when is too many miles enough

[98sr5]

i am starting to think twice about modding my truck. its got some little problems here and there. first off its got 162000 miles and has a really loose steering feel like something in the rack is loose also the tranny always has this clunking unsmooth feel when shifting which cant be anything other than the tranny starting to go cause i have already changed out everything except the tranny itself and the hydraulics for the clutch. i just dont know if its worth it to start modding this truck with airlockers and other gear. but i still owe a little over $6000 on it(bought it for $8100 with 150000. why do these trucks have to be so expensive to start out? it almost justifys buying a domestic with half the miles for the same price. but if anyone could show me who has started modding at such a high mileage

[cruiseroutfit]

Replace the rack & pinion and figure out what the tranny issue is... did you swap the shift seat and socket? (think the Taco still has typical Toyota shifter wear parts?)

My 96' ExCab had ~170k on it when I sold it... 120k of those were mine and wer HARD miles. Overloaded, overworked, literally rallied... and it kept coming back for more. The new owner has been beating it too, he loves the thing and I miss it.

I wouldn't hesitate to mod it, fix the issues and go from there.

[Terracoma]

Sloppy steering could be worn-out rack bushings... It's a pretty common problem with newer Tacomas, might be worth checking it out.

[98sr5]

yeah i guess im just leary of high mileage idk what its been lately but i have to agree nothing new does it for me though. my last favorite new vehicle would have been the last tj wrangler rubicon. the new fjs are nice too but i guess i should work with what i got. it has no electronic doodads though which is good. manual tranny, transfer shifter, hubs, windows, locks, its pretty much the stripper with a v6.

[Grim Reaper]

Tranny clunk...I'd be checking the rear end for slop. Could also be a clutch problem. If the springs in the disk go bad it will slam almost every gear.

If it really in the transmission then I would pull it myself and send it to Marlin. www.Marlincrawler.com

Is that a AWD truck? I think thats a chain drive case. Might be getting loose and needing a chain.

You haven't been changing only 2 tires at a time have you? AWD you must keep the tires rotated and you MUST change them all at the same time. Failure to do so will wear on the transfercase.

[TigerPaw]

Bought my 89 in 2004 w/ 118K on it. It has 222K on it now and still runs awesome. Some problems have creeped up here and there, but they were taken care of and I'll probably drive it until it dies. If it dies...

I plan on doing slight mods to mine even at the mileage it has because it's paid for and if I get rid of it to get a Landcruiser then I'll give the 4Runner to my daughter. The last thing I would do is get rid of a Toyota and buy a Jeep. I belong to a club here in Florida that's open to all 4WD's, but mainly consists of Jeeps and they are ALWAYS broken. I had a 79 Cherokee a long time ago that was also always broken. Everytime we come back from a trail ride someone is getting towed home. I run my 4Runner through the same stuff they do and don't seem to break anything ever.

Don't want to get into the Jeep vs. Toyota pissing contest, but that is just my personal experience. I wish our domestic car companies would build stuff like the Japanese because I'd like to keep the money here at home in America. They have the brains and the capabilities to do it, but I believe politics and greed gets in the way, unfortunately.

[CA-RJ]

Like others, I would have a hard time finding something new to suit my needs. Maybe a new 4Runner, but they are $$$. Take care of your maintenance issues and then start modding your truck. 160k is a lot of mileage, but with proper care your truck should be able to go another 100k. Mine has 160k and I have no worries about it letting me down.

[Exrunner]

Im about to buy a 4runner with 200K on it!

[shawkins]

The clunk could also be caused by bad U-joints. My rig clunked pretty bad when shifting and it turned out one of the U-joints in the rear drive shaft had over 1/2" of slop in it.

These rig's will go forever, my '91 has 325,000 on it.

[Cackalak Han]

If it was taken care of, at 160k miles, it's not even half way through it's life. If it has a good maintenance history, I wouldn't hesitate modding it.