Yes or No on putting lots of money into truck

My truck is a 2001 3.4 with close to 200,000 miles on it. I am putting over 2500 bucks into suspension, wheels and tires. The question is: Is it worth it???? I am not the original owner but I know that the previous owners maintained the engine, tranny, and everything else mechanical because I have maintenance records from both of the owners, I don't have everything but its definitively enough to be able to tell that it was maintained.

What I am currently doing to it:

Suspension
- 5100 Bilsteins
- OME 881s
- Wheeler's 5 leaf rear replacement springs
- Slightly longer rear shackles
- 10mm spacers in front on top of strut plates
- New strut plates
- Extended rear brake line
- Front diff. drop

Tires n Wheels
- General Grabber at2 285/75r16s (just so everyone knows.. the truck needs tires anyway so this was the first thing in my budget and new shocks because the ones on right now are leaking bad, so that is close to 1000 dollars of the cost right there)
- 16x8in Pro Comp rock crawler black rims 3.75in backspacing

Other
- Yakima Load Warrior basket on topper
- Driving lights and utility lights on the front and rear of basket.

I want to do more down the road like possibly rock sliders, Line-xed rocker panels, and stuff like that but that is definitely not gonna be any time soon.


Just looking for some opinions and/or suggestions. Thanks everyone

 

Well if you putting suspension on it, then you are eventually have to tweak the engine at some point, re gear or whatever. But its a yota sooo all the money is worth it in my opinion. Good luck on the mods. Post some pics when you get it going

 

Thank you, and you really think that I am going to get different gears or do something to the engine? Have you ever heard of anyone having problems that don't?

 

With that much mileage and that much money, my vote would be to save your money unless you go off road very frequently, at night and have a lot to carry in the basket. Most of it sounds like it is just for looks!

 

Since you have the v6 you don't need to regear. Some people do it just to have a little more torque with the bigger tires. I have 285's with the v6 and don't have any plans on regearing. The only thing that I have done, that you could consider an engine mod, is the deckplate mod. Which this is a very simple and cheap mod to do, that gives you a little more power. I don't plan on doing anything else to the motor except regular maintenance.

edit: Oh and mine has 172k and i've put well over 4k into mine. If something happens to the motor, I'll just throw another one in there.

 

How many annual miles do you put on? That engine probably has about another 100 k left in it at best before a rebuild so keep that in mind. Suspension parts could be sold if you decide to sell later on, but it would require you taking them back off.

Id say if your mechanically inclined, then go for it!!!! Sell the 5100's and stuff later on if you sell.

 

I've got the Bilstein 5100s with OME 881s and they were a great investment for my 10 year old truck. I don't have the whole leaf pack, just an AAL.
I don't think you'd be able to fit 285s under that suspension though...I had 285s with Bilsteins up to 2.5"(Before 881s) but the old coils sagged a bunch and I started rubbing a lot. I went down to 265/75/16 and couldn't be happier..No rubbing, do well on dirt roads, etc. Might wanna look into 255/85/16 if you like the taller tires.

 

I like to budget about $500 a year towards maintenance and upgrades, I don't always spend it but I figure its the cost of having a reliable and capable truck. If you look at the mods as maintenance then it is certainly worth it.

 

Right now I plan to have this truck forever as long as I don't wreck it, I cant really see my self selling it down the road at all but I guess you never know. I guess you could say that with this poll I am trying to figure out if I am being stupid or crazy having this kind of thinking with this old of a truck.

- I do plan on offroading with it and I will use it a lot during the winter of course, I also try to go camping and hunting when I can so..

Right now the truck is also my daily driver though so I am putting miles on it but its still not to bad, I have had it for about a year and have put about 10,000 on it. I don't plan on it being my daily driver for to much longer though (hopefully), once I am ready financially I plan on getting a 2nd vehicle.


Thanks for the posts everyone your helpin a lot

 

Yeah sounds like a great plan and I think is very important, and for me I know that If I want to keep mine capable and reliable I would have to do something about the suspension anyway because of how worn out it is (it bottoms out going over speed bumps). So I figured that it would be as good of a time as any to do a small lift. And I already decided that I am going to replace everything and do a quality lift/repair instead of just a quick fix.

and I also need new tires pretty badly, and its not to much more for the bigger tires

 

Thanks for the thoughts. I am hoping that the new rims with will fix the rubbing with the front tires cause I have heard that they will rub if put on with with this setup from other people also, that is honestly the main reason why I bought new rims. I would have rather saved the money and maybe done it down the road or something. Yeah and im sure that I will have to do some trimming of the front fenders too. I just really wanted a litter bit bigger tires for some reason lol I am determined to make it work

 

I'm in kind of the same predicament. I too considered going OME/AAL/16's/Tires

I didn't end up going that route. My reasons:

1) Its a prerunner
2) I don't offroad..well maybe some light trails possibly twice a year at MOST
3) It's a Toyota, I'll give you that. But its also 7 years old. This is my daily driver, not a project car. I looked at the total cost of my budget, in relation to what the car is currently worth, and that ratio did not make me feel comfortable pulling the trigger on that much money, for this truck. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and plan to keep it for years, but I just couldn't justify it to myself, especially since the mods (in my case) would be 99% cosmetically motivated. My plan is to just maintain the truck and drive it till the wheels fall off. In the meantime I'm also stashing away what I would be paying every month for a new car into my savings... to put down on an M3. LOL.

I have many, many other things I can do with a couple grand that will be more beneficial to me.

But that's just me.

 

if you have lots of money to spare then yes. if not, then no.

 

If you plan to wheel it, mod it. Otherwise it's pointless b.c it is not functional to you and thus it's a lot of money for just looks.

Also, get 882s instead of 881s if you plan to upgrade. You may regret 881s b.c they may sag after a little while with the V6. They did on my old 4cyl.

 

Now that your truck is "broken in." I think it's a good time to start with some add ons, spend away and have fun with it. If you have the money that is. If your kids are going to starve because you want to put this stuff on your truck then I'd say no, feed the kids and then do it.

 

lol i have only about 2,800 miles on my 2010 reg cab and i have put bout 4,000 dollars into it already and plan on dropping around another 6,000 grand into it. then it will be lifted armored and it will have almost every option that i could want in a brand new truck time to enjoy it for the full life of the truck. i do plan on taking it to some shows possibly in the future.

 

Depends on what you bought it for, how you intend to use it and for how long?

 

i have 338,000 and im starting on modding my truck im gonna fix it and drive it forever.

 

On your '99? Geez!

I also noticed an '85 pickup in that sidebar thing...that true you have one of those?

 

yes i do have an 85 its at my dads in fl with a worn out tranny it keeps eating rear main seals.my wife also has a 4runner with 212,000 the 85 is over 400,000 and second engine