Bought another 05 a few days ago

Last fall I sold my second 05 Tacoma, an 05 double cab TRD 4x4. It had been someone's work truck previously and it just wasn't as clean a truck as I would have liked. When I needed to pay some bills last fall it was easy to let it go. In the meantime I picked up a really clean 96 extended cab with high miles. But that truck with a 6 year old wasn't working at all. A couple weeks ago I let my FJ40 go finally. 11 years I owned it. I rebuilt the entire truck from the ground up in my shop. Only things I farmed out was bending the exhaust pipe and the machine work on the motor. I actually cried when I drove away and left it on the transporter headed to the new owner in Michigan. It did get to ride with a really cool crew cab unimog on the way there though. I no longer had a red truck....



I had the itch for another double cab bad. I actually wanted to find a 1st gen TRD Limited but they are so hard to come by and all of them I did find had a ton of miles, were too expensive for what they were, and just weren't very clean. I was going to look at another one Wednesday and when I got to the dealer they had just sold it. So I figured I would drop in at Ira Toyota in Manchester NH where we bought our Venza a few years back to see what they had. Low and behold they had a really clean 05 double cab SR5 in the dark red. 122k miles but really clean. And mileage doesn't bother me on a Toyota provided it's been maintained. The 96 had 260k on it and ran/drove perfect. So they gave me 3 grand for the 96 , I put a little down, and drove away in this 05 a few hours later. The previous owner bought a new one but wanted to keep his wheels and tires so it has the wheels/tires from his new one. Chrome wheel covers with wimpy 245/75/16's. I hate them, but they will do for now. I'm thinking FJ80 wheels and 265/70/16 General Grabber AT2's like I put on my first 05 that I bought new. I would love to lift it but I commute 90 miles a day. Maybe some 5100's will go on eventually though. 3/4" wouldn't hurt. This is the 15th Toyota 4x4 I have had. I hate having a car payment again but this is probably the nicest truck I have ever had. And as an additional bonus when I was removing the factory side steps and crawling around underneath it checking things out I noticed it has a limited slip! I honestly didn't know that was an option outside of a TRD sport.

Terrible garage pic.

 

That's a nice looking '05 you picked up from what I can see. I like the color. The FJ looked sweet too. Best of luck with your new purchase.

 

I'm surprised they financed a 8 yr old vehicle with 120k on it being you said it's a Toyota dealer and not a buy here pay here

 

Congratulations on that nice 05. But you do realize that without additional pictures your purchase WILL be declared Null and Void.

 

Honestly I was too. Probably helped that they serviced it for the last few years too. And I did put about 35% down and my credit is really good. It's at 8% interest though which kinda sucks. Fortunately I should be able to pay it off pretty quick. I would rather have a truck payment than all the CC bills I had racked up on house stuff the last few years. Otherwise I could have paid cash for it after selling the FJ40. I discovered after I got it home that the rain gutter trim is missing on the passenger side. Can't believe I missed that. But they might replace it. That would be nice.

 

dude, not trying to dredge up old pains, but that was a sweet fj. congrats on that it looked really good.

congrats on the pickup too. did they do the 100k coolant and trans changes?

 

I had been thinking of selling the FJ40 for a few years. It was a VERY nice rig but for the last few years my Hagerty policy has cost me more than the amount of gas I put in it. And collector car insurance is dirt cheap. I've still got my 5.0 Capri RS and my 89 325is so I still have some toys. But being 40 with a kid, a commute, a house, etc. I just wasn't driving it. I will miss it for sure. I told my wife I just wanted a nice Tacoma with cool wheels on it. Now I just need the wheels. I'm not crazy about what's on it now but it will have to do for a while.

On the 05 it's had the coolant changed just recently and the diffs and t-case were both done at 60k and at 95k. A few tune ups, new belt at 100k, front brakes at 110k with both calipers and just like my last 2 05's both front wheel bearings have already been done. No record of a trans fluid change though. I'll pick up a few gallons of Redline D4 and do it myself later this summer. It is a pain on these though. This whole "sealed" transmission thing is so bogus anyhow. Sure the fluid lasts as long as the transmission but the transmission will sure last longer if you change the fluid!

 

Congrats on the new ride. What running boards did you take off?

 

The factory tube steps. My last double cab had them too. They looked nice but I just don't like steps. I put them on Craigslist this morning for $150 and I'm meeting a guy tonight. There's the money for my iPod adapter!

 

Nice. For another 150 you can get a nice indash with the kit and if your ipod has bluetooth you won't have to worry about cords....

 

It got to extract it's first vehicle this morning. I got a call when I was about 1/2 way to work. My sister in law backed over the edge of my driveway into the woods. Nice going!