To sell or restore?

Hello.
So I have a year 2000 Tundra with about 135k miles. She is having a rough time.I 'm the second owner, and I've had her for 2.5 years. She spent most of her life in a state that used salt. They use gravel where I live now.

Issues: no muffler.
The bottom is so rusted though that the rear differential is leaking and the only way to replace it is to replace the whole axle.
4hi/4lo does not always engage because of rust and I was told it would be about a $5,000 fix for that alone.

If you were my position with so much rust do you think I should put money into fixing her little by little? Or am I better off saving up and buying a new (for me) vehicle? This has been my favorite vehicle ever. I really don't want to get a different car if I don't have to.

Edit:
Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. The previous owner had gotten the frame recall done. I called Toyota to double check and they confirmed that.

 

We need to see pictures of the frame before we can offer advice. If the rear diff is as bad as you say, the frame would be the bigger concern.

 

From what you are describing the rust issue is pretty bad and probably only going to get worse. It’s hard to say without seeing pics but if it were me I’d take that $5000, add a little to it, and start looking for something out of the “rust belt”. You can hang on to the old one for a parts truck. Good luck on whichever way you decide to go.

 

Unfortunately, if you're having issues with that much rust on the differential housing, there is likely significant rust on the frame that isn't fixable. If you weren't aware, our trucks are notorious for having really bad rust issues on the frames.

I have put a lot of money into a very worn out, beat up truck. I've spent more money fixing it than it's worth. If there wasn't significant sentimental value, I would be much better off if I had sold it and purchased a rust free truck from a southern state. To fix your truck, you're probably going to spend a lot more than it's worth, which I know is hard to hear.

Why not buy another first gen Tundra, from a rust-free state? Even trucks with significantly more miles will likely be cheaper to fix and maintain than a truck with significant rust.

 

Get rid of it. There is no point in spending alot of money on it if is a rustbucket.

 

One of the only thing that scares me is cancerous rust. I have restored old jeeps and do a lot of wrenching on all of our cars, but had to get rid of my daughters 4Runner because the frame and suspension was so rusted…..I just turned 110k on my 2019 and am thinking about doing a fluid film, wool wax, por15 treatment before next winter.

Without even seeing your frame, if the other parts are as bad as you say I would bet that it isn’t salvageable and will become diminishing returns

 

Would need to see pics, but it sounds like you may be selling yourself into a lawsuit if the vehicle is rusted as badly as you imply. If someone dies due to frame failure, do you really want to throw your life away over that?

Best course of action is to clearly disclose/advertise the level of rust, sell it clearly labeled "AS IS", and have the buyer sign a waiver.

 

What state was that? Does this truck not qualify for the frame recall?
https://www.tundras.com/threads/early-1st-gen-2000-2003-tundra-frame-replacement-faq.54331/

 

OP mentioned in his edit above that the frame recall had already been done on the truck.

 

If frame is shit.

Keep for a parts truck or sell it to a junkyard.

 

Okay, so if the frame has been recalled, you're in a much much better spot. Send us some photos of the areas with rust you're concerned about.

Another question: are you willing or able to spend some time working on or maintaining this truck yourself? Even if you're able to spend some time doing easier stuff like rust prevention coating, it will save you a lot of money.

 

Was the frame recall the coating/treatment or frame replacement?

 

I say...

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Also I say....



If you decide to sell, YOU MUST fully disclose the rust issue. Personally I would scrap the vehicle after saving what parts I wanted to keep. Parting out means you have a long-term project sitting around and later have to scrap a vehicle that can't roll. Your neighbors may or may not allow this.

 

Very good advice, I wanted to quote it just so I could say how good it is.

 

Not really, when i bought my truck, from a non rust state, WITH the recall spray done, i had the dealer send pics of the frame and it was pretty clean and slick so i assumed my truck would be good.
I bought my truck and had it shipped here only to find out after the first two minutes under it that it wasnt good, it wasnt great, it wasnt anything i wanted to see. The "spraying" that the dealer did on my truck WAS ONLY inside the front frame pocket, and front spring pockets and each side of the welds of the front spring pocket. The rest of the frame was bare, clean, and had never been coated. This includes all of the suspension, all of the bracketry, everything on the frame was bone dry and factory paint or rust. There was a fairly thick layer of road grime stuck to the obvious spray inside the front shock/spring assembly and on the welds around it but the entire rest of the frame was as slick as glass and clearly had not been treated. The person doing the treatment is whats the make-or-break on the job Toyota did. My truck clearly didnt get a complete coat, it didnt get a half a can, it was clearly a very very poor job and likely done in minutes.

Once i got around to pulling the shock and spring assembly out and scraping all the gunk / road grime out of the front suspension pocket i still had areas where rust was under the gunk and the paint was flaked up so that means whatever they used, still didnt do a good job where it was used. I think they didnt do a good job of telling owners "hey, this coating really needs to be done yearly or every other year so dont think this is forever"

 

I mean if it's been replaced. Not just the spray recall. I agree, if it's only been sprayed with the undercoating stuff, it's probably in rough shape.

 

The recall dealt with replacing the frame only on 00-03 Tundras. The "spray" was a CRC coating and was a "Limited Service Campaign" that applied to 04-06 Tundras like yours and mine, which never had a recall.