millennium falcon

I just thought I would post some work I have been doing on my beater truck. This truck has been beat to death by a family friend since he bough it new. I remember being a kid and seeing this poor truck airborn, swamped in a pond, run into trees, driven drunk, rode hard and put away wet.... Since the early 2000's it has changed hands several times. It has had many different engines and trannys in it. In late 2013 I found the truck out behind a barn being used as a dumpster inside and out....it was sad... sunk into the ground covered in scrap parts waste oil and cow manure. It had no fuel door and the fill neck and tank was full of water and leaves. I convinced the owner to sell it to me for $600 this included an 86 parts truck with a perfect running well maintained 22r and tranny....And a title. I towed them home and started working on it. Several hours with a shop vac pressure washer and cleaning out rats nests and dead rats....I had something that resembled a truck. I took me about a week to clean the carb (22r) and tank, change fluids. I got the truck running. The 22re that had been in the truck had a huge hole in the side of the block from being driven at 70 mph on a long road trip after the engine had been locked up from the Previous owner driving into a 4' deep mud hole. there was more water than oil in the pan. Needless to say the sweet running 22r from the 86 truck was dropped in. The 22re harness and ecu was messed up anyway so now things are simplified and it runs great. I fixed all the bugs and drove the truck for two years to haul firewood. I cut about 20 yota loads every summer. Its about a 10 mile round trip each load and the little truck worked flawlessly... At the end of wood season this year the truck needed attention. The rear end was leaking on the brakes and the body had a bunch of problems (too many crashes) and a laundry list of other problems. So I fixed all the major problems and painted it olive drab. This truck had little rust and the frame is in excellent shape so I figured it was worth fixing. I didn't use any bondo on the dents. I fixed any rust and structural issues but left the dents. I love the wrinkled panels. they tell the story of the truck.....sort of like wrinkles on an old weathered face. I did a bunch of mush needed maintenance and electrical work.....then My produce guy gave me a nice fiberglass cap for free....I love running a cap in the winter even if it looks like "an old man truck" as my wife would say. Here is what the truck looked like after I got it running and was hauling wood with it. Sadly I dont have a pics of it the day I picked it up.


Last winter Now with dry rotted 31's



Here is the parts truck that came with my purchase. (1986 with 22r) Its a beauty! haha



Last week I got some BJ spacers and installed them.... I also used some leaves from a spare set of yj springs to make a lift in the rear... I got a total of 3" I still need to fix the alignment and some other things but Its getting there. My new tires will be getting here tomorrow. as well as a new fuel pump, radio and speakers. I will post pictures when I get them. I am going to be running Dick Cepek Extreme country 33 10.50 15's and i cleaned and painted an old set of 15x8 wagon wheels. I would love to keep the wheels i have on the truck now but since I did the BJ spacer the tires are majorly rubbing the UCA. The new wheels have 3.75 backspacing and give the tire lots more room. Here are some before and afters of the lift.

Before:



After:



Also, Here are a few videos of the truck playing around in the snow last winter.


Really Stuck!


I will post more pics once I get the tires and wheels on. Thanks for looking!!

RamblinOn

Awesome story and I love the Vault Tec logo - if any truck would survive a nuclear holocaust it would be an old Toyota!

millennium falcon

The vault tec logo was my sons idea.... We are both huge fallout fans... aka dorks! haha. One of the advantages to driving a $600 truck it that when your kids say "lets graffiti the side of dads truck" i can just say "sure"

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you brought the truck back from the dead. Great to see that you and your son can enjoy it and do things with it. Great job!!!

millennium falcon

My tires came via UPS today.....They were the last thing on the guys truck at 5pm and he seemed kinda grumpy. First impression is they look tall and skinny... I dont like measurements the website gives you, so here is what I got with a tape measure in my hand. 32.0" tall, 9.0" wide. This should help prevent rubbing... I hope. The tread looks nice an open. I really like the square shoulder look and the beefy DC logo sidewall tread. They dont feel as heavy as I though. The shipping label says 56lbs but they dont feel that heavy. I will try to weigh them before I mount them.

I love getting new tires!



Here they are next to my bald 31's. They actually measure 29x10 on a good day.










Hopefully they fit without rubbing. before the 31's, I had 32.11.50 and they didnt rub at all so I think with the 3" lift I did they shouldn't rub.

Here they are next to the 32's on my jeep....Just for comparison.








Here are the rims I will be putting them on. 15x8 3.75 bs. The tires look tiny because the rim is just sitting on them.


Looks like I have enough room.....? "I'm Ron Burgundy?"






Ready to go! I'm hoping the wife lets me sneak out in the morning. My friend has an old firestone tire machine he lets me use. I will mount them and post some pictures ASAP. I also will try to allign everthing when the truck is up in the air tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

millennium falcon

Well... I got them mounted and installed this morning... It was about 15 degrees in the shop so I hurried. I think they look good. It really changes the look of the truck! Here ya go.

millennium falcon

I have been killing myself trying to get my LCA bolts loose so I can adjust my camber... I am ready to roll the truck down a steep hill into a lava pit! What a PITA. I have been beating HEating, and soaking them for the past two days!

millennium falcon

I got all the nuts off but one...it broke so no i have been trying to drive the bolt out. I didnt want to ruin the bushings so I drilled it out instead of torching it and I still cant get it out. My next move is to cut it out.

millennium falcon

I have been doing some re-search and it seems the bushing/bolts are hard to find and very expensive! Yea! Just what I needed at the very end of this project.

millennium falcon

I am also spamming my own thread so I can get enough posts to be allowed to post in the classified section. Does anyone have input on where to source the bolt from? Thanks!

millennium falcon

in my searching I have noticed a lot of people Sawzall the bolts to remove the LCA....that sounds great but I cant seem to get my saw in position very well to do that. Then I cannot get to just the bolt....I will have to cut through the rubber and steel part of the bushing.... Does anyone have any tips? Thanks!

millennium falcon

HerI finished the alignment... What a nightmare! The lower control arm bushing were completely rusted to the cam bolts. I have been beating torching and using every means possible to break them free. I ended up cutting them out and pressing in new bushing...and making new cam bolts. Im so glad that is over. I also painted the grill and fog lights flat black. I took the truck up on the mt. The road was packed down and icy from snowmobiles but there was no snow on them. The tires did well. It was starting to melt so they really chewed down in some spots. Nothing too extreme, but so far so good! I was also thrilled with how smooth they were on the road. I mounted them myself in my friends garage and did not balance them. No shimmy or shake and very quiet! I will give some updates and hopefully some videos once I get to run them in some more serious 4x4 terrain. 5-stars so far!

Here are a few more pics.....

horunner1x

Awesome job. Love the vault-tec logo on the door haha

millennium falcon

Thanks! My son and I are fallout fans! I took the dick cepek tires on a decent outing today. I went through some snow....mud, ice, hill climbs, I drove up a washed out road that was basically a rocky rutted creek bed with about 8" of water flowing down it. I also had to drag a large downed tree out of the way so my friends f150 would fit through the trail. The tires performed flawlessly. I only have about 100 miles on them but so far I am very pleased. My buddy has a video on his phone. I will post it if I can get it from him.

CamTom12

Looks great! I like the grill in black, too. Good work!

millennium falcon

Thank you! Now my next phase is gears... I would like to get 4.88's but I also picked up these trinkets the other day td04 and intercooler off of a wrx...... Not sure if I should go for it or not. I turbo'ed my old sas tacoma years ago with good results but have never tried a carbed turbo engine. Thoughts?

anndel

Awesome save, thanks for sharing and keep up the good build. Great you save this beautiful truck from the boneyard.

millennium falcon

Thanks Guys! I took the dick cepek tires on a decent outing today. I went through some snow....mud, ice, hill climbs, I drove up a washed out road that was basically a rocky rutted creek bed with about 8" of water flowing down it. I also had to drag a large downed tree out of the way so my friends f150 would fit through the trail. The tires performed flawlessly. I only have about 100 miles on them but so far I am very pleased. My buddy has a video on his phone. I will post it if I can get it from him.

millennium falcon

Working on a gear swap.....

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...s-pics-293852/