I've had my '95 5-Speed Limited for about 5 years and it's got about 193K on it. My wife has dragged me around looking at Fords, Subarus, and new Toyotas. When we travel, we take 5 dogs (300 lbs) plus gear, so realistically we need a vehicle that can haul about a half ton, which knocks out most cars and even small SUV's. Add in the wheeling I do, and the fact that we're both teachers & grad students and really the only vehicle that we thought could handle everything was a 3rd gen 4Runner.
While we were at the Toy dealer yesterday, I spotted a cherry 97 LC with 77K, and lockers. Dealer was "asking" $21K, which I know is way too much. From perusing the forum, I know that I should get them to adjust the valves and repack the front birfs and rear axle bearings. Is there anything else I should know? I was going to offer $15K and maybe go up to $17K.
Also, there's not a lot of discussion about gas mileage. When I got my 4Runner it was getting 16 mpg and after swapping in synthetics in the engine, tranny and diffs, and a few other tweeks, it now consistantly gets 19 mpg in town and up to 22 on the highway. Is there anything I can do for a 3 ton pig?
While we were at the Toy dealer yesterday, I spotted a cherry 97 LC with 77K, and lockers. Dealer was "asking" $21K, which I know is way too much. From perusing the forum, I know that I should get them to adjust the valves and repack the front birfs and rear axle bearings. Is there anything else I should know? I was going to offer $15K and maybe go up to $17K.
Also, there's not a lot of discussion about gas mileage. When I got my 4Runner it was getting 16 mpg and after swapping in synthetics in the engine, tranny and diffs, and a few other tweeks, it now consistantly gets 19 mpg in town and up to 22 on the highway. Is there anything I can do for a 3 ton pig?