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Badclown,
Great build thread! I've owned my 98 since 2000 and the 3rd gens with very little maintenance will last forever. I only have 277K on mine and the biggest expenses over the years (aside from tires) were the power steering rack, clutch/flywheel replacement, and various suspension parts. Right out of the box, the 96 to 99s with 32" tires had more than adequate clearance for the type of mild to moderate off roading that most people do (not including rock crawling). Upping tire size to 33"s or more required quite a bit of more suspension cost and fender trimming. The 99 Highlanders were the cat's meow. Unfortunately, Toyota decided to lower the stock suspension height in later generations to accomodate more regular folks whose main offroad activity is to traverse the gravel parking lot to their kid's soccer games.
I've been w/ the 3rd gen community since 2000 as a mod over at Yotatech and Ultimateyota for many years but have trailed off so to speak since about 2015-ish. If you have any questions, let me know. I'm not the expert, but I know a lot about these trucks. Here's a few pics of mine. Swapped out to 99 coils/springs with Tokicos, 4.10 rear w/ retrofitted e-locker (not wired up at the moment), Sherpa rack, and True North rear tire carrier (modified to sit on driver's side).
https://i.imgur.com/Cw6ZIuzl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VnR3Qkpl.jpg
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Suuuuuuper clean 3rd gen, how’s the frame on it? I had to do extensive por15 coating on my 2nd 3rd gen (the one this thread started out with) in order to prevent further spreading. Hours of grinding with a wire wheel to include having plates welded in to fill rust holes on the frame closer to the front on the driver side. Was a great truck, miss it, but glad I have a Pro now
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My truck has spent the vast majority of its life in CA (24 out of 26 years) so little surface rust, mainly limited to suspension parts. No frame rot whatsoever. Rust abatement is such a pain and treatments can help, but nothing can truly stop it from rusting other than rewelding in clean metal, applying a rust preventative, and seam sealing. Good luck on your new project!
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its pretty much a dog hauler and daily so I dont have to drive the ZHP as much (plus two shepherds dont fit in a ZHP). Its always amazed me that Toyota never recalled the frames on the 4runners for the same issues that their truck frames were having. Hell, I still see replaced frames sitting out back of my local Toyota dealer/they are still doing them. Overly annoying and I will never understand it