Trying to decide path to sell: 2004 Tacoma TRD, Xcab, V6, 5spd, setup to tow behind RV

I'm at a decision point. I've had this 04 Tacoma since new, almost 20 years. Daily driver. It's been great and still runs great. 190,000 miles. I recently changed my life to live/work/travel in a motorhome full time and had the Taco modified to tow behind the motorhome (towing base plate, driveshaft disconnect, braking system). I've towed it for a year just fine. While I love this truck, I'm thinking after 20 years it's time to move on to a new one. Not desperate to sell, but won't say no a reasonable offer.

The major cosmetic issue is clear coat peeling on the bed right side where the TRD sticker is, due to being keyed in a parking lot 10 years ago and me not addressing it. And the parking lights are taped to the truck because I broke the tabs and haven't been stationary long enough to order and wait for replacement parking lights yet.

The major structural issues is bed rusting at right wheel well where I didn't notice a pile of wet mulch under the bedliner for a few years, and the right upper shock bracket has divorced itself from the frame due to rust. The frame is mainly good (treated properly in the rusty frame recall 10 years ago) but it did rust at the right rear shock mount. (It just now broke loose and I haven't found a place to fix it yet around the Yuma, AZ area where I am.)

But the biggest factor is this is setup to tow behind a motorhome, which means it has:

- driveshaft disconnect from Superior Driveline (you pull a knob to disconnect the driveshaft so the transmission doesn't implode while being flat-towed). (I also have the original driveshaft.)
- Roadmaster tower and baseplate
- Aux braking system installed with breakaway safety (Demco Duo Stay-n-play)
- Taillight diodes so the red lamps activate with tail/brake/turn signals from motorhome

The towing setup was about $6,000 last year (Jan. 2022) as installed.

Prices on 04 Tacomas are kinda all over the map.

The advantages mine has are, original owner, used but not abused, everything works (minus right rear shock), and towable behind motorhome. Disadvantages are the peeling clear coat and the need to repair/weld the upper shock bracket to the frame.

I can't decide whether to sell it as is (towable) or pull the equipment in hopes of reusing or selling separately. I also can't decide whether to fix the shock tower/frame connection or let the new owner fix it to their liking (I'm willing to take a price cut due to that problem, of course.)

So here's the question! Do you all know of any demand for a towable Tacoma? Might someone want it as it is? If I fix the shock bracket weld (possibly going all out with a SafeTCap fix from AutoRust Technicians, but that's a project that will delay me getting a new truck) will buyers freak out from seeing the welded fix?




Above you can see the clear coat peeling taking half the TRD sticker with it.


Inside is good, only cosmetic issue is cracks in the seat trim near the recline lever.



Right-rear shock tower separated from frame due to rust. This above photo is taken from above/forward the right rear wheel. Shock mount was attached at the two rust holes on the top edge of frame, seen just left of center of the photo. Shock is currently rotated a few degrees forward and you can see it leaning against the cross brace. Rest of frame is solid.

Y'all are awesome and I'm looking forward to any input to help me make decisions. Currently I'm stuck in a form of analysis paralysis! Thanks in advance!

 

Where are you located?

Unfortunately if your frame is rotting from the inside out in that one pictured area there’s a good chance you have rust issues elsewhere on the frame and chassis.

 

What he said!

 

Selling with your towing package installed really limits your market to a very small area of people .

Your in a very bad spot with that broken Shock mount That frame never seeing any Tender loving care for 10 years means I think your in trouble .

Your Truck in this condition will cause so many to run away screaming !!! Like they do for those in much better shape .

Do you spend the money to repair this correct and keep this truck ! Invest the repair cost towards a never vehicle and swap your towing package.

A very hard choice to make Good Luck!

 

Or you can part out and sell me your transmission, ECU, drive shaft, clutch slave cylinder, clutch pedal assembly….

 

Yep. Parting and selling will pull you the most coin, but it is a pain in the ass.

My 98 was pretty much the same shape as yours. I wasn't gonna risk selling a perforated frame truck to some high school new driver who had lawyers as parents.

I took the truck apart and sold most of it for way more than I could have sold it complete.

It is a pain, but no liability issues can haunt you later.

 

It doubt the OP wants to be parting out a Tacoma in a parking lot!!

 

Drive to Colorado and part it out in my driveway.

My dad is a TV repair man, I’ve got an excellent set of tools.

 

Misc replies:

Currently bouncing between Quartzsite/Yuma AZ. Spend my summers working in Tahoe National Forest halfway between Reno and Sacramento.

I need to get photos of the rest of the frame. Other than that spot, it's perfect everywhere else, except the very back of the frame rails, both sides, where the rear bumper and U-Haul hitch receiver are installed. There it's like flaky particle board and the only thing holding it together is the bumper bracket and hitch sandwiching the flakes together. But the front/middle are solid.

True! I live/travel in a motorhome, and I'm not in one place long enough to complete the part-out process. I'd be better off selling it to someone who can make a profit doing that.

A. Good point to keep in mind. Thank you. But I was hoping the tow package would add value to an untapped Tacoma market. There are so many RV'ers that would love to tow a Tacoma except for the imploding transmission issue, and they didn't want to go through the hassle of installing the driveshaft disconnect, which I've already done. But, the rust/shock mount would probably be a deterrent to them...

B. TLC: The truck spent the first 18 years of its life in Columbus Ohio as a daily driver. Hence the rust. While I tried to be diligent about washing underneath it, half the time when our roads were snowy/salty, it was so cold the car washes froze and shut down. And besides, I'd have to drive it through the same crap the next day. So I gave it TLC when I could, including the Toyota-sponsored frame treatment. I planned to keep this truck 50 years, just to see if I could. Hence me trying to be careful, even if I did let a few cosmetic things go, like the peeling clear coat issue...

C. Really? People run away screaming at better examples?

**** THANK YOU to all who took the time to reply. I really appreciate your time. Looks like I need to give more serious thought to selling it at a pretty low price to someone who can part it out. I wasn't ready to hear that, so I'm still in denial. Honestly I expected to hear a bunch of "hey, that's nothing, my Taco has way worse rust and I still drive it or I sold it for decent bucks!" Everything else is so almost perfect about this truck, at least in my own eyes. But I still see it as new, so I'm biased. I'm fortunate that I can replace this, so I shouldn't complain.

I'm still hoping to see some counterpoints or new thoughts just to round out the collection of ideas. But again, thank you all for your input!

Jake

 

Unfortunately it doesn’t take much to get them to start rusting from the inside out. My old truck was from Maryland and appeared solid from the outside. Inside the rails, however, it was full of rust flakes, some of them quite large. If you’re in Az it shouldn’t be too hard to find a rust-free frame if you wanted to go that route.

 

I am in Phx. Bring it here and I will be happy to take it!

 

Thank you all for your replies. For those interested, here's how the story ended. I was going to buy the SafeTCap but I was searching for frame welder places first, to get all my ducks in a row. Found a shop that was comfortable removing all the rust from the area and welding some plates over the affected areas. They did great, and welded my shock mount to the right spot. But when I went to pick it up, he said "Don't tow with it.". Apparently the rearmost sections of the frame rails needed work too; they were just a pile of rust sandwiched between my rear bumper mounts and my U-Haul hitch receiver. I'm fine not towing with it.

But during this journey I had already come to grips with the fact that maybe it's time to stop being in love with the notion of keeping it forever, and accepting that it's an object, not a wife, and 20 years from one vehicle works out to be about the world's cheapest lease. I'd already started looking for replacements and I guess mentally moved on. Since I tow it behind a motorhome, I wanted to replace it with something easy to tow without major mods--I didn't want to go the driveshaft disconnect route again.

Long story short, I decided to try Jeep life and bought a good used Wrangler 4-door. Unbelievably, the dealer gave me $4000 trade-in on my rusty Tacoma. They said it would have been more if not for the rust. But they said the fact that the CarFax shows 1-owner really adds resale value, so they wanted it. I mean, it's just going to wholesale, but still. So I did that. And having a new car dealer as a middleman between me and the next owner probably insulates me somewhat against any issues the next owner may have.

Thank you all for your responses and advice.

And if anyone in SoCal or AZ needs a free driveshaft for an extended cab 4x4, let me know before I toss it in the dumpster. I hate to see things go to waste.

Jake

PS. The Jeep is fun, so far. I'm gonna miss that Toyota reliability though!

 

$4000?

I would have given you more so I could do the manual swap in my 04.

congrats and condolences.

 

If you mean the driveshaft with the disconnect in it, heck yes I want it? I am in Phx.
I can drive to you.

 

Did you pull the baseplate? I could use one for mu other taco.