'97 SR5 in St. Pete, FL- to sell or part out? Thoughts??

Hi there,
My girlfriend's '97 SR5 transmission is on its final days so we are wanting ya'lls thoughts on what to do with it.
-Post on forums for folks to pick off parts (then sell body to junkyard)?
-Sell As Is on Craigslist/Offer Up/etc? (we are estimating we could maybe get $3k for it)

The car starts and drives but we aren't using it because we're scared she could fail at any minute. ~280k miles. Photos posted below.
Over the past few years we have replaced the: master cylinder, starter, alternator, radiator, 2 new tires.

Any thoughts you 4runner folks have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Jess & Lela

 

Parting cars is a major PITA. I do NOT recommend.

Sell it.

 

sell it..or have local auto boneyard purchase

 

I see no rust. What's the frame like? If it's in good shape, then REALLY don't part it out. A solid frame on these is golden. Someone will buy it in that case.

 

^ agreed if the frame is good and it’s just the transmission keep it together and sell to a private party

 

...and what exactly is wrong with the transmission? Besides miles?

 

As far as I know the frame is in perfect condition. There is some water leakage in through where the roof rack attaches. And as far as the transmission, I don't exactly know what is wrong with it. When she took it to a transmission place the guy told us he would tell us how much it costs to 1) run good as new and 2) bare minimum fixes to just keep her rolling. When het got back to us he said he felt bad and wasn't even going to charge us for the quote because the whole thing needed to be rebuilt or replaced.

 

Parting out is PITA, but more money in long run. Selling as broken is easier and gets it out of your hair in one go, but less money.

The way it looks, selling it as whole and broke won't be that big of a kick in the junk in today's market i don't think.

 

Jess,.
I'm in the St Pete area as well. I don't think you will have any problems selling it as is in this area. There should be plenty of people that want one of these to turn into an offroad toy.

 

Thanks very much @2020 4Runner . Yea, I think we are just worried about the whole process because we've never sold a car before and on top of that we are not exactly in a great buyer's market so we just don't want to get screwed in this process.

Thank you everyone for your input and wish us luck!!

 

Is it 4WD or RWD?