TheRevenant

Allright, after a long summer of building, a nerve racking drive cross country, and a month and a half to get myself in order at school, i'm ready to post up my build of one of the few toyota 4x4 1-ton dually solid front axle trucks out there. I call it The Revenant (a-la my name).


I built this truck using (almost) two doner trucks. A rusted out 84' ex-cab 4x4 with a relatively good chassis, which donated it's chassis, transmission, t-case, front axle, drive-lines, and a few other things; and an '87 2wd which donated it's body, engine, fuel tank, and wiring. I got the rear axle and 1-ton springs out of a scrap yard and the front fenders off craigslist. This was very much a build on the cheap, I spent about 6K on everything (both trucks, all the parts, and tools). As such there is a lot of room for further modification and improvement, and i plan to do so as funds and time allow, but as it is its pretty awesome.

My process was to tear everything down, swap what needed swapping, and put everything back together only replacing worn out components. I did however throw in some '86 MR2 seats because the seats that came with the 4x4 were worn and broken and i didn't want the bench from the 2wd. right now i'm running 27in tires and the stock 4:10 gearing. I just made the rear fenders myself using some sheet metal, I plan for them to be temporary for now until i get some diamond plate and time to weld up something better. paint is just flat black rattle can (remember this rig was built on a budget)

My process in a nutshell:
-gut cab, clean dash components
-tear down, clean, and rebuild front axle, install new break package
-swap in 1-ton rear axle (previously rebuilt about 8 months ago and was run on the 2wd truck for about 6 months)
-remove 22R carburated engine and gut engine bay
-swap in 22R-E and related components
-swap out and re-do entire wiring harness
-swap out bed and gas tank
-fix exhaust (dumps out a turn down just behind the cab)

here are some fun facts about 2nd gen toyota trucks that i found out as i built this rig, the chassis on these trucks (2wd and 4x4) are the exact same box frame construction found on the 1-ton trucks, with similar wall thicknesses, which means these trucks are only rated 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton because that's what the axle is rated. so really all these trucks have 1-ton chassis even if they aren't spec-ed as such. Another fun fact, the 1-ton axle bolts right in to both 2wd trucks and 4x4 trucks, the only thing about the 4x4 trucks is that you have to either forgo e-brakes or buy a drive-line disk brake kit because the 1-ton comes set up for 2wd style e-braking mechanisms. the diff in the 1-ton is the exact same diff you find in your standard 4x4 rear axle (the toyota 8in ring gear), i swapped in the original diff from '84 into the 1-ton axle (which is off a '90)so that i would have the same ratios front and back. no issues. I was actually surprised at how interchangeable all the parts were, i had very few issues making components fit. the only down side is that the rear rides about an inch lower than the standard 4x4 rear end (no load in the bed)

anyways i have the beginnings of an album here on yotatech: https://www.yotatech.com/members/the...+revenant.html
you can see some of what i did. i'm not sure how many other trucks like mine are out there, doing a google image search i only found this one:
http://roundmountain-nv.classifiedsk...ck_307138.html
which is an IFS and not a solid axle front end like mine

i'll post more pics as i have time, or if you want to see something specific feel free to ask. Let me know what you think

kyleb57

Love this idea!!! Keep up the build!!!

dsal_86Yota

SWEET RIG!!! Post lots of pics!! Something I have wanted to do for a long time.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

How are.you handling the spare tire situation since you have two different bolt patterns?

TheRevenant

Glad some people like it, I probably won't have too much time to add anything to it for at least the next few months.

dropzone: i keep a spare for the front wheels, but currently have no spare for the rears, still hunting around for a fifth dually rim, but it's not a major issue, because if a rear tire blows i still have three good ones on the ground back there, and at that point i would probably head straight to a tire center

17toyotaman

Very cool! Quick question though, why don't you just use a dually bed?

dsal_86Yota

What kind of rear axle you using?

TheRevenant

17toyotaman - The dually beds are wicked hard to find, none of the scrap yards near where i lived when building this truck had any, but it would be real awesome to get my hands on one and put it on the truck

dsal 86yota - I am using the toyota full float 1-ton dually rear axle, it was sold on toyota motor homes, some models of long chassis flatbed trucks, and the toyota U-Haul trucks, I had to hunt around to find it, but they do exist.
here is a pic of the 1-ton axle compared to the stock '84 4x4 rear axle:

t_tentech

That is interesting....

peabody

iTrader: (1)

Intriguing. My 92 dually is undergoing an un-build. Swiss cheese frame. Other than swapping radiator and master cylinder into my 1st gen 4runner, I wondered what to do with at all. Now, your idea looks like fun. So, you took the 4.3 out and put the stock 4.1 back in the dually axle to match ratios, right? And, bolting right up means, to the driveshaft? I wonder, too, if you could swap a front disc brake dually set-up in place of the rear dually drum? The dually bed from mine is a 7'x10' dance floor. I've seen smaller dually flat beds, however, which would be more appropriate (I think) for your 1st gen chassis.

daswampdaddy

Great idea, 6 wheel drive!

TheRevenant

Daswampdaddy - Yeah six wheel drive is great, i can really use all the torque i get from the 22 RE, it used to just spin my rear wheels everytime i would start, now with the extra traction i just launch.

Peabody - Yes, the daully axle will swap right into a regular truck (I imagine this should work for 4-runner too, but don't hold me to it) the 4.1 i swapped into the dually axle was out of the '84 i got my front axle out of and my dually axle is a '90 so you should be fine, when i say bolting right up i do mean the drive shaft bolts right up, and the 1-ton leaf springs also bolt up if you want to keep those. if not then you should get a lift kit because it is the strong curvature of those 1-ton leaf springs that keep my ride height similar to a regular 4x4, since the dually mounts it's springs below the axle like the 2wd trucks rather than on top of the axle like the 4x4 trucks. i'm not sure the disk brakes will swap that easily, because i'm not sure how the calipers on those would mount, also the dually drum is attached to the back of the hub and uses different bolts from the wheel lugs. it's really strange if you haven't taken it apart before. so i'm also not sure how easily rotors would mount, but if you do figure something out please share, i would like to get or make disks for mine eventually. If you have any other questions or want more pictures please feel free to ask. good luck if you do decide to build one

peabody

iTrader: (1)

The rear hub is weird - not used to it. The front - I dumbly thought all v6 calipers were the same and it would go on my 4runner. It doesn't match visually other v6 calipers. Pretty hefty.
http://s1277.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=3&o=2

Gravy2

strange but cool

yotasavg

way cool build!

82 yotacrawler

dude this is one of the coolst ideas ever

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

This is so BadA$$. How did I not find this thread sooner??

kornhuskerwizard

Yes most definetly a unique build

aviator

Looks interesting...

Dreidel

ive always wondered this but i havent seen anybody mention it but could a guy take the front hubs off the front of a dually truck and put them inplace of regular sfa one kinda like the ifs hub mod? that would solve your different bolt pattern