Bye Bye 2006

I just watched my 2006 Double Cab 2WD drive away to its new home. Definitely brought a tear to my eye. She was up to 246,000 miles and I felt it was time to let her go before something expensive went as she wasn't as reliable as I expected her to be. Replaced the Evaporator at 120,000 miles. Replaced the radiator at 160,000. Replaced front wheel bearings and one rear axle at 220,000. Alternator at 225,000. I spent weeks detailing her for sale and wow, she had not looked this good for over a decade, the inside was looking new but $7000 is now in my pocket.

I have a 2020 DC now but frankly, I still feel more comfortable in the 2006. The 2020 is still an alien to me. They are both SR5s but the plastic in the 2020 just seems to really scream plastic compared to the 2006. Still trying to get used to it after 2000 miles.

 

Nice job! If you check out ram forums you’ll see that your 2006 repairs happen within the first few years on 1500s

 

I miss my 2005 DC, I had to trade it in 2014 for a 2014 DC after a National Tire and Battery store ruined it with a simple wheel and tire swap. .

Love my 2014, but wanted to get 8 more years out of my 2005 before I got rid of her..

 

No, there was the leaky transmission seal and the leaky oil seal. I never mentally recovered from the $1000 Bill to replace the evaporator at such low miles.

 

We have 4 Chevy 2500HD diesels that we use at work to haul our 4 very heavy mobile calibration lab 5th wheel trailers. The only main gripe is how cheap the plastics are in the cab. Pretty bad actually compared to my 14 Limited. FYI....two of the HD's came with Toyo Open Country tires and two with BFG KO2's. The biggest problem is with the two running with the KO2's. The KO2's are getting an early forced retirement due to maintaining balance, vibration, and wear compared to the Toyo's. I'm just the messenger here reporting what our onsite teams complained about. They drive these mobile labs all over the country to different wind farm sites in all kinds of weather and road conditions.

 

So you're a turd genner now?

 

Awww. 246k miles, it's just lived half its life. If you've followed us 1st gens here, the work you've done is fairly routine. A large bunch of us have to contend with rust mitigation. I'm sure it's lived a wonderful rust-free life in Bakersfield, CA. Great to see that you got a decent price for it via private sale. Surely, no $tealer would ever give you that amount.

 

For trade in, the dealer offered me $2000. On the whole, she was very reliable I suppose, only left me stranded out of town once where I had to change the alternator in an auto store parking lot.

See I've never owned a truck from another company so my baseline is Toyota reliability. I buy Tundras, sorely based on Toyota reliability, no other reason. That's why I replace her with a 2020.

 

Funny that you mentioned your alternator going out at 225k, it's like clockwork, as many others indicated their alternators also going out at that mark. Our good buddy @Professional Hand Model called it too, as he is planning to change his alternator along with this timing belt change.

Your experience with your first Tundra is spot on, and your new ride should prove to meet your expectations.