Derek_SR5

Well, I bought a 95 T4R back in Dec to replace my BMW that met an unfortunate demise against a tree one icy/snowy night. I bought it for $1500 just so I would quickly have something to drive. I replaced the cracked windshield, and thermostat, which turned into head gaskets, timing belt and water pump. I have since put new bilsteins, Bridgestone Dueler Revo 2 31X10.5, alignment, have Moog rear coils on order and other random dink things amounting to <$100.

Anyway, my $1500 161K mile T4R is now a $4300 162K T4R. I am really not planning on selling it, I am just looking for some reassurance that I haven't gone the good money after bad route on this, or maybe it is the boot in the arse that I have.

camo31_10.50

yea it's prolly that boot lmao

i bought mine for $1250 and it has a bad rod knock, i've priced it out and before i start driving it again, it'll probably be a $2500 runner LOL, then i gotta get an alignment..and that's not including the dinky small things LOL

Derek_SR5

Ya, that is kinda what I was thinking too. But I must say, that it runs and drives REALLY nicely now. I am just hoping I can use it as my daily driver for the next couple years without too much expense, and after that point, it can be my off roading whatever I want it to be.

Red3.slow

I payed 5k for my old 95 with more miles, the truck was in pretty good shape though, it was still running great with 286,xxx miles last year when I was run off the road and hit a tree. You have spent your money well

Derek_SR5

That is what I was hoping to hear. When it warms up I am going to continue catching up on maintenance, changing fluids, etc...

I think the POs were gas and goers. Hopefully they didn't hurt anything too badly with neglect. I am scared to look at the ATF.

pb4ugotobed

I paid $800 for mine running very poorly, no compression on cyl 4 or 6. Seems the previous owner never had valve lash adjusted like it says to do IIRC every 70k or something like that in the owners manual. Completely beat the valve seats out of the intake valve on 4 and exhaust valve on 6 (or vice versa, can't remember which now). Found a head in the junk yard for 75 bucks, lapped all the valves, replaced all the seals, gaskets, etc in the top half of the engine and it runs like a champ now. Added some landcruiser coils and bj spacers, procomp shocks, have a set of 33" pro comp mud terrains, tranny died and was fortunate enough to find a used one for $125 so replaced that (and the rear main that was pissing oil) and a bunch of other little . All together I have less than about $1500 into it, give or take a couple hundred bucks. I'm still having some weird quirky tranny problems, but I still have my old transmission and will get a rebuild kit for it so I'll have an exta basically brand new transmission on hand. (I like backup parts)

It still has a bunch of little stuff I just haven't had time to mess with (a little rust on the doors, needs a new rear bumper, drivers seat has the typical tear, etc). But for what I have into it, I really can't complain.

Word of advice though, if the ATF is real bad (which it very well may be) then just leave it alone. Chances are if you change it enough times to keep it clean, or flush it it'll start slipping bad. I learned that the hard way. You'll see some people say to leave it alone if it's high mileage and really dirty. Some people will say to flush it, clean fluid is better. Trust me, if it's nasty and dirty, then chances are all the contaminates in the fluid are all that are keepin that tranny together. Happened to me. And if you don't have the tools/equipment/knowledge to do your own work, then something little like that can get expensive fast.

Derek_SR5

Well, I have completed my list of things that I wanted to do to get the truck up to snuff. The last item was to replace the saggy rear springs with some Moog progressives and lube up the speedo shaft.

I took the truck back in to have them rebalance the tires and it resolved the vibration issue.

I am really enjoying how the truck drives and the utility of it. I wish I wouldn't have had to put quite so much into it in my first 1500 miles of ownership, but I feel like I have a pretty nice rig now.

GenXr

Well, the purchase price was about right, and unfortunately, you've basically spent the usual amount on a vehicle with that many miles. It's par for the course.

I think the fact that you now are getting the utility out of the vehicle and are happy with it says a lot. You should expect to have many more good years of service out of it.

Junkers88

I bought my 89 runner for 1500$ and quickly dropped a lot more into it. Lockers, gears, tires, bumpers, lift, roof rack, etc.....

The money spent in the first year of ownership pays dividends 10 fold in the long run.

You made a good choice. Enjoy it.

myyota

Thats how i look at it, i paid 1200 dollars for my 86 4Runner and it was a basket case. There isn`t anything on it that i havn`t replaced, and the thousands of dollars that ive spent on it in the past two years will pay dividends when its done.

Tofer

sounds like you got a good platform....

to make you feel better, i've spent:
7000 initial purchase in 2003
3000 SAS
2500 3.4 swap
3000 lockers/gears
those are the "big" expences... the other little stuff i'm sure adds up to more than i want to think about....

CappyKD

Sounds like a nice starting point. No you havn't gone overboard. You've gotten the sickness..... The only thing I have ever regretted about my few Toyota builds was selling them.

tried4x2signN

I loved mine, and would still be driving it today if it wasn't for ppl running me off the road and making a turn in a driveway and not clearing the back of my Runner...

I had that thing dialed in... I could drift that thing. It rode like a Caddy and had hands down one of the best mass produced 4WD chassis out there today.

You can't throw a rock w/o hitting an aftermarket part or supplier... Try that with an Isuzu or Chevy...

Yes. She's (the V6) a fickle bit**, but once she's sorted you'll forget all about it and can move on to other things...

I'm driving a friends Lx450 (Fj80) right now and I'd WAY rather have my 4Runner...

It's literally a baby Landcruiser.

Maybe if you thought of it like; "would I rather be making car payments? Or would I rather be spending money on a better 4WD and modifying it to my tastes?" your financial decisions would sit better in your stomach...

Mine was a car, truck and tow truck all in one.

Magnusian

My sig's a little out of date but I've sunk about $1500 CAD so far into my truck that cost me $350 so far fixing and replacing various things. That's only a pittance compared to how much putting in long travel ifs, locker, rear suspension, paint, wheels/tires, 5spd transmission, an engine rebuild (going to upgrade head and cam, bore, etc.), and exhaust (with header) will run me. I figure without freight and unforeseen costs that I'll be dropping at least $6k more into it. Worth it to me, still ends up costing way less than a "brand new" truck and I'll hopefully have turned it into a sweet little fire road stormin' prerunner that can still do a hard day's work by the end of it.

I fear for when I finish and start dumping money into a 4x4, especially since the one I've had my eye on is a '93 T100 with a 3vze that if I get I'd like to SAS and drop in a 3.4 or 4.0 (if I'm ever lucky enough to find an older Lexus on the cheap), amongst other things.

e: Actually, $6k without unforeseen costs is too low, the ifs upgrade, along with associated steering and balljoint upgrades, will run me close to $4k (potentially more if I go uniball), so a better estimate of how much more I'm dumping into it would likely be $7-8k. I consider myself lucky that I don't have a SO or kids to talk me out of spending a significant portion of my yearly salary on my truck.

olharleyman

I like TOFER have close to the same in mine so the simple answer is this
IF YOU HAVE MONEY IN THE BANK , YOUR WALLET OR IN YOUR POCKET THEN NO YOU HAVE NOT , ONCE YOU HAVE NO MONEY LEFT AND YOUR VISITING FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO EAT THEN YOUR RIGHT ON TARGET FOR HOW MUCH TO SPENT BEFORE WORRYING ABOUT OVER SPENDING.

Derek_SR5

UPDATE: (Knocking on wood so as not to jinx myself) I have put 4,000 miles on my T4R since my last post on here and could not be more pleased. I added some MOOG progressive rear springs to deal with the sag and have been putting them to the test. I have hauled over a half a ton of broken up concrete in the back of her on a tarp. I have also hauled 300+ pavers on two different occasions.

After about a week of high temps I decided to give her a shot of 134a to see if she would blow cold. Blow cold she did. Also found that my dead cig lighter was only a fuse. I found a tailgate that should be on its way before too long, that I will do a scuff and shoot on to get it to match.

Very pleased indeed. Great truck (one last knock on wood).