I won't lie, i used to love it, no kidding. All last summer, every day and pretty much dollar was put towards my pickup, and i had no remorse, no seconds thoughts. Pretty much my days consisted of getting up, working, and then after working, working on the truck, and on the weekends, it was all working on the truck. I don't know what happened, but i am having a really hard time justify putting money and time into it now. It doesn't really help that i started on a really bad platform, my truck pretty much hates life, but the problem starts with this. Its always something, there is never a moment of peace. Something is constantly going wrong, or needing to be replaced. I know if i got my truck to where i wanted it to be it would be more than happy, but thats such a long road, and like i was saying, i'm sure one thing will lead to another. Yeah, i am seriously considering selling my truck, i don't know if i can keep up constantly pooring money into it. I'm honestly not that far from it being something like done, but it still needs a lot of work. Thats the other problem, selling it right now, in the condition it is in will be kinda hard, that and i'll be loosing out REALLY badly on this one. yeah, sorry, i'm just kinda at my wits end right now, and need to vent a little bit.

 

Well, there is usually a point where the repairs you have to keep doing outweigh the benifits of keeping the truck. Need to give it some serious thought...

I have had that thought come across my mine, more or less when 2 or more problems (about the truck) are on my mind. Sometimes I don't want to deal with it anymore... BUT I couldnt see myself driving anything else.

I also enjoy working on the truck

 

*laugh* I went from trying to build International Scouts to this thing so I know exactly what you mean as far as it always being something.

With regards to the Toyota....... well lets just say I sold my motorcycle to finish my build, nothing huge, no SAS, not something most folks would even look at but it'll do what I want.

Now on to the money and time aspect of working on a 20+ year old truck. Your time is free, can't charge yourself for labour. As far as replacing something or rebuiding something every weekend or most days after work.... so what? You know what's up to par and what needs to be done. Even if you spend 100$ a weekend on stuff that's still less than a payment on a new 4x4.

I look at it like this. I can pretty much tell you dead nuts on what's going on in my rig at about 70% of the time. I'm also 90% sure I can fix it and if not I'll log on here and get advice until I can.

Just to put this into perspective for you the last build I got involved in was a 77 Scout II/Diesel up on 35's. I must have thrown 5K into that thing and it just kept dying, lost a pile when I got fed up and tanked it. The big problem there was that parts were almost extinct. Yeah walk into a NAPA and ask for parts for a diesel scout........ might as well have 3 heads. Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that we don't have that issue with a Toyota no matter the year.

Stick with it but cut back on the spending. Don't buy stuff you don't need and when you do need something (ie brakes/filter/etc) spend a little extra and get QUALITY products. By the end of the summer you'll be riding in well maintained, dependable rig that you can take anywhere and do it at better than 20mpg.

Stay with the Toy and understand that we'll help you any way we can.

Ricky.

 

great post ^^^^. i'm going to print that out and put it on the underside of my hood.

 

money - yes

time - NO!
thats what i spent all the Fv(k!N $$$ for

 

Nope. Besides, if I was'nt spending it on my Yota, Id just be throwing it away on food or something.

 

Never!

 

HA, yes, i second that, completely. Its honestly just finding the time, i FREAKED out today, and i haven't really been spending most of my money on parts per say, but things to fix my vehicle, ie, tools. Also, when i say fix, i generally mean restore, i actually just took a sec to check here after doin some work and i feel a lot better. Making progress really helps the overall demeanor, but honestly, if i didn't have my truck, i'd just save money like no other. On that, today life just kinda hit me, like i go back to school in a month, and that means i only have time for it on the weekends, and i was lucky last winter, nothing broke, and i got done all that i needed. On that, i honestly can't keep putting money into my truck like i am, its getting out of hand. I am close to getting done with what i want, but its like another 6 hondo prolly before its all said and done, granted, i would be ecstatic if i could get a 2L-T for my truck, then life would be perfect. Anyways, thanks for the support, vehicles breaking never really make life any happier, and i was just being spoiled there with my half year streak of no malfunctions....

 

the only thing that bothers me about spending money on my toys is when I spend some on fixing whatever problem and the problem doesn't go away. but then I realize that I've got a new whattheheckever and shouldn't have a problem with that for a while even though it didn't fix the problem.

 

i had a case of this..just finish dropping the rear diff twice and its still leakin..
got a 3rd toyota on the go..

gotta decide what stays and what parts go where has got me going in circles...so i just take a well deserved break.... been workin on the yotas since the snow melted and ill have atr later in the week...

sometimes you gotta just collect yourself and no worry about the dam yota... and be thankful its not a female and it dont talk back!

 

Yes, staying calm is important, that and i honestly use it often, halling around a lot of crap, and random excursions through trails. I honestly don't wheel it at all, i have twice, and that was probably the last time in the mud, but i'd like to go to the dunes again. On that, i don't know, i guess if some one gives me the right offer, then i'll take it, but right now i think i'm stuck with it, for better or worse. On a side note, sheet metal works takes A LOT of time, but i like it.

 

Nope, I don’t have to put $$ and time into my truck.

That's what happens when you drive rationally, performed all scheduled maintenance, and keep the damn thing 100% stock!

 

x2 on the spend time on your rig and not see any progress comment.

when i fix a little something on my truck and its sucessful, it makes me happy, and makes me want to do more work on it. but when it becomes like your throwing money at a dead hores im ready to throw it out on the edge of my yard with a free sign in the windshield.

that only really happened when i dd'ing the s10. my toyota has proved to be a really reliable pickup. but it has had a couple bad days too...

 

i highly doubt that. its in our blood to fix/mess/alter/break something. I felt the same way when i was doin my 3vze. And now that its done, i wouldnt sell it, i havent had any problems, so much that im bored, im lookin into another yota, but will i ever do another 3vze hell no. a swap, hell yeA!

 

I use that reverse logic alot . . . I've had a consistent cooling problem for the last 1/2 year (slight headgasket leak) but the LSD I just tossed in the front didn't fix it, the aux gas tank didn't either, neither did the new 2.5" exhaust, I thought the new cooling fan/radiator setup would, the MSD did nothing, the ported and polished head I just finished might though

 

never when it's working...lol. Sometimes, when it's down for long periods of time (like 2.5 months for this engine) I get a little down, once it starts running again, I won't have a care in the world!

 

No seriously, the first half of this summer, i didn't do anything with my rig, and i saved like no other, my bank account was lookin sweet. Really though, normal life, and messing around with a Toyota, constantly, don't really mix well. To be honest, i would really like to take a week off work, and just finish my truck, and i could to, but i can't. Like i was saying, my truck and life don't mix so well. I am just at a complete loss right now, selling the truck is like blasphemy, and honestly, i have NO idea what i would get to drive afterwards ??? like no idea. .... i think i'm just going to get a horse and buggy...

 

That isn't reverse logic. That is 'enabling' a behavior.

 

I like working on stuff that goes wrong, it's a great kind of game, and it's awesome to not have to worry about some shady mechanic messing up your stuff.

For instance, the last person who worked on my car didn't secure the fan shroud properly (I'm almost sure), it fell off, and destroyed the fan, the radiator, and put some sweet dimples in my hood.

Now one of the belts just crapped out, and all three belts should have been replaced when they replaced the timing belt.

But I know what you mean about too much: in trying to get my belts off, I pushed down the power steering pump, and something (A/C hose I think) made a hissing noise. It stopped when I let off the pump.

So now I might be looking at doing some A/C work too, which quickly becomes something you can't do by yourself.

 

I have 4 cars. It will be a long time before I run out of time or money on one of them. The yota's just about to get a whole bunch of goodies in the mail too.