RDinNHandAZ
Member
2001 Tacoma 240,000 miles found on Craig’s List in Feburary.
When I went to look at the truck which was about half the price everyone else wanted, I knew about the frame rusting issue. I wore old clothes and took a peen hammer along with a flashlight and magnet. The owner turned out to be a tech at a local Toyota dealership. I had a chance to inspect it before he arrived. I got to the empty lot where the truck was and got underneath doing due diligence with the hammer. The frame had been repaired and recently coated with a lanolin based rustproofing. I’m sure it had been rusty but the repair was a great job. I noticed the left front fender was pristine and the right had a bit of surface rust in a seam, the pinch clamp seams on the bottom of the rocker panels had a bit of surface rust too but overall the body was in surprisingly good shape. The tailgate had rusted through in both lower corners but was good otherwise. The owner had bought it from his employers for his daughter to use at college. She had driven it tons of miles so he found her a RAV4 to replace it. He thought it was funny I had been crawling around on the frozen ground. When I asked if his daughter had been the one to dent up the fender he changed his tune to respecting my eye. I thanked him for replacing both headlights too. When I asked him what else might be an issue he told me it would need a tie rod end in the spring. We settled, he seems like a good local guy.
I bought a tailgate off Amazon it is a bit lighter than the origional 19.3 lbs compared to 23 lbs but I think it will be fine. The paint was good, just a tiny bit of orange peel. I also bought new support straps and decals for the rear lettering. Sadly no pictures. I left for AZ in about three weeks. I miss my truck already.