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trailbikerider

trailbikerider

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So, I never did end up finding a 3rd Gen, just picked up the hunt a week or so ago. Is this a fairly good deal? It's got high miles.... but it has a rust free frame under it, Toytec lift and 33s on it already. Look suuuper clean inside too. Going to look at it on Friday. The question is, is it worth 7k?

1999 4Runner 4wd lifted
 
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Looks pretty nice. Looks well kept. Still take a REAL CLOSE look at the frame. Even though he says recently cleaned and undercoated the underbody, that could be a means to cover up something. At first glance though, it looks pretty good. Also, it says it's a 99 body on a 2001 frame. That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the competency of who ever did the swap.
With those miles, it's probably not worth $7000, more like 6K to 6.5K.
 
From what he told me, the body is from Michigan and the frame is from North Carolina. So that's a plus. Not sure on his mechanical ability, but he goes to the same engineering school as me, so I'd assume he has somewhat of an idea what he's doing lol.
 
Too much for those miles, watch those 2" wheel spacers, if you wheel it those tires will f*ck up your fenders.
 
It looks great but 7k is too much.. He's chalking up a $100 underoiling and a $100 engine detailing job to way more. A body or frame swap means everything was touched. Who knows how well it was put together, who knows if he has a proper torque wrench. Keep in mind it's no longer Toyota that put it together, it's Joe Blow from Michigan. Things are going to be weird and it's going to bamboozle you for how to fix it (speaking as a guy who's previous owner of my 4runner was a "DIY Master". Weirdest problems.)

I'd stray away from something like this, it's clean but it's expensive and you can't say what will go wrong.
 
The top one is nice but two people mentioned the two things I would be wary of: cleaned motor and cleaned frame. A cleaned motor could be him wanting to market it well or he wants to hide something. I would rather buy one that hasn't been cleaned so you can see some off the bat problems if they're there. When people say they just changed fluids or they just did x and y I get a little skeptical. Could be nothing but you'd hate to put $7k in something then immediately a grand more in a few months. The second one is simply way over priced IMO and the driver seat looks brand new. Not necessarily bad


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PWD4R said:
The top one is nice but two people mentioned the two things I would be wary of: cleaned motor and cleaned frame. A cleaned motor could be him wanting to market it well or he wants to hide something. I would rather buy one that hasn't been cleaned so you can see some off the bat problems if they're there. When people say they just changed fluids or they just did x and y I get a little skeptical. Could be nothing but you'd hate to put $7k in something then immediately a grand more in a few months. The second one is simply way over priced IMO and the driver seat looks brand new. Not necessarily bad


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Interesting, I'd say 8-8.5k for a relatively low mile clean 3rd gen seems to be in line with what I've seen. Especially since there's a guy somewhat local to me that is selling his 2000 4Runner with equivalent mileage, but is a 5 speed with a TRD Supercharger for $15,900...... :faint2:
 
trailbikerider said:
Interesting, I'd say 8-8.5k for a relatively low mile clean 3rd gen seems to be in line with what I've seen. Especially since there's a guy somewhat local to me that is selling his 2000 4Runner with equivalent mileage, but is a 5 speed with a TRD Supercharger for $15,900...... :faint2:
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Idk depends on market I guess. The way I see it is there's not much difference between 140k and 220k on these motors. I am in Texas so things are more expensive if they're 4WD but you're up north.. that should be standard equipment lol


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Hey guys. This isn't really what I'm looking for (something rust free and lower mileage), but I had a guy contact me from a Craigslist WTB ad I put out on my local CL a week or so ago. It's an '02 Sport with supposedly ~185,000 miles on it. It's got rust on the passenger side quarter panel under the door/fender flare and it will need a timing belt/water pump job soon (last replaced around 96,000 miles). It also looks like it will need new tires.

I'm wondering if I can get this thing for maybe around $4,000 if it might be worth pursuing. Here's some photos he sent me. I'll be able to report back later tonight after I go look at it.















 
Frame is a little rusty but on face value doesn't look terrible at all. You would need to look closer to make sure though. That is about the same amount of rust mine has and a little TLC cleaned it right up.

It otherwise looks pretty nice.
 
It's pretty for sure, very clean on the outside. However, often the frame rusts from the inside out so you never see it until parts start dropping off. Just be thorough or take it to a mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection!
 
I don't know how hard that spot of rust would be to fix the correct way, but I can't imagine it would be a ton of money. I have a friend that does body work for a living that might be able to help me out. I'm more concerned about how it looks underneath.
 
No good....

It wasn't bad, I think the body rust was easily fixable. All was great until I reached my hand up to the frame rail closest to the muffler and my fingers broke right through it. Sucks too, was a pretty nice Thundercloud sport too.
 
trailbikerider said:
No good....

It wasn't bad, I think the body rust was easily fixable. All was great until I reached my hand up to the frame rail closest to the muffler and my fingers broke right through it. Sucks too, was a pretty nice Thundercloud sport too.
Click to expand...

Good job for waiting and making the right call. I was just about to tell you to do a good inspection for rust, looks like you found your answer. Keep looking :car:
 
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