My 2-bits: Without knowing what your family or financial situation is (kids??? Wife???) Honestly, IF you love the 1st Gen and can get around the 2dr. issue (my new build is on a 95 2nd Gen platform because my wife and I REALLY want 4 doors) I say keep her. If she's not literally Swiss-cheese and not your DD, then it sounds like you've got a great base for a wheeler/expo rig. We have an old Double mattress sized futon that folds over double up behind the front seats (I have the rear seat bottoms removed and it's been a "2-seater" for many years now) and then we use Pelican cases/Action Packers to load out the rest of the gear... Pull the boxes, even here in the wet NW and flip the mattress down and we've got a cabin in the woods wherever we go. Personally, had we not decided that the 4drs was a way better deal for us I'd have put my Diesel in the 1st Gen cause I think the trucks are the epitome of "good looking 4wd's", and the removable top is not only awesome (as much fun as any topless Wrangler ever has been) but they also leave a really neat option to build a camper body to drop onto it if you were ever so inclined to do so. Also, as crazy as this may sound, I've done a rear leaf-swap on the new 2nd Gen and am running OME leaves up front with the SAS as well. I may be an odd-duck, but I've been driving trucks with OME leafs for a LONG time now (from my 1st Gen to my HJ75 Ute in Australia) and I don't mind the ride quality one bit. It's not a modern style truck ride, but the payload capacity and the overall simplicity are, to me, assets going into the bush, and there are still plenty of YJ's and FJ's out there with leafs all the way round that folks are happy to drive cross country in. That however is down to how it suits YOU and your body, not me and mine so...
on the other hand, a 1st Gen Tundra does have a certain appeal to it and frankly were I not waist deep in my own "dream build" and looking for more fuel econ then the Tundra can eek out with bigger tires, equipment and payloads/load-outs, I'd likely have gone down that road too, or maybe a 3.4/5sp/locker equiped 3rd Gen 4Runner or early gen QC Taco). There's a lot of options, but I'm not seeing that your truck has THAT much going wrong with it currently. If you can do the work yourself 9which it sounds like you can), fix the little bits that are causing trouble and wait and see if the engine holds.
Like you say, It's not your DD, and if you actually use the capability the truck has, you're not going to necessarily be happy just by buying a new truck. Those old SFA 4Runners can be real trail monsters and with a V8, you're likely not hurting for usable power and those old Ford 5.0's were pretty solid engines. These were trucks from a different time and are easier to work on then newer truck by a significant measure. Nothing wrong with the newer trucks, and their "newer-ness" certainly makes them less of a maintenance issue so it's sort of a balancing act comparison between your needs/wants and since you know the 1st Gen, you have to take a long hard look and be painfully honest with yourself as to whether it's REALLY looking like it's gonna be a troublesome truck (and how long will it take to become an issue) or if you're just feeling like maybe the truck doesn't fit your needs/or you want something newer (maybe you don't like the leaf-sprung ride)... It's also looks to be built out pretty well as it is, so it's not like you're having to do a LOT to it from the looks of things.
So, after all that rambling (sorry, I have a gift for gab aye :smilies27: ), I guess I feel like it's not dying NOW, so you're really not up against a wall with it and it's not your DD so... maybe hang onto it and do some "soul searching" examination of the truck and then maybe go test-drive some other trucks you think might be a good replacement for her and see if they make you feel more like selling the truck and if that works out for you financially. It's an SFA 1st Gen... it won't be hard to sell, rust or no, IF you do decide to sell her.
Us Toyota guys can tend to be overly-loyal to our old rigs...
I know that parting with my old T-100 earlier this summer was like putting down a beloved dog. But upgrading to my Tundra has been terrific. In retrospect, I probably should have done it sooner. I let some good $$ chase bad $$...
I say go forward and don't bind yourself to issues that you simply can't overcome in some cases.
And if you can possibly keep keep the old rig for bombing around, then do that too.
Funny you should say that... I took my 1st Gen (@ 300 "+ a LOT more" K miles) in to fix an oil-leak I've been chasing for a while and got a call yesterday "I think it might be
time" (motor mounts and hoses got soaked in oil and the harmonic balancer/oil-pump are all kinds of screwed up)... I literally felt the same way I did when we put our Bernese Mtn. Dog down 2 years ago. BUT, I'm gonna fix the leak and then work on the other bits myself now that I know where she's got issues. I've had this truck since 2 months after my wife and I started dating ten years ago (bought to replace my "way too fast for your own good" MKII Jetta GLi of the time) and frankly it's been all over the country, hauled rafting gear everywhere for me, been a make-shift ambulance several times, and it's still my DD/Work rig.
NOT driving it has been like loosing a limb and having to drive an XJ in it's stead it like having been beaten over the head with that same limb (I've had several XJ's and to say I "hate" them -aside from the 4.0L- is as big an understatement as exists). Fortunately I have the Diesel build in the hopper, but with it not moving along at the pace I'd hoped it would I'm getting to be in between a rock and a hard place...
That said, I still find myself looking at 1st Gen QC Tundras and thinking "THAT would be a REALLY good truck for me"... I'm really excited to get my
