Elaine - The 2006 SR5 DC Adventure Rig Build

This is the first build thread I've done before. It will be for my new to me 06 silver DC with 144k miles. She is my first truck, and I decided to name her Elaine. She was listed at $10.4k, and I got the dealer down to $8100 at 5:10pm on Saturday evening Funny story short, he actually drove after me when we couldn't agree on a price. (Finally came to compromise at $8700, but either his associate who closed me out messed up or I misunderstood the whole time, and all taxes and fees were rolled into the $8700 price, bringing the actual vehicle price to just below $8100!)

A little history - I previously owned a 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, and I rode that thing hard. Multiple trips to Drummond Island in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and one trip out to Colorado where I am originally from to visit family and wheel with friends. That vehicle was a blast. I sold it sooner than I wanted because it wasn't worth the payments that work was no longer making for me (I drove it enough for work that I qualified for a vehicle reimbursement program that paid 90% of my payment...but this meant I was putting way more miles on it than I ever wanted to). I then picked up a 2000 TJ Wrangler Sport with cash, and that thing was fun too. Much more retro feeling. But I bought it without knowing the trouble spot on the frame to check for rust. It looked like surface rust when I bought it, but started showing it's true colors very soon. Didn't have the time or logistic capacity with our vehicle situation to deal with it, so sold it with the soft top and then sold the hard top separate, coming just $100 shy of breaking even with complete transparency to the buyer regarding the issues.

Now, 1.5 years, one 9 month old son and a house later, I'm ready to start looking for what's next. I got turned on to the 1st gens a while ago when I started comparing them to the Tacoma. As "cool" as the Tacomas are, the cult pricing drove me to consider other options, and I also realized the actual real-life interior size of the Tacoma was not conducive to a family vehicle (with at least a dog and one more kid in our near future), and I wanted my next vehicle to be a family-ready adventure rig. I quickly realized the Tundra had very similar exterior dimensions to the 2nd gen Tacomas, but with an actual usable bed, nice interior space, and a V8 not to mention roughly half the cost.


That brings us to Elaine! I would have been happy finding a 144k mileage 1st gen DC in good shape for $8100, but she even came with some nice perks. She came with a retrax cover, which despite being a bit older and catches at a couple spots, it still performs it's function; it kept out about 98% of recent snow melt off the cover from getting inside the bed. This was something I was really wanting anyway, so despite being a bit older I was stoked to have it come with one! She also has aftermarket wheels and 265/70R16 Duratracs, and I really like the look. I probably would've done something similar had it not come with them already. Didn't realize at the time it does not have traction control, I believe (no VSC TRAC light in the dash on key-on, and clearly no T/C when driving in snow); that will be a bummer for when the wife takes it in iffy conditions.


The immediate plan:

Under-hood

• see if I can track down when timing belt and water pump were serviced. If I can't find a definite answer, I will either take it to a Toyota dealership to try to find out more or else just get it done. I don't want to play around with that.
• Synthetic oil change

Underneath

• Clean up some surface rust on the frame and repaint (like I said, I had the whole vehicle inspected; no noticeable trouble spots looking it over up on the hoist).
• Diffs/T-case oil swap. There is also some sludge buildup on the front diff, so I might get that nice and cleaned up first to better assess how bad the leak is. If it's too bad I will pull the cover and put a new gasket/RTV on when I swap the oil in a few months.

Interior

• get some all-weather mats and seat covers (like I said...9 month old son haha)

Exterior

• Tailgate handle is intact, but falling out of the hole in the tailgate
• Tailgate hinge is not smooth
• I might just keep an eye out for a whole new tailgate to fix both these issues, at a scrap yard or part out or something. Or consider other replacement options (I like the look of tailgate nets, but want more security)
• Driver's side mirror is a little loose. Not bad; lower priority to get around to.

As of now, I can't locate any service records at all. Besides timing belt, water pump, diff/t-case oil, engine oil, and frame surface rust, anything else I should look at servicing just to know that it was done and when?

Thanks for stopping by! I'm looking forward to getting this basic stuff out of the way and getting on to the more fun things I have in mind

 

As she sits now

 

Welcome, nice truck! I'm assuming you're in Michigan, and if so, where abouts?

 

Yup! I'm in metro Detroit. One of the reasons I wasn't overly sad about ditching my Jeep background...not a whole lot of fun places to truly use it out in this part of the country. I still want to get back in one one day, but I think I'll have much more fun with this, and actually be able to push it's limits some, which I was hard pressed to do with an Unlimited Rubicon haha. Also, a truck is so much more multi-functional.. especially as a new homeowner

 

I hear you on that. I owned a well-modified 3rd gen 4Runner last year, but ended up selling once I moved back to Michigan from Arizona. I miss wheeling out west haha.

 

Haha definitely on the same page. I'm out in Phoenix multiple times a year for work, and I grew up in Colorado...I moved to michigan about 6 years ago after college, met my wife about 3 years ago (born and raised metro detroit), and told her off the bat that I wanted to move back out west eventually. ANYWHERE out west haha. We'll see what the next 5-10 years hold..if it doesn't happen then it's never gonna happen (till maybe retirement).

Anywhere in particular in michigan you like to go? I'll be back to Drummond Island in the UP for sure (I did 95% of the trails in 2wd in the rubicon haha). And I've been to Bundy Hill offroad park a handful of times, in the Jackson area. Not sure if I'll be inclined to take the Tundra over there.

 

I've sadly never done any wheeling in my home state other than at Timber Ridge ski area over here on the west side (near Otsego, MI). My plan for this summer, other than a trip out to Southwest Colorado, is to do some camping and exploring of some FS roads up in the Manistee NF.

 

Nice find!

 

Welcome Zach! That looks like a mighty fine DC you found. You can put the vin in at Toyota.com/owners and it will tell you all work that's ever been done at a Toyota dealership. I'd start there when inquiring about the timing belt.

 

Welcome from Colorful Colorado!

 

Welcome from SC!

 

You got a good deal getting it that cheap at a dealer...congrats!

 

That looks beautiful! I've been to Pentwater before on a motorcycle trip and that was a blast; definitely a beautiful area. And Ludington is definitely on my list of MI trips.

 

I did that already and came up with nothing, unfortunately. Here is the only info available. It was a Canadian vehicle almost it's whole life, but I'm guessing with the lack of info that means it just wasn't serviced by Toyota, ever. Unless I might be able to track down more service records through like Toyota Canada or something. I would've thought they'd all load with the VIN.

This was from when it came to the US and was inspected by Toyota in Bay City, MI, on 10/24/18 and 230,718km (143,362 mi... has just 144,400 now so this seems reasonable).
I don't know what a multi-point inspection would include. If major things like timing belt and water pump had not been done yet, I would hope that would have been caught though and completed. But I agree, worth digging a little more through contacting Toyota first.

 

If you can find a way to get a free Carfax Canada (https://www.carfax.ca/) that might help. Alot of independent shops report to Carfax now. I bought a low mileage good condition 1996 4runner last year, but the owner did not keep service records and didn't know if the timing belt had been done (22 years old and 120k miles) and there were no records on the Toyota owners site. I was getting ready to do a bunch of maintenance, including a timing belt, when my friend told me he happened to have an extra Carfax, so I pulled it and there was a bunch maintenance records in there for the last 5 years including a timing belt/water pump joba few years ago at 114K miles. I still pulled the timing belt cover to look at it and sure enough, it looked brand new. That Carfax report saved me at least the 1/2 the maintenance I was planning to do.

With the 2006 Tundra I just bought, the guy had all major services done at Toyota dealerships, but his local independent shop also reported all the basic maintenance (oil changes, tires, brake pads etc) he'd had done there, so I essentially got a full electronic service history of a low mileage 1-owner vehicle...

 

Ya that's true I could double check. I did buy a carfax prior to buying it and it had no detail on servicing. I did already email to ask for more details to no avail, but I can double check with carfax Canada if there is any more. Thanks!

 

Nope, no more info there. Next stop, a toyota dealership. I'll see if they have any more service records, doubtful though. I'll check what a basic inspection would cost me, even though I had one prepurchase it was just from a smaller auto shop I go to. It'd be nice to have the peace of mind of a toyota dealership.

 

I can keep you posted on when I'm going up that way if you're interested. I've also been wanting to go check out the Empire Bluffs trail by Sleeping Bear Dunes. I've lived in MI for 26 of my 27 years and have never once been to SBD.