New and New...

Latest photo



Official mod list--

-OME 882s and Nitros in the front.
-AP Expos, with several leaves removed, and 10" Bilsteins in the rear.
-Budbuilt IFS skid
-AP 1.5" over shackles
-BEEFED Driveshaft CSB drop
-Homebuilt rear bumper with integrated license plate holder and swing out.
-Uniden 520xl and 5' firestik II
-265/75-16 Cooper AT3s on factory alloys (with 12,500 miles on them now)
-Diff drop and rear diff breather extension
-Trail Gear low pro front bumper with Warn M8000 and case steel Hawse.
-Cheapo seat covers
-Dynomax muffler welded in
-Baby seat
-A.R.E. CX model truck cap or Tepui Kukenam on a homebuilt bed rack.
-5050 cord wrapped steering wheel, because the factory one was yucko.

Mileage count---299,658 (3-2-17)

Story

Well, as of March 22nd I am a 1st time Dad to a beautiful little girl that came a little early, but otherwise very healthy. Sooooo...

I was thinking that I would just sell the pickup and get a 4runner, just like all the other Dads...

Not so, always ready to reclaim a vehicle and better my situation, I was given the opportunity to buy a 03 TRD 4 Door 4x4 for the princely sum of $1200. $1200, not $12,000. Now here is the bad. The mileage is around 242,000 though I can't verify due to the battery being bad because it has sat for a year because the left intake cam BROKE OFF somehow. And dude was a total slob and the interior needs to be gutted and thoroughly de-loused.

So I will be going the route of the Honda tuner and getting a low mileage "JDM" recycled engine and get the beast up to running again.

I will be leaving the OME lift and TG sliders on my truck and selling it to fund the build of this jewel. My brothers almost brand new 882/nitrocharger front and APEX rear leaves will suspend the quadcab. His truck was bought back. The TG front bumper from my current truck and the rear homefab will also grace the four door. In the process I will add a Warn M8000 to the front and tire carrier hardware to the rear.

This will be a few month process, so don't be too antsy for photos, don't forget I work full time and have the baby coming home. And a big new garden that I just started today and several goats to look after.

Here is some interior, any suggestions for cleaning materials will be appreciated.








So I'm used to a 5 speed and this will be my first auto vehicle besides my Wife's Escape (which I do not like), how are they when wheeling? I will try not to completely copy the other dope quad cabs on here (Boxrocket, Ponethousand) but we'll see.

See you in a few.

 

That is soo gross that someone could do that to their vehicle.. good luck man!

and congrats on the daughter!

 

Holy nasty

 

WALK AWAY! To many problems. The Escape will work until you find a real deal.

 

:0 damn that is nasty

 

This isn't my first rodeo on the "clean up the car and fix the engine".

Meanwhile, I do still have my truck until this is done bud. And most of my trucks interior will be going into this one eventually.


I would much rather have this than a new truck anyway.

 

Body and paint are straight and frame is rust free.

 

I don't think so. If the body has no to little damage 1,200 is a great price for a truck like that. New engine and Wet Okole seat covers after a good interior cleaning with an extractor. A good check of the ball joints steering ect and good to go. After the TG parts are sold, the price of the truck is even less.

 

After I reread your post. I stand by WALK AWAY! You have to much on your plate to take on a new hobby. (Which is what this sounds like) Right now you should save your money. With a new baby you'll need it. But it sounds like you've already made up your mind. JMHO Good luck, and congratulations!

 

Congrats on becoming a father!

The truck, well If it were gifted to me, I'd walk away! I'll leave it at that!

Enjoy your family, life is too short and the kids grow up too fast. That truck will be too time consuming.

 

I agree with the other guys here. Walk away. Sell it for what you can get. I have two kids and i thought having a kid was going to be easy and my life would be fine. It wasn't. they take up a lot of time and money. i heard horror stories of guys that didn't give up hobbies and just let the wife take care of everything and then two years later they are divorced and selling off their hobbies.

 

If you want to give it to me I will take it.

 

I'd give you $1200 if you were close to me.

 

I don't think that replacing the engine with one that the truck came factory with and then cleaning the interior is going to put me over the limit mentally. Sounds like a lot of you guys live in apartments and don't challenge yourselves enough. I have a vehicle to drive to work (98 Civic), my truck (04 Tacoma), and my wife's car-thing (14 Escape). My mom lives next door on our families 16 acre property, my in-laws are like 10 minutes away and my brother lives down the street and he has the facility and tools to get the engine out and back in. Now removing some seats and cleaning some plastic might overload the 18" Motometal wheels crowd, but not me. I will update as progress is made, I said this isn't going to be an overnighter.

The seats, spindles, and All-Pro UCAs from my 04 will be going to this truck. That should help some of you sleep. But I am certain that I won't worry too much about YOUR sleep for a while.

Now I understand that this is going to be a lot of work, but most things worth having are. I am not trying to install some weird diesel in the truck and create my own adapters out of pie plates.

This is not a new hobby robssol, this is my 4th 4x4, 3rd Toyota, and 2nd Tacoma. I have been involved enough in this hobby to have driven from VA to Moab just because I enjoy it and that is Mecca for those that are into this hobby. I will be selling my 04 for the typical Tacoma high price as it has only 130,000 miles on it, which will not only pay for the new truck and pay off my current one, but put money in the bank as well for what ever down the road.

 

Slow down there TURBO and get your underwear out of a bunch! Why are you flaming robssol? I took it as he was trying to offer a little sage advice. Perhaps he has walked the walk and didn't want someone to make the mistlkes he has and had a genuine interest in seeing that you make a wise choice.

Some of us on this board are salted mechanics and were more than likely turning a wrench when you were shitting yellow, so for you to infer otherwise is troubling. I'm glad that you have it figured out and that family is close by to lean on while you pursue your endeavors. And if it matters any, I don't live in an apartment and for you to even mention that is as well troubling, as many are struggling just to maintain a residence and aren't as fortunate to own a home.

Good luck with your project, I look forward to seeing the pictures of progress.

Tinmann,

 

I'm confused now. Your gonna take a bunch of good parts off your good truck to put on the project truck, but you're still going to sell the good truck for a lot of money? You must be able to sell ice to an Eskimo.

 

IDK Tinmann, it seems the crowd only has one opinion and that is to walk away. in his OP he mentioned that he had other transportation and this was going to take months. I would love to be able to do a project like this and maybe 2scars has a bountiful time-management approach

He will find out that the short-term will be very limited due to the new addition but eventually will work out and he's very luck/fortunate to have family close by making this a reality.

seem like he's already laid the groundwork plan and considered options. as long as the structure of the truck is good you can get even a used engine for <$1K (seen a few on here even with part-outs and on CL) and drop it in. carpet cleaning is easy and as another mentioned the seat covers would be great.

I'd have a hard time convincing someone to let me do this but if I had a garage and place to work on it I'd jump at the chance

GLW Build, now sub'd for progress/frustrations

 

basically he's swapping out his build parts on current truck for factory on new-to-him truck. depending on condition he may break even

 

I'd buy that truck for $1200 everyday of the week! Sounds like a great plan to me OP!

 

I have seen plenty of flaming on this board, and seen lots of web mechanics too. I was just responding to his post. I don't even think it sounded terribly aggressive. I didn't even type in all caps for Pete's sake.

I'm 36, for what that's worth, have served in the military as a H-3 helo mechanic, and have done lots of stuff since then and am fairly sure of my mechanical ability. I am sure that if I didn't have the experience that I do, I may not attempt this rebuild. I don't think that this hobby and struggling financially should be brought up in the same sentence. I know when I was less equipped financially I didn't use my truck for anything but work, but that, for now, has passed. I appreciate your worry, but I don't recall anyone losing sleep when any number of other members here decided to 4-link their trucks or build a truggy. Which is substantially more involved.