gilkey

Do you guys have any opinions about buying an alreadly lifted 1st gen 22re 4runner. My buddie bought one that was offroaded to hell and had alot of problems with it. I ddint know if it was good to generally stay away from already lifted ones incase they have some wheelin damage or if it really doesnt make a difference as long as it looks in good condition.

jimbo74

buying something already lifted can be awesome or a bag of worms..... you must be trained enough to spot it or you will have t odeal with the bag of worms

bulldog-yota

I think just look at the overall condition of the truck. It really depends on how the vehicle was driven and maintained. Sometimes a lifted vehicle can be a blessing in disguise as you can easily get underneath and see how it was wheeled. Easy to spot the undecarriage beaten to hell and also rust, etc.

Also you can look at the quality of the lift and suspension, if it is some redneck hackjob or a proper system.

As a rule you don't want the lift to be ahuge value add to the vehicle as a buyer and you can get a nicely setup rig for cheap.

Bennito

Ahhh yes, the already lifted vehicle. Conventional Wisdom suggests people strip the lift off their truck before selling (and selling the lift on the side). I'd say that a lifted vehicle LOWERS the value of the car. There will always be someone who lifted the truck correctly, and never wheeled it. But most often, the poser trucks will have a lift you'll need to replace and the properly lifted trucks will have been wheeled to death.

Watch out.

jacksonpt

I think it all depends...

I'll use my truck for example, because I know it's history. I've thought about selling my truck several times for about $7k. It is lifted, has a bunch of other mods, but everything has been done right, the truck drives great and is very reliable. It has been wheeled, but not abused (yes, there is a difference). IMO, buying my truck would be a safe buy - whether or not it's worth the money is up to the buyer.

You buy a lifted rig with sketchy parts or half-assed installs, then you're in for a whole lot of headaches. This kind of stuff is usually easy to spot.

You buy a lifted right that's done right with the right parts, but that has been wheeled hard and abused, then there's no telling what you're going to get. You might luck out and get a rig with no problems, you might get something that never runs well, regardless of what you do to try to fix it up.

You buy a stock height rig... you still need to give it a good once over. Lots of people wheel their rigs, then when the time comes to sell it, they remove the mods. So, from the street it may look virgin stock, but take a look at those skid plates and what not - could be a very different story underneath.

IMO, the quesiton of whether or not the rig is lifted doesn't hold much water. You need to ask yourself the same questions and do the same homework regardless when buying a truck of any kind. It could be stock height... but if it spent the bulk of it's life pulling a 6k lb trailer around all summer, the tranny could be on it's last leg.

See what I'm getting at? If it's in good shape has no signs of abuse, a lift doesn't matter one way or the other. If it's not in good shape, or has signs of abuse, I would avoid it, even if it's stock height.

Lt. Dan

What he said....