Anyone who has walked a junkyard has spotted that one vehicle that seems too good to be there. For Patrick, it was a red Toyota SR5 four-wheel-drive pickup with a straight cab, fender flares and a ladder rack, sitting among the wrecks in Aztec, New Mexico.
Patrick, who buys and fixes old Toyotas and posts as @ElevatedFabworks, asked the yard if he could buy it. They agreed on one condition.
“you have to drive this thing out of our yard.”
Why He Wanted This Toyota SR5
He says the truck looked like it had not run in probably 20 years. It was full of trash, spider webs and mouse droppings, and it had a crunched rear end. The hit was hard enough to push the bed forward and dent the cab. But the cab itself had almost no rust, the interior was complete and the truck had air conditioning and power steering.
Under the hood sat the 22R four-cylinder, which he describes as 2.4 liters with about 101 horsepower when new. He explains that SR5 stands for sport rally five-speed, and that this one has the extra gauges that came with it.
“I paid $1,200. So, to me, that’s a really good deal.”
He says similar trucks in this shape usually go for $1,500 to $2,500.
Getting It To Run In The Yard
The engine cranked, and a splash of fuel poured into the carburetor made it fire. But the throttle was seized, and the dipstick showed almost no oil. With no oil of his own, he went car to car through the junkyard looking under hoods and in trunks. After about 20 minutes he found a sealed quart in the back of an old car and poured it in.
The original carburetor was gummed up so badly its linkage would not move, so he swapped in a Weber 32/36 he had brought, with a regulator and gauge to set the fuel pressure. Instead of trusting the old tank, he ran hoses to a fuel can strapped in the bed. A new throttle return spring later, the Toyota SR5 was idling on its own.
“Dude, it runs and it runs really well.”
A full tune-up followed: plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Then he read the odometer.
“It’s only got 137,000 mi on the clock.”
Clutch Trouble And The Drive Home
The brakes felt promising, but the clutch pedal did nothing. Bleeding the system did not help, so he decided the clutch master cylinder was finished. A friend brought a replacement to the yard, and he fitted a set of wheels and tires to replace the old ones.
A few laps around the dirt lot showed it would move, shift and stop. Then he set off for home. On the highway it cruised at about 50 miles per hour. Along the way the temperature gauge crept up to the halfway mark, he smelled something burning and he heard a whine he suspects is coming from the differential, transmission or transfer case. The little truck kept going and made it back to his shop.
What To Check On A Junkyard Toyota SR5 Or Any Truck That Sat For Years
- Check the oil before the first crank. If the level is low, add some before you try to start it.
- Do not run an engine on fuel from a tank that sat for years. A clean temporary supply is safer.
- Expect hydraulics to fail. Clutch and brake systems that sat dry often need parts, not just fluid.
- Old tires can look fine and still be unsafe. Replace them before any real drive.
- Get lights, plates and registration sorted before a truck goes on public roads.
Where Things Stand
The Toyota SR5 is home in Patrick’s lineup of old Toyotas. He says the bed is ruined and the frame may be slightly bent, and he is thinking about turning it into a weekend crawler with a flatbed. For now he says he has other projects to finish first.
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