85gijunk4x4

sorry for the long post, but i know i have to do it so grab some popcorn!



i'm sure you're all familiar with this truck...me and her have had some fun *Cough Cough exhaust stack Cough Cough*. I legally gained ownership of her about april 5th or 6th 2010 BUT we've gone way back...about 10 years before.

anyway, this truck was used on a farm i've spent years of my life hanging out at. Whenever we were bored (or even working too) we'd take this thing out and really beat the crap out of it. words can not describe what we'd put it through. Just too name a couple off the top of my head to give you an idea, jumping dirt ramps, having smash derbys, doing crazy romping, redlining for minutes at a time, drifting, kicking, punching, beating, stabbing, swamping, burnouts, typical teenager stuff like urinating in the gas tank, putting excess food (nacho cheese and salsa to be exact) into the intake manifold, driving with more sprite and oranje juice in the tank then actual gas, running stuff over, pushing stuff, farm chores, just kinda smashing into stuff for fun etc. etc.

the one thing about this truck that completly amazed me was the fact that we ACTUALLY TRIED TO KILL IT, but failed, and the fact we gave it NO maintenence for 10 years and she never gave up. We've swalloed gallons of water, and have had the truck under water plenty of times, and never bothered to grease the joints, or change the diff. fluid. And crazy enough we've suffocated her with all the dusty roads we took it on, and we never changed the air filter....or even had a filter in to be exact.

and even after putting up with all that for 10 years, she runs great, shifts great, 4wd works no problem, all the controls, relays, electronics, fuel systems, steering, suspension, brakes etc. all work completly fine, and thats rare to find, even in a truck thats been well maintained.

anybody thats ever used their truck for farm chores knows what kind of abuse it gets put too, but when you use it for farm chores, and try to kill it in the meantime, that really seperates the good from the bad. We've used plenty of s10's a mazda b200, mitsubishi mighty max, ford ranger, and we got rid of them all after just a couple months. This truck was the only truck to stick around and actually keep working for years after years.

so anyway, the reason the truck stopped being used was because #1 the frame cracked, and #2 it wouldnt want to run anymore (water got into the gastank and it wasnt right ever since). I got this for free with a title, and after a couple bottles of water remover in the gastank, a couple vaccuum lines changed out, timing work, and a new fuel filter, she runs like the day she left the dealer.

Anyway, to get to the good stuff, we decided it was time to be retired....orginally it was getting ready to be scrapped, and the farm owner was busy with other stuff to take it to the junkyard, so it sat behind the barn for awhile. I asked him about buying it a couple times and he said he would let me have it for free. This truck was the truck that got me started on toyota's. 3 years later i now own 3 of them, and its starting to rub off on other family members, and now my dad's been searching the classifieds for one after wrenching with me on mine for a few years now. Anyway, i never knew when i got that truck that i would ever run into "toyota guys" at a gas station, or ever find a site like yotatech. I thought it was just a junk truck that nobody would pay attention too. My plans were to restore this truck to factory specs, kind of like a token of appreciation too her for being such a big help over the years, "retirement" as i've been calling it. Even after the "retired" to my house, i've still used her for all my chores, and sometimes even went alittle hard on her It was just too much to get rid of, she holds way to much sentimental value to just send her away to the scrapper like that. And besides all that, this truck really is a fun truck to drive.

Everytime i get behind the wheel #1 its like a trip down memory lane, and #2 Its just a FUN truck to drive. Something about riding in the ragady old base model, 80's screaming, tiny cab, no comfort options truck, is just FUN.

Blah blah blah , i feel like i keep veering off course with my stories.

So, since i got her i wanted to get a frame swap done as soon as possible. After awhile it seemed too un-realistic, and more work then it would be worth. So as time went on she kinda fell back and i picked up other projects. Over the years i have been accumulating parts for her, hoping one day to get it all together. It WAS going to be a slow build. Buildup the cab with all fresh parts, rebuild the mechanical stuff, do engine work, and then pickup a frame and swap it all over. Well, funny story, i was doing some engine work on it the other day, atfer not thinking about frame swapping for awhile now, and then after i got it all done, i floored it and took off (to check and make sure she was running good, of course) and ended up hitting one MAJOR bump and i thought right there i broke the frame....just the way the truck re-acted, i thought i was going to look in the rear view and see some major trouble. Anyway, its fine, but that made me remeber i should probably get to work. I knew i had enough parts to get it looking good, so i texted TMDedtruks and asked him if he would be up for helping me with a frame swap this summer. I knew i would be able to find a frame, but of course i'd have to travel to get it...well it turns out not only its TMDedtruks one boatload of knowledge and experiance, but he also happened to be wanting to get rid of his picked apart 85 4runner.

So heres the idea...after putting this off for years, its finally happening. After swapping over some mounts to the 4runner frame, we will pick a weekend and get to work. Should be within the next month or two. I am completly excited for this one. I've driven the newest trucks, the fanciest trucks, and most powerfull trucks money can buy, but this is still my absaloute favorite.

So far, i really dont have plans for this one....well i think i know what i'll do with her. I'll explain later, if i try to do it now, i'm sure i'll be writing for another hour or two.

Mdumaw

COOL im glad to see your saving it. loved the story to laughed while reading it. excited to watch!!!

Chickenman

if i knew toyotas ran on orange juice i wouldnt have filled up @ 4.17 a gallon

streetlancer

iTrader: (1)

^

85gijunk4x4,

I admire your dedication sir. Although it looks like a long & hard road ahead, I have no doubt you'll accomplish your goal. I'm rooting for ya!

85gijunk4x4

thanks!! I'd say its worth the time and money...i mean i got the truck for free, so whatever i put into it is how much i bought for. Thats the way i look at it. I know it'll be a job, thats for sure, but worst case scenario it just gets junked, and i wouldnt lose anything except for a darn good truck

they'll run on anything except for water. Personally, i usually do about a 30:1 mix of chicken broth, mixed with a 15:1 of applesauce, and i'll throw some hydralic fluid in there to give it the right viscosity

thanks for reading!! so many good memories, i just cant let her go. I was thinking about taking her back to the farm (where we destroyed her) and making a video compliation of us romping like hell one last time before she gets torn up into 1,000 pieces

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I can see this is gonna happen no doubt Karma .

Now that you spent all those years trying to kill this truck .

It will gets it`s revenge Once you get it all fixed up to the point of being street legal .

You will just have one little problem after another.

After all look what happened to Dana

I do wish you the best of luck.:wabbit2: