When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
1977 Toyota Pickup (previously a walkthrough camper)
I just picked up a 1977 2WD Pickup 33,561 original miles. It was previously a camper.. It has a 20R and a 3spd automatic. The body is pretty decent. fairly solid, but not rust free. It has some dents and dings but No filler. There is some rust underneath i need to go through. I'm planning on removing the wood bed and doing something else with aluminum and cleaning up the frame. At this point i am going to start at a tune up, fuel filter, pcv,air filter,belts and hoses, coolant flush & thermostat, oils and some seafoam.
I need advice on suspension beef up. The factory suspension on it is weak. I need to beef this little 2WD truck up.
This 3 speed automatic transmission sure needs to be swapped for a 5 speed.
what would be the ideal 5 speed manual transmission to bolt up? Was there a 2WD version of the R151F? What would be my ideal swap that would work with my 20R?
Best bet is to just replace the suspension with new stuff. It won't be cheap...
For the front, just get good quality, stock replacement shocks, and new coils. You can't find coils specifically for these trucks anymore, but for my 78, which I'd guess is the same, Saab rear springs are just right. Rockwell RV205 are the part on Rock Auto. If you do this and replace the rears with something better, it'll be much better.
If you want to go further...buy an add-a-leaf for each side of the rear. Once you go that route, you may or may not need slightly longer shocks in the back.
Best bet for the back is a completely new spring pack. If you want better than stock, add a leaf to the new spring packs before installing them. At this point we're talking a couple thousand dollars.
If you have fabrication skills, it's a whole different deal and the sky's the limit, and you can do things for much cheaper. But if you're looking for bolt-on improvements, you'll be looking at stock equipment and buying new instead of searching junkyards etc.
You can search 5-speed tranny swaps. It's been gone over a lot here.
We'd love to see pictures of the back of the cab, interior and exterior if you get the chance. There are plenty of old low mileage campers around to convert. Your truck looks fantastic.
aw man, she is gorgeous! Absolutely love the interior! I'll love to find on of the Pre-79 2WD pickups to slam one day, but they are hard to come by in good shape and parts are even harder to find.
I too would like to see the fab work on the rear of that cab. I've seen some nice stock bed floating around - I think I would go that route even though that stake body still look pretty cool. Tranny, wise, you could just snag something off of a later 22R 2WD pickup. It'll take some modifications to bolt up to the crossmember and a some driveshaft reworking, but it can certainly be done.
Along with a small amount of peeling back the floorboard metal, which you can see in one of my photo albums. I have a 5-speed in my 78 and the floor is peeled back with an old license plate covering the original stick shift hole
20R with a slushbox and a camper? I find myself often defending so-called "underpowered" vehicles as being perfectly adequate, but this has to be a new low.
We're not talking about literal pieces of cow in your suspension... what do you want exactly? Is it sagging? Broken? You want to carry more weight? You want it to sit higher? You want it more durable?
So these had coil springs in the front, not torsion beams?
Other than those, replace the shocks, bushings (control arm and swaybar), and any loose tierods/balljoints with OEM or good aftermarket parts. Tighten up the steerbox, address any other loose parts, and be happy with how your truck that's old enough to run for president handles. For the rears, do the shocks and bushings, and maybe the spring pack as suggested.
Hope to see more of this truck too! I recently got a 75 and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of activity online regarding the old Hilux's compared to newer generation trucks.
I had no idea Saab coils are the right spec for replacement front coils on these trucks - good to know! Over on Toyotaminis it seems everyone is looking for lowering coils and usually use the Mighty Max coils. For rear leafs, there are many options but I'm not really understanding the "beef up" the suspension comment. guessing everything wearable is just worn out from time - bushings, shocks, rubber, etc. I just replaced 90% of my steering and it already feels like I took 20 years off the truck, lol.
It's true that the suspension issues he's feeling are probably more from everything being old and worn, than because anything needs "upgrading". If he put all new shocks, coils and springs along with all the bushings, it would great.
All the same...if it were mine, and I was replacing the leaf pack, I'd probably go ahead and add a leaf to each side while I was at it. Depending on what the truck's going to be used for.
I loved my 78. Wish I could horde things. But I always have to move on; in with the new, out with the old. Someday if I've got property and some space, I'll probably start to accumulate some of my favorite vehicles. But for now...I've had to let go of some great trucks.
09-11-2015, 07:09 PM
