Buying Advice: Would you get this 04 Gen 1?

Hi all,

I'm hoping to join the Tundra club soon! I'm looking at an 04 V6 4WD Access Cab, 210k for $7900 (asking price).

I have a couple questions, I'm hoping the Tundra professionals here can help me figure this out.

1. Since this is a non-TRD model but 4WD will it have the LSD? If not, Can I add a locker? Worth it? PITA?

2. I haven't seen it in person yet (it's a couple hours away). The dealer sent me a bunch of pictures of the frame and under side.

Carfax is clean but the truck spent all 210,000 miles in New York state. No indication that any rust or recall work was done.

Based on these pictures - https://imgur.com/a/30glC7v - Would you buy or run away based on possible rust issues?

What else should I look out for?

All advice and feedback is much appreciated!!

 

No problems with 210k miles at that price unless there's a bunch of rust you can't stop/reverse. And no way to know that without going to see it. I'd take a small screwdriver, get under the truck with it, and try jamming it through the frame, at points all along the frame (pic spots tryouts could picture rusting), in case it's been covered. The goal is to NOT find places you can penetrate.

Before you commit to going, you could run the vin to see if this truck was already treated during a recall. If it has not, the truck may still be eligible. I hope someone else will jump on here with the link of where to check that vin.

As for the TRD designation, that's pretty much only to do with suspension. Anything original will probably be due for replacement anyway for a nice ride, so any 4x4 is good. You can add a locker (and TRD's don't come with one anyway; that's Tacomas).

Edit: You should look out for rust, leaks. You should ask for service records. The water pump and timing belt should have been replaced twice by now; if no service records, expect to pay about $1k to get these done right away.

It's always a great idea to take a mechanic or mchanically-inclined buddy. Otherwise, if it looks good, drives good, and you buy it, take it to a mechanic you trust.

 

Hi Sunnier,

Thanks for the info!

I don't know why the imgur embed turned out weird, but I posted the frame rust pictures here I was hoping to get some feedback on how good or bad you all thought it was. I will definitely do the screw driver test!

The carfax doesn't show anything about recall fixes - is there somewhere else that would show up?

I'm pretty much already resigned myself to doing the water pump and timing belt no matter what, as well as all fluids, unless it's just obviously been done recently.

 

Take the trucks' VIN to your local Toyota dealer. They can find out what, if any recalls have been dealt with and any other service info that may have been recorded.

 

Will do! Thanks for the tip.