well, after lurking on the forum for ~4 months and asking a few questions, i finally found 4runner that was both a good deal and a good truck. it is a '98 4x4 sr5 5-speed manual with 52k on the odo, anthracite gray. i *love* this thing! i have always wanted a 4runner, ever since i first saw a 2nd gen with 4 doors, and now it is like a dream-come-true : ) the first thing i did when i got home last night with it was to order a dynomax muffler qand a monza tip. next (today sometime) will be an amsoil airfilter, with the deckplate mod to be coming when that gets installed. soemtime down the road, i am going to sell the tires that came with it (only 8k miles on them), and get a set of 31's on it (can anyone recommend a particular size of 31" tire that will work with the stock suspension setup?). thanks for all of the info and help in answering my questions up to this point.

wally

p.s. here are the pics that the owner originally sent me. i will be able to take some of my own pics when the weather gets a little nicer outside : )

<img src="http://www.sonoma.edu/users/w/wallstru/4runner/toyota-side.jpg" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://www.sonoma.edu/users/w/wallstru/4runner/toyota-front.jpg" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://www.sonoma.edu/users/w/wallstru/4runner/toyota-rear.jpg" alt=" - " />