Found my 1st Gen!

Flying to Sacramento Saturday to purchase a truck and enjoy a short vacation in the Sacramento/San Francisco area (30th-4th). Planning to take in some of the sites and a lot of the food but, also hoping to make use of the trip to pick up some parts and accessories for the truck. Seems to be some amazing 'junk yards' around the Rancho Cordova area.

Any forum members from the area have some recommendations for any of the above, would love to hear them. Also if any forum members in the area have any parts they'd like to sell, let me know.

Photo of the truck is attached. Some of the things I may be looking for:
- Camper shell or retractable bed cover
- Color match running boards (Desert Sand Mica)
- Color match grill and bumpers
- Exhaust system (TRD? Love OEM but haven't done the research as to what would be best)
- Leather/power/heated seats, maybe door cards (FL43)

Time is limited, the truck is new to me, and I'm weary of overdoing it with the immediate changes. All that being said, this is an opportunity to shop a market that far far far exceeds what's available around me so, gonna try to take advantage.

Thoughts and advice are always appreciated.

 

Good for you, happy your search seems to be over. Love the old man tan; my favorite truck before the 1GT was an F150 that color. Hunting for parts is a lot of fun. I forget where you're located, but maybe take a small set of tools since you'll be messing around a little and driving it back?

 

Glad you found it. Post up pics and details of the trip report home.

 

FYI, I don't think they made the DC without a chrome bumper specifically in the Silver and Mica colors... I know 100% this is true for silver, and I'm pretty sure I read on here previously it's true with Mica.

PS - Congrats!!

 

Thank you! I'm in Central Arkansas so, Dallas area and Memphis area are my best access to parts when home. Shipping it. If I had 2 weeks I'd drive but not really trying to punish myself with 30 hours of driving (2000 miles) in the short window I have. Plus my very pregnant gf deserves a vacation and this presents a good opportunity.

 

Will do, and thank you!

 

You know, I was actually starting to wonder about that as my search has been surprisingly difficult. Oh well, I don't mind the chrome so much, just a thought I had if I ever wanted to turn it color matched. So then, Silver, Bluesteel, and Desert couldn't be purchased as a limited?

Thank you, super excited! It wasn't cheap but I feel like I got a really good deal on a single owner Cali truck with 88k miles.

 

Congrats!

Tell us about the truck.

As far as your list... the shell is one thing if you need one but the rest might be best to put off to the side for a while. With 20+ year old trucks there's usually enough things needing attention to keep ya busy.

Cheers.

 

I just know the silver ones just never came with a non-chrome trim, and I haven't seen mica ones either. Maybe a design choice by Toyota? At least, not on the DC for sure.

EDIT: Maybe that is it, maybe there aren't Limited trims in those colors? That would be wild.

 

I think finding a shell is going to be a long process, unless I get really lucky or am willing to just pay up big money (I'm not). To begin, the color is pretty rare and doesn't really go well with many of the other colors. I've more or less resigned to having to paint one if I want color match. Even then, finding one with my ideal setup could be difficult. Ideal would be, front glass that folds down or up, side windows that slide but also raise up, carpet and lights. Rails would be nice but may never be utilized. Something like the shell in the photo. If Copart would part out their trucks, we'd all have the shells we want!

So the truck is a single owner truck, purchased new by an older couple that owned an orchard in the Napa area. The lady opted for a 75,000 mile service package from Toyota when buying the truck and made very good use of it. There are 9 service records to address the fit of the floor mats Lower ball joints, airbag recall, and all regular services were handled at a Toyota dealership. No timing belt or water pump service but the belt appears to be in good shape and not an immediate concern. No leaks from valves, differentials, etc. Garage kept so paint is great but for the bed which needs some attention and a liner. They had a boat man add cleats to the bed exterior (3 per side) for tying down fruit crates so there's that. He did a good job anyway, all level and evenly spaced with rubber gaskets. Once we make it back and can start to really go through her, I'm sure I'll start to find some things to fix or improve. I've arranged for a mobile mechanic to meet us when we do the sale. I don't really have any concerns about the condition but, the peace of mind will be nice. Perhaps more importantly, I want a written statement of a clean bill of health before I hand her over to the shipping company.

Only elective mods I really have planned are:

Exterior - Slightly larger tires, 32-33", leveling kit or lift to small lift to accommodate, bed liner, some sort of bed cover, running boards, exhaust upgrade for performance (not loud. Have TRD headers and exhaust on my 3rd gen 4R and love the sound)
Interior - Stereo, sound insulation, back up camera, potential seat swap. Would like to do all of this at once for obvious reasons. Stereo in this truck is base so I'm wondering if I need to change door cards in order to get optimal speaker setup. Have not had sufficient time to educate myself about stereo upgrades or seat swap and what all would be involved in getting heat and power to driver and passenger seats. In truth, I really like the cloth but heat and lumbar support sure sound nice.

Admittedly, I still have a great deal to learn before I can begin to make smart decisions. Thank God for the internet and forums like this one.

 

Don't give up, I've actually seen half a dozen already this year in the desert mica/goldish color. They're out there. The color isn't as unusual as you may think!

 

Just looked in the 05 catalog and that is the case; Bluesteel, Timberland, and Desert Sand could not be had with Limited trims. Oddly enough Silver Sky could be so, not sure why color match wasn't an option.

 

Congratulations! I just sold my DC to a person that flew in from NY. It may possibly better to purchase a camper new depending on your build out. My DC had a port installed SnugTop and the buy sold it to someone on facebook for 2k. At that price, I was quoted about 5k for a mid rise with a handful of added options. Welcome to the 1gt lifestyle, cloth cut above the loins cheers!

 

Yo doc
How many miles does that DubbaCab have?
Where are you in Arkansas?
I might have what you need for the lift'age and you might have something i need.

 

Any gen1 truck with no record of new timing belt during the past 20 years is of immediate concern.

 

+1

 

Oh yeah, your buyer has been helping me look for mine, beautiful truck you had! And thank you.

 

88k. Hot Springs. You around?

 

You could call ahead to yota parts, see if they have anything you want. (https://yotaautoparts.com/)

 

Good luck being in that shit hole...dont spend too much time there as its not that pretty and crime is pretty high. Lots to see outside of Sac and SF though. Truck should be rust free and look like new underneath.

 

Fair enough! Not only no record, seller has told me straight up it's not been done. If I were planning to drive it home, would definitely be front of my mind. As it is, will probably put 200-250 miles on it before shipping it home. I can do it first thing when it arrives. Is it necessary because of age or is checking for wear still the best indicator it should to be done? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to roll the dice. If it needs doing based on age alone, I will do it immediately upon it's delivery.

 

Open to suggestions, it's all new to me.

 

Are you flying in to SF or Sac? Flying out from? Any and all national forests are beautiful and not too far in case you run into any issues with the truck.

 

Thank you. I had Toyota Plus Auto Parts and Prestige Auto Recycling on my list but had missed the one you linked.

 

In and out of Sac. In Saturday night, meet seller Sunday morning in Vacaville, out Thursday morning. Only real plan is the seller is taking me to view a private car collection of a guy he knows nearby. Love the national forests and under better circumstances I would drive North and see the Redwoods. Short turnaround though and a 6 month pregnant gf so anything real strenuous is out.

 

IIRC, the schedule is every 9 years or 90k miles, whatever comes first. So... get er done!

This is what I was getting at when I earlier posted that 20 year old trucks typically require enough attention without trying to think up more stuff to do.

 

H U G E CONGRATS!!!! LETS GO!!!!

 

What he said ^^ but I'd add another thought.

That belt is made of belted rubber. Just like your tires.

So let me ask you something. Would you trust driving that truck on 20 year old tires, even if you were 30k-40k short of the expected lifespan? If the answer is "Nope", then I think you know what to do.

Toyota says 9yr/90k, but that number only holds true **IF** you're using OEM parts. They can't tell you how much a belt from Gates will last, although we know from other members, Gates belts apparently last about 50k-60k miles. And that's a quality company. We've seen people go 10yr/100k and even a bit more than that on their 2nd belt. Biggest mistake I think people make is not changing the water pump, tensioner, and pulleys which are what help the belt track straight, but that's why the Aisin kit includes those parts.

So when you do get around to doing the timing belt, this is the kit you want to use (just don't buy it from scAmazon/fleaBay/HomeDepot/WallyMart/etc). That should contain the OEM belt, made by Mitsuboshi (not Mitsubishi, but Mitsuboshi).

Note that Summit Racing has superb customer service, and they will price-match with rockauto.com on the shipped, out-the-door-after-tax amount, you just need to reach out to them. This should get you a better price than scAmazon, anyway.

 

Ok, now your turn!