the joys of managing an old truck. haha.

i love my 2006 TRD off road. love it. i equally hate car payments, so i am doing what i can to keep my rig on the road. it looks fine, but could use some paint respray on some areas starting to fail.

but i recently drove a mini roadtrip to get to a work meeting, and my u-joints HATED the drive. wow, they got squeeky, expecially in reverse. loud in reverse.

the drive home was an exercise in driving "smoothly". i went straight to my mechanic buddy and dropped it off. i asked him to be honest with me, and to tell me the moment my truck isnt worht saving anymore. he said, "i am still a long ways off"

my wife thinks i should go and look at a new Tacoma. she said we have the cash. my hopes are to limp my truck along until the next gen shows up and i can lay eyes on it. maybe even a hybrid model (?). my mechanic told my BIL that his Camry just wasnt worth saving anymore. hahahah..i hope i dont get there anytime soon.

 

Fix the the truck. It will be cheaper than a new one.

 

I like low tech. Hybrids and turbos aren't appealing to me, but I realize that's the future. That's why I'm glad I found my 2.7L 5 speed manual SR5 last year. I put some money into it since, mostly items that commonly wear out. I plan on keeping it for a while to say the least.

 

"old truck" he says


all the 1st gen members on TW

 

i'm super busy at work. out of town a lot.

i took the easy way and dropped off truck. if i could i would have at least taken the unit out myself and dropped the entire thing off at a local driveshaft shop. but nope.

 

Should be an easy fix for the driveline shop and will be like new when you get it back. And cheaper than monthly car payments for sure

 

indeed.

 

But how many miles are on it?

 

i am at 220k. super smooth and i lose zero oil. (knocking on wood)

 

I wouldn't think a 17 y/o truck in California was that bad. That's like only 5 in rust belt years.

 

Not even to the moon once yet, it’s practically new

 

Glad you're having it "fixed". I'm barely at 155k on my 2006 and haven't had any issues with it. Good to hear someone with a higher mileage and same year truck still going strong. Sometimes I want something newer, but this truck has been so dang reliable. Like you said... I'm curious to see what 4th gen brings.

 

I daily my GX that's at 260k. Fully expecting it to hit 500k. Do the maintenance it needs and keep driving it. Your along ways from scraping it.

 

The only thing that might make me skeptical on spending large amounts of cash on it is the build date.
I think it was 11/2005 build date when they switched to the “upgraded” head gaskets.
The build date is on the door VIN sticker.

 

Agree with everyone else. I would drive the wheels off of it, screw a car payment . My 2010 has 305K with no major issues, Only things not factory are the windshield, cv axles (just changed those at 304K), starter, 1 u joint and several front wheel bearings. You have several more good years in that truck.

 

That's good to know! My sticker says manufactured 06/06

 

Learn to be your own mechanic OR trade it in.

The labor cost can quite often be more pricey than the parts, when having an older vehicle repaired.

 

You're not wrong. My previous post assumed you could do all the work yourself.

 

Nice!

 

Exactly