thirstyturtle
New member
Hi all!
Since selling my 2006 Sport V8 4WD 2 years ago, I have desperately missed having a 4WD SUV. I decided that eventually I'd get a 3rd gen and be back in the game...that day has come.
I just recently acquired a 2000 SR5 4x4 V6! This truck is technically my wife's but I'll be the one doing all of the maintenance and modding and driving (unless she's by herself).
Purchase Story:
I had been searching for a few weeks for a truck and had found some for sale locally that looked good in pictures but once I got there the interior and exterior was in terrible shape, there was no maintenance history, the suspension was original (i.e. blown) and things were missing (primarily and most frustratingly, the spare tire). Plus, they were asking $6k for a IMO poor condition trucks with 250k miles. So that's when I decided I would be buying my truck from someone on the forums. I know the people on these forums take good care of their trucks. Plus, I wouldn't mind buying a moderately modified truck as I wanted to do a few things to it anyways. That's when I came across this truck.
This truck has 70k miles less than all others I was looking at in my price range (185k miles). Within the last year it's had the following done:
That's a lot of preventative maintenance that I would have done that I don't have to do! Plus it's sitting on $1,500+ of new wheels/tires/suspension. The best part is I would have done this exact amount of lift, I love the wheels, and I would have wanted passenger rated A/T tires. Icing on the cake is that it's Desert Dune Metallic which is one of the 3 colors I was interested in. And the very best part? I got it for $5,450 which IMO was an EXCELLENT price and certainly leaps and bounds better than the ones I looked at locally.
The only downside to the truck is that it was in Illinois and I'm on the east coast of NC...that's about 1,000 miles! But I didn't let it deter me. After LOTS of pictures, descriptions, and conversations, I flew to Indianapolis where the owner met me at the airport and after a brief inspection, we signed the paperwork, exchanged the money, and I was on my way! I will admit it was a bit scary buying a car without ever setting eyes on it but I've done it once before and it worked out okay but this time it worked out better than I could have imagined. It got me back to NC in about 13 hours without issue and managed to average 18mpg along the way, not too shabby.
When I picked up the truck I was pleasantly surprised by two features I thought it lacked: keyless entry, and the premium sound system. Yay!
Here it is the day I bought it (airport parking garage):
She's sagging a little bit because the stock wheels/tires are in the trunk.
After getting it home I gave it a full detail:
This truck is in excellent shape! Virtually zero rust anywhere. The paint is in excellent shape aside from a few tiny rust spots right behind the rear windows and along the top edge of the liftgate. The interior cleaned up so well it's unbelievable. I really don't see how this truck is so old but looks so good. Plus it's had FIVE previous owners so the cleanliness is extra surprising given that.
Plasti-dipped the gold emblems:
And it was ready for it's maiden voyage:
Driving the truck on the beach is 80% of why we wanted it. It's so much easier (especially with the dog) not having to park and carry all our crap out to the beach. Now we just park and hop out! Additional "uses" will be visiting the in-laws in the winter as they live (literally) on the top of a mountain and in years past we have had to park at the bottom of the mountain and unload all our stuff into their Tacoma and get hauled up the mountain in 2-3 trips. No more!
Current and known issues:
That's all for now, will update with future progress...
Since selling my 2006 Sport V8 4WD 2 years ago, I have desperately missed having a 4WD SUV. I decided that eventually I'd get a 3rd gen and be back in the game...that day has come.
I just recently acquired a 2000 SR5 4x4 V6! This truck is technically my wife's but I'll be the one doing all of the maintenance and modding and driving (unless she's by herself).
Purchase Story:
I had been searching for a few weeks for a truck and had found some for sale locally that looked good in pictures but once I got there the interior and exterior was in terrible shape, there was no maintenance history, the suspension was original (i.e. blown) and things were missing (primarily and most frustratingly, the spare tire). Plus, they were asking $6k for a IMO poor condition trucks with 250k miles. So that's when I decided I would be buying my truck from someone on the forums. I know the people on these forums take good care of their trucks. Plus, I wouldn't mind buying a moderately modified truck as I wanted to do a few things to it anyways. That's when I came across this truck.
This truck has 70k miles less than all others I was looking at in my price range (185k miles). Within the last year it's had the following done:
- Toytec 3" front coil springs
- OME 891 rear coil springs
- Bilstein 5100 shocks all around
- MB TKO 17" wheels (with a sick offset that sticks the tires just where I like them)
- P265/70-R17 Nitto Terra Grapplers
- Timing belt/water pump
- New radiator
- New ball joints
- New tie rod ends
- New sway bar links
- Transmission fluid flush
That's a lot of preventative maintenance that I would have done that I don't have to do! Plus it's sitting on $1,500+ of new wheels/tires/suspension. The best part is I would have done this exact amount of lift, I love the wheels, and I would have wanted passenger rated A/T tires. Icing on the cake is that it's Desert Dune Metallic which is one of the 3 colors I was interested in. And the very best part? I got it for $5,450 which IMO was an EXCELLENT price and certainly leaps and bounds better than the ones I looked at locally.
The only downside to the truck is that it was in Illinois and I'm on the east coast of NC...that's about 1,000 miles! But I didn't let it deter me. After LOTS of pictures, descriptions, and conversations, I flew to Indianapolis where the owner met me at the airport and after a brief inspection, we signed the paperwork, exchanged the money, and I was on my way! I will admit it was a bit scary buying a car without ever setting eyes on it but I've done it once before and it worked out okay but this time it worked out better than I could have imagined. It got me back to NC in about 13 hours without issue and managed to average 18mpg along the way, not too shabby.
When I picked up the truck I was pleasantly surprised by two features I thought it lacked: keyless entry, and the premium sound system. Yay!
Here it is the day I bought it (airport parking garage):
She's sagging a little bit because the stock wheels/tires are in the trunk.
After getting it home I gave it a full detail:
This truck is in excellent shape! Virtually zero rust anywhere. The paint is in excellent shape aside from a few tiny rust spots right behind the rear windows and along the top edge of the liftgate. The interior cleaned up so well it's unbelievable. I really don't see how this truck is so old but looks so good. Plus it's had FIVE previous owners so the cleanliness is extra surprising given that.
Plasti-dipped the gold emblems:
And it was ready for it's maiden voyage:
Driving the truck on the beach is 80% of why we wanted it. It's so much easier (especially with the dog) not having to park and carry all our crap out to the beach. Now we just park and hop out! Additional "uses" will be visiting the in-laws in the winter as they live (literally) on the top of a mountain and in years past we have had to park at the bottom of the mountain and unload all our stuff into their Tacoma and get hauled up the mountain in 2-3 trips. No more!
Current and known issues:
- I was told ahead of time that the valve covers were leaking. At first glance once I picked up the truck I was a little nervous because the oil had coated a considerable amount of the underbody of the truck. However, after removing the skid plates, pressure washing them, and purple powering some of the underbody and side of the block and driving it some more I think it was simply a case of the oil never being cleaned up before and it's been leaking a while. Previous owner included the gaskets which he hadn't gotten around to replacing. I didn't realize what a big job the gaskets are because apparently you have to replace like 15 other things at the same time but no matter...I'll get to it in a couple weeks.
- I'm getting a CEL P0136 and after much research I think it's the oxygen sensor just after the cat. I went to check it out last night and the nuts are rusted like I've never seen before. They're split open and don't even have any flat edges anymore. I soaked them in PB blaster and ordered a Denso sensor from Amazon last night. Hopefully after several more days of soaking the existing sensor won't fight me too much on its way out.
- The CD player isn't backlit. I've Google this to no avail. Since none of the lights are working in the CD player I'm thinking maybe it's a wiring issue and not just a burnt out bulb (or several). Will investigate further...
- Antenna stuck open. No matter, I prefer the fixed antenna anyways. Tacoma whip coming soon.
That's all for now, will update with future progress...
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