AW1985

Hello All!

I just realized a childhood dream—I bought a 1988 Toyota (DLX). It is a survivor. I bought it from the second owner, and he only owned it for 7 months. I’m guessing he couldn’t deal with the lack of A/C and power!

I am taking a huge leap here and replacing my 2013 4Runner Limited. I wanted to get rid of the payment, and have also bought a new Ford GT350, so I thought having both the 4runner and the GT350 was a bit in excess. Is it weird that I am more excited about this truck??!

I am currently deployed and won’t be home for a month, so I am excited. I am kind of nerd, so I’m kind of planning a Back to the Future build with light trails and everyday driving in mind. I have restored two CJ7s in the past, so I’m somewhat capable in the garage, but don’t want things to get out of hand. I just bought the wheels/tires/lights/roll bar today! The bumpers are being elusive. I guess smitty doesn’t offer the Toyota front bumper any longer.

So, a couple of questions:

How many of you guys still daily drive a 22RE? Highway speeds capable? I’m not naïve, and know that it will be a significant step back in time. I have had four banger pickups in the past (Rangers) and they did ok (they weren’t 4x4s though).

The truck’s body and paint are excellent. I know how rare a Toyota without rust issues is, and this one does have some. I would like to have a shop just repair the two bed sides, and respray. Has anyone had this done? The rust appears to be surface only, and is not cancerous yet. Any expectation control on price? I’m thinking 1-2K? The cab and tail gate are mint, with no rust, so again, just the bed sides.

I had the truck inspected by my buddy, and compressions were all great, and he said the truck drove straight and shifted like butter. No oil leaks, and clean!
I plan on keeping the 31” tires and daily driving it until it blows up on me. When that happens, my dream would be a 7MGE swap.

So far, this forum has been awesome! It’s the only one that works on these crappy government computers over here! I plan to hit up merlin when I get back next month.

Thanks!

-Alex

ewong

Nice!!!!

coryc85

Wow, that thing is really in great shape. The dash does not look cracked, which is rare, and then the rust on the bed seams looks pretty tame. I had an 88 pickup for many years and I could not stop the bed from rusting along that seam. Was this an Arizona truck? I did daily drive my 88 truck for several years, but I did not take the highway to work, it was surface streets. Now I own an 88 4Runner with 22re, 33" mud tires, and regeared to 4.88, I do not daily drive it and probably would not love to, but mostly that's for comfort reasons. I now have a 16 mile drive to work, all highway and I have driven the 4Runner, it does fine, it will cruise at 65 nicely, maybe up to 70 if I'm really pushing it, but it doesn't like to accelerate quickly if a speed change is required. So I guess when you talk about daily driving it, you gotta kindof think about what the conditions of your commute are.

Congrats on the purchase and thanks for your service. There's a buildup section here where you can start a thread when you get back.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Nice looking truck. I have daily driven several for years. It takes some work to get one back up to shape. Stay with OEM parts, clean the Intake System, follow the Toyotas recommended maintenance steps, the sensors probably need cleaned. I show most of that in my build threads below. I did 7 deployments. When you are in them, they seem to take forever to end. When it is over it seems like the time flew by. Thanks for your service and welcome to Yotatech.

Kean

I have an '86 4Runner with a 22RE (DLX, auto). Frankly, the 22RE is relatively gutless IMO although capable of getting you from one point to another. You just need to realize that there are compromises. Mine has no problem with traveling at highway speeds, etc. but passing, climbing grades, merging on short on-ramps and similar scenarios are a different story. It’s just part of reality. On the plus side, your truck is lighter than mine and has a manual which will allow you take more advantage of the limited power. I see you also have a 2nd vehicle so that can obviously help break the monotony if you begin to feel that way.

Personally, I don't believe I could live with driving my T4R on a daily basis unless my travel was mostly local. While I do have a/c in my truck (a must in my book), I prefer other creature comforts it doesn’t have. Luckily, this is my second vehicle that I drive every 1-2 weeks so I am not dependent on it. It really boils down to a personal decision based on what you decide you can live with. I have a brother in law who is really into early Toyota trucks and that is all he will buy/drive (happily I might add). ….go figure.

Congrats on the purchase btw. It looks like it’s in great shape and I like the color. I will say there is a certain level of enjoyment driving around in a clean example of a 30 year old vehicle like this. I typically get a few looks and occasional inquiries/compliments from random folks. Even my wife likes taking to the grocery store every now and again.

RustBucket

iTrader: (1)

All a matter of perspective regarding driveability. I daily-drove my 88 4Runner with a 20mi commute for quite a while and enjoyed it. No problem keeping 70mph on the highway (steep hills excluded!)

The 22re is not "gutless" if it's running properly and you have appropriate gears for your tire combo. It has to be driven a little differently than a modern car of course. That being said, I rented a brand new Jeep Compass or whatever crossover thing with a 4-banger and a CVT and it was much more irritating to drive.

Kean

.....agreed on the matter of perspective. I say "relatively" gutless because when compared to what folks are used to today, it is. My '86 actually belonged to my father who bought it new. I drove it from time to time and even back then I remembered it being a bit of a dog. ....to the point where we did joke about it on occasion. It was well taken care of and runs quite well to this day (it was passed on to me about 3 years back). It is predictable but it simply doesn't have the power in some of those scenarios I mentioned. I just make it a point not to get myself in situations that can get me into trouble. It does have 31x10.5s mounted on aftermarket wheels the dealer put on all those years ago which admittedly doesn't help. I actually thought about trying to source some original aluminum wheels and going back to the stock size tires.

btw, I got stuck in a 2016 Jeep Patriot with that same engine/trans combo. I was ready to pull out whats left of my hair after that experience. That CVT was extremely annoying.

RustBucket

iTrader: (1)

Ha! Glad someone else has shared that experience.

If we want to be more quantitative I'd say a 22re truck realizes about a 0-60 in 15 seconds. I guess that is pretty slow

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

The automatic transmission behind the 22 or the 3.0 is a gutless combination. In some traffic conditions such as metropolitan areas, I would think the automatic is a little dangerous and in some places the standard transmission could be a little slower then I would like. In rural areas or slower traffic conditions the standard transmission is great. I drove mine 42 miles one way, 5 days a week for 5 years.