"Restore" or move on...

[SnoboardingDave]

Looking for a little advice..... I'm the original owner of my 05 SR5 V8, currently sitting around 230k miles. I love this truck, always have, and while it's nowhere near perfect, it still does everything I need it too. However, it needs a lot of work, nothing related to breaking down (it's never done that), just a lot of the expensive worn out parts & services. Unfortunately, I noticed some rust holes in the front right of the frame. So basically, I'm wondering if anyone had some thoughts on blowing a tonof $$ on parts & time or if I should just move on to another one that's in better shape without the rust. So if I haven't bored you to death & you'd like to indulge, here are the things I need to take care of. I'd like to hear some opinions, pro's, con's, thoughts, whatever. By the way, I'm in the Wash, DC area, so it's beens exposed to winter road salt since new.
Pro-
- V8, it never gets old, it still runs great, religously changed the oil every 5k. It doesn't leak a drop.
- Trans - shifts just fine, never an issue
- No body rust
- A/C is freezing, all power options still work fine
Cons -
- Frame starting to rust, as mentioned, on the front right.
- Both C/V Axles -boots on both sides are torn, everything still functioning though, but...
- Exhaust manifolds need to be replaced. A pain for many reasons, but mainly the corrosion on bolts, studs, etc
- Cats are original, but obviously old, & I have a code for an upper O2 sensor which I haven't replaced yet, so that might be another onion to peel
- Timing Belt is due
- Struts & shocks all the way around need replacement
- Lower control arms

That all I'm thinking of at the moment, but that list is expensive enough. Would love to hear any thoughts. Again, I'm in MD, just outside of DC, so labor ain't cheap.

 

[IVD4R]

Looking for a little advice..... I'm the original owner of my 05 SR5 V8, currently sitting around 230k miles. I love this truck, always have, and while it's nowhere near perfect, it still does everything I need it too. However, it needs a lot of work, nothing related to breaking down (it's never done that), just a lot of the expensive worn out parts & services. Unfortunately, I noticed some rust holes in the front right of the frame. So basically, I'm wondering if anyone had some thoughts on blowing a tonof $$ on parts & time or if I should just move on to another one that's in better shape without the rust. So if I haven't bored you to death & you'd like to indulge, here are the things I need to take care of. I'd like to hear some opinions, pro's, con's, thoughts, whatever. By the way, I'm in the Wash, DC area, so it's beens exposed to winter road salt since new.
Pro-
- V8, it never gets old, it still runs great, religously changed the oil every 5k. It doesn't leak a drop.
- Trans - shifts just fine, never an issue
- No body rust
- A/C is freezing, all power options still work fine
Cons -
- Frame starting to rust, as mentioned, on the front right.
- Both C/V Axles -boots on both sides are torn, everything still functioning though, but...
- Exhaust manifolds need to be replaced. A pain for many reasons, but mainly the corrosion on bolts, studs, etc
- Cats are original, but obviously old, & I have a code for an upper O2 sensor which I haven't replaced yet, so that might be another onion to peel
- Timing Belt is due
- Struts & shocks all the way around need replacement
- Lower control arms

That all I'm thinking of at the moment, but that list is expensive enough. Would love to hear any thoughts. Again, I'm in MD, just outside of DC, so labor ain't cheap.

First, hats off for keeping a high-mileage rig you love running this long. You’ve got a lot of technical wear items to weigh, plus a front-frame rust issue that’s a red flag for long-term reliability and safety.
The front-frame rust is the big decision point. If the rust is extensive, frame repair/swap plus the other listed items will be very costly in DC-area labor and may not be worth it on a high-mileage truck. If the rust is minor, a proper frame fix plus the other wear items could be doable but still expensive.

-Get a frame specialist to inspect and give a written, itemized quote (patch vs rail replacement vs frame swap).
-Get 2–3 more quotes for the frame work.
-Price out the rest (CV boots, exhaust manifolds, O2 code, timing belt, shocks/arms).
-Compare total repair cost to the current truck’s value with and without the rust; if repairs approach or exceed the truck’s market value or you’d still have other major issues, consider moving on.

 

[rdruss]

Looking for a little advice..... I'm the original owner of my 05 SR5 V8, currently sitting around 230k miles. I love this truck, always have, and while it's nowhere near perfect, it still does everything I need it too. However, it needs a lot of work, nothing related to breaking down (it's never done that), just a lot of the expensive worn out parts & services. Unfortunately, I noticed some rust holes in the front right of the frame. So basically, I'm wondering if anyone had some thoughts on blowing a tonof $$ on parts & time or if I should just move on to another one that's in better shape without the rust. So if I haven't bored you to death & you'd like to indulge, here are the things I need to take care of. I'd like to hear some opinions, pro's, con's, thoughts, whatever. By the way, I'm in the Wash, DC area, so it's beens exposed to winter road salt since new.
Pro-
- V8, it never gets old, it still runs great, religously changed the oil every 5k. It doesn't leak a drop.
- Trans - shifts just fine, never an issue
- No body rust
- A/C is freezing, all power options still work fine
Cons -
- Frame starting to rust, as mentioned, on the front right.
- Both C/V Axles -boots on both sides are torn, everything still functioning though, but...
- Exhaust manifolds need to be replaced. A pain for many reasons, but mainly the corrosion on bolts, studs, etc
- Cats are original, but obviously old, & I have a code for an upper O2 sensor which I haven't replaced yet, so that might be another onion to peel
- Timing Belt is due
- Struts & shocks all the way around need replacement
- Lower control arms

That all I'm thinking of at the moment, but that list is expensive enough. Would love to hear any thoughts. Again, I'm in MD, just outside of DC, so labor ain't cheap.

Don't know what your budget is, but if you can't do most of the work yourself and have another vehicle for daily, then you are going to spend big $$, especially if your frame is junk. There are several 4th gen/V8 for sale on here if you want to replace it and then try and sell yours as is. Being a good running V8 with good trans should be worth something.

 

[tommykoz1998]

Restore

Snow, ice % salt = frame rust and death

 

[AlexB-Runner]

I recommend moving on.

 

[JustTroItIn]

This

The front-frame rust is the big decision point.

and this

if you can't do most of the work yourself

as well as much as you really want to keep the truck, are you decision makers.

 

[kafene]

I have a 2004 V8 Sport and have all the same issues except for salt rust since I live in SoCal. I have replaced my CV boots a couple of times, replaced upper and lower control arms (my fault), all most shocks need replacing, my center lockers stopped working the past couple of years from a water crossing in the Mojave Desert, I’ve deployed both my side airbags which I had to cut off with a knife so I can keep driving (my fault, again), my subwoofer is rattling, my winch stopped working almost a decade ago, I just replaced my tail lights and connectors for my rear sway bar that I broke from off-roading in Moab (yes… that’s right, my fault), my radio volume knob wasn’t working right for years, but for some reason, I was able to force it to work, LOL. Alternator replaced, my timing belt needs to be done, new tires just put on….this list goes on and on…. BUT I’m keeping it. It’s got over 210K miles on it. I’ve since fixed my center lockers w/ a friend who worked on it for me at his house, I replaced the CV boots, I bought side curtain airbags from eBay. I replaced the control arms from eBay, also. Took apart my winch and it’s working now!!! Tail lights from eBay, Subwoofer from Amazon. I’m basically slowly putting my 4Runner back together again. I used to want to get another car as a project car and throught, make the damn 4Runner my project car. And fixing everything will still cost 1/2 of what a 5th Gen would cost me.

Good luck on whatever you decide, you’re not alone. I figured I can still try to get another 10 years out of it.