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I started looking for a decent Toyota pickup in 2009. After driving all over NE Ohio and looking at a bunch of rusted out frames, cabs and beds, I took a break from the search but still browsed craigslist/ebay from time to time.
In Dec 2010, I was browsing ebay and found this 1985 2-3 miles from my house! I looked at the truck and the frame was the best looking old toyota frame I have ever seen in Ohio, so I bought it! It was a little more built than I wanted/needed, but for the price, I couldn't pass it up. The guy took excellent care of it and hardly used it after building it.
22R, 5 speed
166000 mi.
35" Dick Cepek Mud Country tires
5.29 gears
1988 rear axle (wider) w/ARB air locker
Front axle has a Aussie locker
Sky offroad widening kit with '86 IFS hubs (wider front track)
land cruiser vented rotors and v6 4runner calipers
Front Range offroad twinstick
Procomp 4" suspension lift
2" 4crawler body lift on the cab
home made lift on the bed
frame coated with with POR15
You can hear the engine starting to make some noise there...
When I was washing the mud out of the frame, I saw the water gushing out of the frame.... there was a thin spot on the inner frame rails that cracked- on both sides!
If you've ever been to Wellsville, you'll probably agree that the truck was a little too nice to take down there. It was my first time and I found out very fast! I came back with a bent up bumper, cracked tail light, dent in lower bed corner, and a new dent in drivers door. But it was fun as hell
/6thGearAdvertising#grid/user/1C4F5ACAE343C130Here's all the videos from offroading if you want to see more. There was a 1971 Toyota FJ40 and a few Samurai's and a RZR. THere's a roll over in one of the vids.
So I was browsing around craigslist and came across this 1987 Yota, completely rotted frame, ran good, and also had a Fiberglass Bed! I wanted that bed, as the seam on my metal bed was already starting to bubble up.
So I bought it!
Then I took the rest of the 86 to scrap.
Next, I got busy with the '87:
Did a quick spray on the bed and put it on before winter hit:
(also one of few pics I have with the 33x10.5 tires / stock allows mounted)
I continued driving the truck 100 mi/day for work and finally bought another vehicle to drive daily in summer 2012.
Took the truck to Southington Offroad Park in summer 2012.
It's not as extreme as Wellsville, so I didn't bother taking the bed off, putting on the cut fenders or my old beat up bumper. Also didn't have a trailer lined up so we chanced it and drove (1.5 hr each way) and tried not to break anything while there.
The first trail I picked to go on turned out to be the worst lol
Getting stuck in a big mud hole- Video:
I didn't do any wheeling in 2013.
These days I might get to take the truck on a weekend offroad adventure once a year, if I'm lucky. It was looking pretty rough from the first few years I owned it:
Rolling on the daily 33" all-terrains
I took it to Wellsville once last year (2014):
Then I parked it for winter and started catching up on maintenance. I also decided this truck deserved some fresh paint for its 30th birthday. I did a walk-around video before taking it to the paint booth...
The wheels are painted with Dupli-color Bronze wheel paint. They were black with a silver 'beadlock' ring before. I wasn't sure if the red ring would be overkill, but now I think it looks perfect.
Tan bedliner to match the interior & bronze wheels.
When you paint a truck, all the black plastic suddenly looks 2x as bad/old. So I painted the grill & trim as well.
Seeing daylight for the first time since paint.
Yes, I am still going to have fun with the truck
It's built to go off-road. I'm not going to be as crazy/stupid as I used to be though. No more scrubbing it up against tree trunks - if it looks questionable, I'll stick to the main trails and watch other people break their stuff.
It's a transition from driving what looks like a beat up old work truck to a shiny red 30 yr old 4x4. I'm definitely not used to everyone looking at it - or having it look like a mall crawler.
Thanks for all the comments guys. I will admit, it's my job to make vehicles look better in pictures than they are in real life. With that being said, there is some orange peel on the doors and bed that you can't really see in the pics.
We ran out of time @ the paint booth and only had time to color sand & re-spray the front clip and tail gate, since there was some dirt on those panels. The truck has no clear coat. The areas we color sanded came out so good, we didn't want to risk any more dirt getting in the paint when clear coating. I do plan on carefully taking some 1200, 1500 & 2000 grit to the doors and bed sides when I get some time and polishing it up to look as good as the front & tailgate. The rear 3rd member started leaving a drop or 2 on the ground, so it's parked in the garage until I have a chance to do that.
Okay, I've seen your channel on YouTube and I have been admiring your work for a while now. I am also from the Rust Belt, upper Midwest. We have a different approach to these things compared to the folks out west and down South. I have posted my pictures in this forum and noted how shocked and amazed those folks are when they see what we're up against. But I for one get quite a bit of enjoyment out of bringing some of these trucks back from the brink.
I have a 1993 extra cab that started life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and I have a 1989 4 runner that spent the first 14 years of its life in California. I am always working to preserve and improve those trucks, but now I am thinking of taking on the most extensive restoration job of my life.
I bought a 1984 extra cab in 1990 in the bay area in California. I drove the truck for 20 years, five in California and 15 in Wisconsin. In 2010 I parked it at a friends farm with more than 250,000 miles on it. I made extensive repairs on the frame in 2005 which let me continue driving it until 2010. While I've owned it I've gone through two beds. I installed an R151F transmission and transfer case, a 1986 rear axle, did the Land Cruiser brake upgrade, did the Zuk Mod to my rear springs, installed some excellent Toyota Celica seats and replaced the entire wiring harness and the fuel system so that I could make the conversion from a caruerated 22R to a fuel injected 22RE. I used the truck to carry hundreds of pounds of carpentry tools on a daily basis and pulled a small trailer regularly.
When I parked it I had no real plans for it. Mostly I thought it would be a parts truck. I sold off the R151F and transfer case, grabbed the rear axle for use on my 93 and the front fenders are on my 4runner. Just a couple of weeks ago I was contemplating cutting the cab up so that I could haul it to the scrap yard. But then I saw your videos again, that got me thinking. This week I was going through some hundreds of pictures of 4 x 4 Toyotas when I stumbled across this picture.
... and decided on the spot that my truck would be an excellent candidate for a build like that. It would be perfect for me. My 93 is the street driven daily driver type of truck on 32 inch tires. My 4runner is a trail oriented IFS rig on 33 inch tires and this truck would be my crawler with 1 ton axles on 37's or bigger.
. So now let me show you what I have to work with:
The floor and the front of the foot well just below and to the left of the clutch pedal is rusted out. I could kick a hole through it that would probably allow my whole foot to pass through it. The cab mount by the driver's foot well is gone, the rocker panels are full of holes and the cab corners are rusted about 8 inches up. I forgot to look at the rear cab mounts, but I would not be surprised if they need to be replaced as well. The good news is that the front of the truck under the hood is in good shape. The inner fenders, where they join the firewall have only some light surface rust. Even the area under the battery tray is free of perforations, and the radiator core support looks good too. Of course it will need a frame, some doors, a couple of fenders a hood and a bed. I've got a hood and one door and finding the rest will be half of the fun.
Thanks for inspiring me with the good work you've done on your awesome red Xtra Cab.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 05-08-2018 at 09:47 PM.
It’s great to see this thread resurrected. I don’t have my 84 anymore, but I still have a first generation 4runner and I have gained a 3rd gen 4runner. You inspire me.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 12-10-2019 at 07:36 AM.
06-25-2015, 05:51 AM
