New here, talk me out of a first gen tundra

Hi everyone! New to the forum, but think I'm ready to bite the bullet on a first gen tundra. I've sadly outgrown my rav4 and looking forward to being able to travel more remote places.

I'm about to go look at a 2000 4x4 with about 250k miles on it. Looks clean, timing belt is just about due and current owner doesn't know about the ball joints, so I'm assuming those need replacing as well. I've seen a catastrophic ball joint failure on racetrack road and don't want to meet the same fate.

Anything I should look for when I go see it? Talk me out of it completely and tell me to save up and get a newer model?

I like taking my dog camping and have been wanting to explore some unbeaten paths in death valley and the surrounding desert. I'd like to plan a trip to Utah this fall.

 

Welcome! Jump into the 2000-20006 forum! Lot of great minds and feedback in here!

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Forgot to say where I’m from… Joshua tree, ca.

 

25 year old vehicle.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

 

Read that bible!
What you are asking are basically all in there, the first two pages will be the most important, and then page @shifty` for additional consultation, fees start at USD $500 per minute

 

Ok, don’t buy an FGT. They’re old. They need maintenance that will likely exceed the purchase price if you have to have it done at a shop. They are not as safe as newer models if you get into an accident.

 

DEFINITELY read the first gen bible on here, but, its a 25 year old truck that will need maintenance and repairs like most vehicles a quarter of a century old. Saying that, around here the biggest problem with the first gen is frame corrosion, I've seen many a decent shape first gen at the pick and pull because their frames turned into a questionable paper mache.

 

Thank you, yes I found that thread after I posted this one and have been slowly reading through.
I bought the carfax and there was no recall mentioned, so does that mean this one I am looking at was fixed or did it not have the bad frame? I also plugged the VIN into toyota website and didn't see a recall come up there either.
I'll be checking for rust for sure but so far it looks clean and rust luckily isn't usually a huge issue here in SoCal.

 

welcome to the jungle

 

Thank you, yes I found that thread after I posted this one and have been slowly reading through.
I bought the carfax and there was no recall mentioned, so does that mean this one I am looking at was fixed or did it not have the bad frame? I also plugged the VIN into toyota website and didn't see a recall come up there either.

The 25 year old truck part definitely gives me some pause and its due for timing belt and ball joints for sure. It had brakes done not too long ago. It's been regularly maintained at a dealer until the last owner 2 years ago. What I want is to have a reliable overland rig that I can conceivably do some of the maintenance on myself.

 

In all seriousness unless you're handy and like to fix things yourself, then a 25 year old 4WD truck used to explore offroad trails could be quite costly to maintain given current shop labor rates (especially given you reside in Commiefornia).

But if you're willing to wrench yourself then go for it. But inspect thoroughly and factor needed repairs and neglected maintenance into your offer.

If you overpay and it needs quite a bit of work to get it up to snuff, then you might find yourself $15k into a 25 year old truck that's worth $8-10k

 

I've never really tried to work on cars before, but I do have a decent mechanical mind and hoping to learn to do some maintenance and repairs myself. Join some local clubs if I have to. I've always wanted an old truck but never really had the space to keep one until now.
By the way, I think it's the same truck as your profile description except a few less miles and no mods yet.

 

Sites like this can be very helpful for learning vehicle repairs. I similarly had limited mechanical repair experience about 5 years ago when I bought a 2003 1st Gen Tacoma with 271k miles, and I've since done repairs I'd have never thought I'd be capable of (to include pulling a motor out of junkyard truck and plopping it into my buddy's Tacoma).

So I'd say go for it, and enjoy the journey

 

I'm handy... I dont have car experience yet but I do like to get dirty and I'm pretty good with machines in general. I spend a lot of time in remote parts of the desert with my pup and I'm damaging my daily more than need be.
Asking price is $5500 for the V8 4x4 AC. I will be looking at that frame for sure. I've been looking for months and they have all been either stupid expensive, total pieces of crap, or 500 miles away.
And hey commiefornia isn't all bad.. I'm in a nice little pocket where it's not so bad Labor and gas still expensive yea, but folks is nice and there's a decent off road community out here, I just haven't met them yet. There's a couple overlanding groups out here but I've been too embarrassed to meet them bc I dont have a rig.

 

Best time to meet up with a group you want to join, is before you invest. The group will probably welcome you and have lots of advice on getting started. Too many people come here after they’ve bought a truck, and find out they made a bad decision.

 

Solid advice, take everything they say with a grain of salt, but there can be tons of valuable advice from someone thats been doing said activity for decades. Hell, they might even know of a solid vehicle for sale you can get for a decent deal.

 

Welcome from NY.