Can I flip my leaf springs?

350k is a lot of miles even for a Toyota. That and the truck being 24 years old would make me (personally) lean toward getting something with less mileage on it if my goal was to have it be a reliable camping/offroad vehicle. Unless I was an experienced mechanically inclined individual and planned on rebuilding/swapping out most of the old OE parts with newer OEM/aftermarket upgrades myself to avoid paying a shop a boatload of money to do it.

Nothing wrong with taking on a project but projects add up quickly if you aren't doing the work yourself, and offroading takes a heavy toll on a vehicle...especially one with 24 year old parts that have 350k on them.

If I wanted a cheap daily I'd have no issue driving a high mileage Toyota around town with confidence, but beating one up on the trail is another thing entirely.

 

im already kicking myself for not doing more research before I dove into this but

And with next to nothing for knowledge in that field probably not a good idea. thanks for the opinion.

 

and i guess to be honest, i believe I do have the money right now to even swap the engine if I needed to. is that something even practical?

 

I started off the same way 3 years ago with my 04 Tacoma...didn't even know how to install a battery myself. After paying shops a lot of money to install new parts I finally starting buying some tools and doing a lot of reading on here and I can confidently do a lot of work on my truck now...all the maintenance, suspension, body work, etc. I'm still learning but I've come a long way in 3 years and you can too.
I started with a 24k mile truck though so a lot of what I've replaced I've done just to upgrade the truck, but I've also had to make quite a few repairs from a lot of offroad driving...it takes its toll. But it's oh so fun

 

If it runs well, maintains a healthy temperature, isn't burning a crazy amount of oil or losing coolant then I wouldn't worry about that.

 

I wouldn't worry so much about swapping the motor. The 1st gen motors are very reliable as long as they are somewhat decently maintained.

I'd look in to timing belt/water pump, valve cover gaskets, suspension components (which you are already doing), radiator etc.

 

She had a small oil leak from the distributor but that was just changed for some warranty work at the shop. she has an intermittent misfire on cylinder 3 though. Which idk how severe that could be.

 

I know the valve cover gasket was changed about a year and a half ago. is changing the radiator something that should be done regularly?

 

Not regularly but mine blew at about 275,000 miles.

 

Okay, i guess I'm not sure if this is the original or not. there was at one point a pin hole in mine but I haven't noticed it leaking in a while.

 

I consider rads disposable parts like brake pads. A new radiator and coolant every 100k is good insurence.

A coolant flush cost $125.

A new rad is $80, coolant another$20.

Which way do you think makes the most sense?

 

So overall sensus was keep the truck and fix it? Lol really looking for help here

 

Mine has 290,000 on it. And I'll drive the bitch through Death Valley without hesitation.

 

Yes, keep the truck.

Repairs are much, much cheaper than a car payment.

Parts are reasonable and easy to find.

If the truck is maintained, 350k is nothing to worry about.

 

That was an auto save from something else, wasn't supposed to be there.

 

Right on, its decided then.

 

It fit in the context of the conversation pretty well tho lol

 

So we've deciphered that i need new suspension all around, I was checking out the all pro suspension kits Would I need to get the expedition leaf springs?

 

It did, but I thought it better not to get into it.

 

Yes but only if you're never going to unload the rack and tent, if you can afford all of that, then go for it.