2006 SR5 4x4 Double Cab Fixer Upper

Picked up a used Tundra for $7000 a couple weeks ago. I plan on documenting the things I’ll be doing to it to fix it up on here as I do them.

 

Keep us posted and ask if you have questions

 

Today I replaced the front parking brake cable. It was a real pain. The parking brake didn’t work and when I tried to adjust it, the turnbuckle just snapped off. So now I’m trying to replace the broken cables with new ones.

There are two parking brake cables. The one from the pedal to the middle of the front door. A second one goes from the middle of the cab to the rear differential and then splits off onto left and right rear wheels.

To replace the front one, you will need a 10 mm socket and remove the dash under the drivers wheel. Then use a Phillips screw driver to remove the door sill and a pair of pliers to remove the fastener for the lower front door trim between the dash and floor sill.

Under the truck you need to use a 10mm wrench, sockets, and extensions to unmount the heat shield over the catalytic converter on the drivers side. Also, remove all the mounts for the Peking brake cable. Use pliers to remove the clip on the final mount. And then pull the cable back through the floor in the cab.

Lots of wiggling to remove the cable from inside the cab. But, once it’s out, you can fish a new one back through the floor and then install in the opposite order of removal.

It took me 3 hours to do it today. I used ramps to get the truck up in the air and jack stands to keep it still. Don’t want the truck to roll over me while doing a job.

 

That looks pretty darn nice for a fixerupper!

How's the frame, as far as rust goes?

 

The frame has a good amount of rust. Leaking rear differential has actually helped a little.

I’ll post a laundry list of things that I need to repair probably tomorrow. I think I need to spray a rust inhibitor. It looks like this was one of the recalled frames and was covered in some kind of preventative, but, being in Ohio, it’s starting to fail.

Ziebart is really expensive. I might try to spray something. But I need to do research first. I’ll post photos of the frame with the laundry list.

I’ll be paying for the non-existent exhaust to be replaced tomorrow. ~$600 for that job. Some jobs I’ll do myself. Others I’ll forgo when it gets too dirty or time intensive.

 

Yeah, I'd run across it all (frame rails and crossmembers) with a hammer. Especially around the spare tire carrier and all the intersects around it.

 

Here’s the laundry list of things to fix so far.

• Exhaust Leak
• Windshield washer fluid sensor bad
• Timing belt going any day
• Air injector pump bypass installed
• TPMS light is on
• Driver’s side door stop is broken (may require new door)
• Stuck vent door selector
• emergency/parking break snapped off
• Rear differential leaking
• Blower motor ticking
• Frame rusting

I still think I came out ahead at $7000 for a 4x4 with such a clean body. A couple rust spots. But, my plans are to use this truck for some jobs, not to make it a show truck. We’ll see what actually happens.

 

May want to get on that before your engine is toast

That's great. Less work for you unless it was installed in some kind of hack job way.

Is the rear cover rotted out? Pretty common.

May just have some crap in it.

Can you get some pics of the frame? You'll probably want to scrape off all the undercoating that was put on during the recall. Stuff is bad news

Put your vin in the Toyota owners website and you may be able to see prior work done at a dealership.

 

Here’s some photos I took this morning of the rust under the truck. I removed the spare tire to look around.

I’m getting a new cheap exhaust today. $627 quote. My goal isn’t to make this thing a performance machine, just keep it on the road and use it to do jobs. I’ll probably use a product to cover the rust as much as I can on a nice cool day. I’m open to suggestions.

 

I used

$73 Water-Based Rust Converter Metal Primer, Rust Converter - 1 Gallon

Corroseal on my old 1st gen and then rolled a coat of Rustoleum black on top.

 

That's not the worst I've seen, but if I ever wanted to use that spare tire carrier I'd probably consider getting a replacement and bolting it in with nylocks.

Note there are at least some repair pieces you can get. https://www.autorust.com/product-category/toyota/tundra-2000-2006/

 

That Corroseal looks like good stuff... first I've heard of it.

 

I found a place that will do the timing belt, water pump, and tensioners for $900. The kit on Amazon is about $180, my local dealer charges $800 for the parts alone. I think I’ll go to the local shop. It’s a big job and the extra $700 it costs to have the job done by a professional seems worth it.

It’s the first I’ve heard of it too. It looks amazing. Not too expensive. I might try it out after I make sure the differential isn’t leaking anymore and the rear parking cable is installed. I’ll shoot for September because the humidity will be lower and the temperature will be easier to handle.

Exhaust will be done today! I’ll post pictures and cost when I pick it up.

 

DO NOT buy parts on scAmazon. So many people here and on other forums have gotten screwed on counterfeit parts. scAmazon, fleaBay and even WallyMart's online store are full of pop-up vendors selling counterfeit stuff. This is definitely not a job where you want to risk having to re-do things, and if that belt goes, your engine is trashed.

Get the Aisin Kit from RockAuto or similar. RockAuto is a family-owned business, and a vendor on here who gives our members 5% off codes. Here's the current one. Aisin is OEM, Aisin / Denso.

 

PS- Pretty sure this is the kit at RockAuto's site for all 4.7 V8

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3290529

And from Summit Racing, maybe a tad more info on fitment

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/asn-tkt-021

Make sure you doublecheck this fits your truck. Don't take my word for it. Or maybe other members can double/triple-confirm.

 

My driver's door has also failed. I've got the kit to rebuild the door checks and also a set of reinforcement plates which will hopefully salvage the door itself.

 

This has exactly happened in my truck. I have a friend with a TIG welder. I might buy the weld in ones. My plan was to take the truck to a body shop and see what they could do. The mounting holes for the door checks have completely busted out. Thank you for sharing this!

 

Honestly, for what a body shop would charge, may be more worthwhile just to source out matching-colored doors from a part-out or junkyard.

 

I still have the weld in plate and torn out bolts, I'll fix it someday

My quote was $200 to weld in the plate. Door in decent shape of same color was $500 (double cabs have a parts surcharge). Door in rough shape and different color was $100, plus body work and painting $600.

Sitting on my butt and not fixing it $35

OP, nice find and if you want to just disable the TPMS, there is a thread on tundra solutions about grounding out a single wire under the glovebox.

 

New exhaust set me back $627. While it was up on the rack, I snapped a picture.

Upon closer inspection, looks like the differential housing is leaking. This sucks as replacements are not cheap.

I got two quotes today, one for $3000 and another for $3500. I might just keep refilling it with the oil from a catch pan and see how much I’m losing.

The door repairs will just have to wait. But, the timing belt is still a high priority. I’ll likely just keep refilling the differential until I can find a replacement housing or save up enough to have a shop do it.

 

You have no parking brake cable it appears. $3500 is high for a rear diff repair, let alone a replacement axle. Search for alternative solutions here. Cutting your existing diff cover off and welding a new one on, or complete donor axle swap should both be cheaper than $3500. If you’re at the mercy of a mechanic or repair shop, you gotta pay what you gotta pay.

 

I can’t seem to locate the right one. I’ve purchased one from NAPA and Autozone and both were too short. If you have any links where I can find out or buy the right one, I’m open to it. I was going to see if I could find Rock Auto’s phone number and then have them measure the one they claim is the right one. If the measurements are close, I would gladly buy one.

When I was adjusting the parking brake cable turn buckle to make the parking brake work, the turn buckle snapped off and the threaded part snapped off, destroying both front and rear cables. The rust was just too much. Now it’s up to finding a replacement rear, as I was able to locate and install the front one.


Also, a rear axle would be great. A donor is probably the way to go. But, from the driveline place, they showed 20 different rear ends. It’s gonna be hard to find a donor with the same rear end. Not sure how to do a compatibility check. Ideas?

 

Click on my username, then click "Start a Conversation". Send me your VIN# and I'll dig through the parts catalog to try and find what Toyota lists as the OEM part# for your cable/assembly. If you have that part number, it should be easier to find the replacement. If I can't find, I'll ask resident parts guru @Roman to pull it.

Honestly, I'd stop driving the truck until you get that timing belt done. Nobody at this forum is joking when they say "If that belt snaps, your engine is toast". If it snaps, things are going to break internally, not in a way that anyone can repair.

An ounce of prevention will save you about $3-5k in engine swap costs, and any lingering hassles that may come from it.

 

$3,500 is nuts for the diff. https://barnes4wd.com/products/toyo...999-2006-tundra-heavy-duty-differential-cover

Have you tried a junkyard for the parking brake cable, or order from Toyota?

 

@bamdone - where are you located? Check the classifieds or junk yards for a diff housing. Someone here may have one for you. Also you should take it to the dealer and try to convince them to replace your frame under the recall campaign

 

I’ve tried one junk yard. No tundras in my model generation with double cabs at the yard. I definitely need to keep searching.

Dealers have a restocking fee of 35%. I’ll gladly buy the part if I know I can return it if it doesn’t match up. I’ll likely just risk it with the dealer.

located in Dayton Ohio. I don’t think my dealer will play ball on the frame. But I can try. I’ll wait until I have the timing belt replaced before I drive it to some dealers to see if they will do it. It’s a 2006 and it’s a crap shoot from what I hear. Sure doesn’t hurt to ask though.

 

Re: Junkyards. Not all of them advertise, there's a lot of yards you'll only find searching up through www.car-part.com

I also find a lot of luck finding full-on part-outs from private parties and parts services on my local Craigslist by copy/pasting this long phrase into the search box on the main page and sorting by NEWEST to get anything with the years 2000-2006 in the advert: Tundra (parting|part) (2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006)

Like, here's a shortcut for Dayton OH: Example #1
OR use the parts drill-down with make/model: Example #2

I see there's not a ton of options in the standard 30 mile radius or whatever. You can update the "Miles from Zip" with your current zip code and, say, 90 miles from it, to pickup anything within a 1.5 hour radius (ish) if no meaningful local results show.

Believe it or not, some scrap yards exclusively list on fleaBay. But I haven't found a good way to isolate ones nearby easily.

 

How bad is the rear diff leak?
I'm not saying this is a long term fix, but it could be...
I had pinhole leaks on the diff of my 4runner. I drained the gear oil and wire wheeled the rust off. Then I got some steel reinforced JB Weld and covered the diff. Let is set for a couple minutes so it starts to thicken. Once dry and cured, I coated it with POR15 and painted it with top coat and filled with gear oil. Never had another issue.
***If there are big holes this won't work. You don't want JB Weld getting into your diff.***

 

This is a good cheap idea. I plan to clean it up this weekend and see what I can find out. Welding a new cover is a next step alternative. Full replacement is expensive as I will keep looking for parts. But, timing belt comes first before I replace the rear end. I’m capping this project at $900/mo if I can help it. Past experience says I don’t have that kind of self control. Lol.

 

As promised, here's a picture of the differential cleaned up a bit. I used Gunk Foam Cleaner and then rags to wipe it down. Good news is that I have a Limited Slip Differential (LSD). Bad news is that I purchased the wrong differential fluid and had to make a trip to return it. The local auto parts store only carried Lucas Oil 75w90. It claims to be compatible with LSDs. I put in 1.5qts to fill it up. 22mm Socket is what I used to pull off the fill bolt. Total time was maybe 1hour including all the cleaning.

I joined https://www.toyota.com/owners , used my VIN and added all the work that I've done on the truck so far. Looks like the frame was coated at one time under the warranty. I guess I won't be getting a replacement frame even if I ask :/

I've looked up welding a new cover on. It looks like a doable job. No local shops will do it because of the labor. I will likely do the job after the timing belt is replaced. I'll do that job in July. Until then, I'll track how much fluid the diff loses with a catch pan.

I purchased all the e-brake parts and will drill/tap the cable mounts on the rear-end housing. You can see in the picture above; there's a snapped off bolt. (YAY Rust Belt!)