Hey My 3rd Gen Brothers, I wanted to share my good fortune with you on New Years Day. Ever since I donated my Subaru Outback to Kars4Kids a little over a year ago, I've been searching for a second vehicle. I was mainly looking for another 3rd Gen but I was also considering 1st Gens, FJ Cruisers, and Land Cruisers. Well, after dealing with all the Craigslist scams and dealing with a very inflated market, I finally found a good deal. My new play rig is a 1998 Limited 4x4 Automatic with an E-Locker. 131,000 miles.
When I saw the ad pop up, I knew I had to act fast and gain the attention of the person selling it. It was listed for $6400. Since the market in Northern California is SUPER inflated for 3rd Gens, I knew the seller would be getting a ton of emails on it (the seller didn't provide a phone number). So, to separate myself from the other emails I knew they would be getting, I said I'd offer $7000 for the rig if it was in good shape.
My strategy works and I get an email back from the seller and the rig is still available. I get the VIN number and run a CarFax and it checks out really good. Tons of service records and only a minor accident where the front bumper got slightly creased. The seller says her friend might buy it, but if he passes on the deal, I'm next in line. He looks at it but says if she can get $7000 for it, she should sell it to me, because he wouldn't pay more than her asking price.
When I saw the rig, everything checked out pretty good. The paint was in really good shape, the interior was pretty good, and crawling around underneath didn't raise any red flags other than some small oil leaks. The one thing that wasn't working though was the e-locker. The light flashes on the dash but never goes solid. I drove around a parking lot slowing turning some corners, backing up, etc and couldn't get the light to go solid so I know it's not engaging like it's suppose to. I'm guessing the previous owners never even tried to engage the locker and it's jammed up. So, this gave me a bargaining chip. I told her I work on these vehicles but had no idea how involved it was going to be to fix it, which is true. I haven't messed with an e-locker yet but figured it would make for another good video. The rear seat headrests were missing and the cargo cover was missing as well. The lady used the vehicle to haul her dog around and I'm guessing she had the rear seats down most of the time. She couldn't find the headrests or cargo cover so I guess I'll be visiting my local PickNPulls for those. The rear windshield wiper was bent a bit and when I tried to straighten it, I broke off the arm so I'll be looking for one of those at a PickNPull as well.
The lady that posted this rig for sale got it for free from an elderly neighbor that had a stroke and wanted the lady to take the 3rd Gen and his dog. Kind of a sad story. The man just got his wife in a facility because she was suffering from Alzheimers and then he suffers a stroke. The lady I bought the rig from is 72 and just bought a Prius and didn't want the truck anymore.
Since the E-locker wasn't working, the rear headrests and cargo cover were missing, I told her I wanted to offer her less than the agreed upon $7000. I told her $6500 and she took the deal.
So, I'm relieved my search is over. I don't know how many hours over the last year I spent looking for a 2nd vehicle, but it was a shitload of time. My plans for this rig is I'm going to go Full Geek-Out like the rest of you with your cool build threads. I'm going to dump a lot of time and money into this one so it's a lot more off-road worthy. So, stay tuned for the Timmy the Toolman Build Thread coming soon to a theatre near you.
Happy New Year Fellers!
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