AT tires delivered today, I don't plan on keeping this size forever but for now they will get me around the beach and campsites.

Current plans are going to be while I gather funds/parts/time for future plans.
275/70s
5th gen OEM parts with spacer up front and possibly rear.
Work on repairing and doing the major maintenance.
EXHAUST. Too quiet.

Future plans I won't get into much but...
Custom LT (probably +3"-3.5")
2.5s front and rear
ETC.

Now to some pictures for now.

At the dealer.



After throwing on the 5th gen wheels with 265/70


I drive A LOT. About 2k in a month at times.


Throwing this in for good measure. I thought it was a legit picture.

I've seen them posted a few places, but I'm going to add the part #'s for the window seals for future reference if needed.

Front windows:
68161-35060
68162-35060

Rear windows:
68163-35030
68164-35030

Lift gate window:
68290-35031


Tires also got here late yesterday afternoon. They look pretty good. Definitely going bigger sooner than later though.

Congrats on the 4runner find. Interior looks really nice and the paint looks good from a distance. Welcome to the 4runner world. Plenty of help and ideas on here about how to spend your money.

Hey James,

Your truck looks great! I'm sure the pictures don't do justice to the paint's real condition, yet it looks good anyway.

If you're looking for an exhaust with some bark when you're on the throttle but is nice, smooth and quiet when you're cruising, DirtyDeeds is awesome.

BAMUFFLERS

Keith can make you whatever you need.

Best luck with the build!

Welcome!

Interior is really clean besides the dash, it doesn't really bother me yet though. The paint in the pictures is definitely deceiving, haha. I thought it was perfect as well until I got to the dealer. Thanks for the welcome.

Appreciate it! The paint is definitely worse in person, but it's bearable for now. I appreciate the link, but I think I'm going to go locally and grab a Magnaflow or similar tomorrow morning.

Thanks!

Here's a small-ish update.

I got the 5th gen shocks, springs, struts, and a 3" spacer installed over the weekend. I was surprised, but everything aligned in spec, even with stock arms. I did find out I need some new inner tie rods soon, but no biggie.

Also got the tires mounted up, they ride and drive great. No rubbing at all.

I'm honestly not happy with the way it looks at this point, but it will hold me over for now until I go LT. I should start getting parts in slowly but surely. Next up is some audio. This 15y/o JBL stuff just doesn't cut it.

Haven't had much time to update on here.

A few things have changed... no large updates yet.

Threw on some 1.25" Spidertrax spacers and the wheels and tires look just that much better.

Finally ordered some wheels and bigger tires. The 275's look great to be honest but since I ordered wheels I went ahead and got tires with them. The 275s and 5th gen wheels are for sale, if anyone is interested. They have just over 1k miles if I remember right. I'd sell them mounted and balanced for $650.

Have some other things to order for maintenance coming up. I'm assuming the original owner didn't do any maintenance other than oil and filter changes. It's really time for timing belt, inner and outer tie rods, rotors and pads, ball joints. I plan on getting some aftermarket uppers to stop the coil contact, and some replacement lowers just to be safe.

After we get through vacation/Christmas we will really start getting into some more mods. LT and fiberglass is still in the future.