Sudstoy

Hello everyone, i just purchased my first offroad truck. Up until this point it has always been dirtbikes, quads, my rhino, or sleds so having a larger rig is going to take some time to get used to and i am sure figuring out what it can take in the bush will require a few dollars.

I must say that i dont know Toyotas...yet, so i may post something that is incorrect. If i do, please let me know as it will be a learning curve for myself.

The rigs specs are as follows:
1984 Toyota Extend-a-cab
It supposively has a 1969 Oldsmobile 350 rocket engine (wont know until i get under the hood run some casting numbers)
TH350 Trans
NP205 Transfercase (will be posting some pictures in a bit, i think its a GM but am not 100%)
Stock diffs
38.5x11 Super Swamper Boggers

I purchased the truck in hopes that it was going to be a budget project that i could beat up in the bush. Took me approximately 30 seconds after i unstrapped it from my trailer to figure out it wasnt going to be.

Ill post some pictures before i start to explain

The day i picked it up

Sudstoy

I brought it home and put on the hood and doors, this is what it looks like together.

Sudstoy

So when i bought it i knew it had a noise coming from the front end, other then that it was supposed to be good to go. Not the case...

So into the shop

Sudstoy

I had noticed when i pulled it off the trailer that something felt weird in reverse. After moving it around a couple times reverse was completely gone. Heres a quick picture of the bottom of the tranny pan, i think i found the reason it doesnt back up very well.



When my buddy and i tore down the trans all of the clutches in the reverse drum were toast. The rebuild includes new oil pump, all new high energy clutches, hi temp steels, 4x4 shift kit, new governor, and a new torque convertor. Everything should work nice now.

B-yodaful

How radiators batman
I have never seen that way of mounting before


Good luck

Sudstoy

Also tore down the front end to find out what the noise was, the story i got was the previous owner was wheeling and all of a sudden it started to make noise. When i tore out the third member the pinion was in too far and had cut grooves into the carrier. I ordered an install kit from trail gear before i started the tear down becasue i figured it was just improper setup. We took a mesh pattern and it was way out. After screwing around and trying everything we could it was concluded that they were the wrong gears installed in it. I do not have pictures of mesh pattern.

The unit came with two brand new sets of 5.29 gears. We swapped out the 4:30 gears on the front third member with the new gears and had a mesh pattern that was more then acceptable for a daily driver. Because im going to be bagging on this truck i wasnt happy, I then decided that i wanted a locking front end and a spool would allow me to bring the pinion all the way in and get a nice deep mesh pattern that should hold together well in the bush. I also ordered all the seals and bearings for the entire front end.

I have since come back to work so the project is on hold, when i get home at the start of june all my parts should be in as well as my new 8000 pound smittybilt winch.

I dont know where this project is headed or what i am going to do with it. I do have alot of electrical ideas as well as interior trim. I will post more pictures of the truck when i get home. Until then if anyone has any questions or suggestions please let me know.

This truck is only used for offroad and playing in the mud.

Thanks

Sudstoy

Yeah im happy that this was done before i bought the truck as i would need to do it myself anyways. Where we ride there is extremely deep mud holes, most of which will swallow my truck. I need to work on the electronics for the fans as they dont seem to be spinning fast enough. The rads are plumbed in series so i should have to much of a problem right away.

warmonger88

How much did you pick it up for, if you don't mind me asking? I really like the bed and rear cage, nice front bumper too.

775Toy

Looks like its gonna be a fun one. I agree with last post , front bumper is awesome.

Sudstoy

I picked it up for $3800 which to me was a steal. Around here you are usually looking at 5k for a decent rig. My best friend is a mechanic so i get some pretty smoking deals.

I am probably into it for around $5500 now, that includes the full trans rebuild, spools front and rear, full seal, bearing and gasket kit front and rear, diff rebuild kit front and rear and new fluids for diffs, transfer case and transmission. Add on another $350 for the Smittybilt winch shipped to my door.

I like the look of the front bumper, when i get home from work i plan on scuffing it down and repainting it with black rock gaurd to make it look a little nicer. My only issue with the front bumper is it is welded directly to the frame of the truck.

I will also take some pictures of the inside when i get home, its all tubed in around the dash and down the center console, i plan on sheeting it in with aluminum and adding gauges and marine sealed switches. I can gauruntee this truck will be soaked more then once as all we pretty much do around here is mud. The lights on the front of the truck were already ran to relays just missing some switches. I messed around with the wiring and fixed some of the mistakes that the PO had made. The lights do work but i need to run switch legs. I want to move the relays into the cabin though as the existing ones are pretty corroded and melted but somehow still are working.

For the last 4 or 5 years i have been riding a yamaha rhino, i plan on buying my electrical components from www.blackrhinoperformance.com as they have a decent price on the peices i want to install. I plan on mounting a volt meter, engine temp and oil pressure gauges as well because i have a nice left over mounting plate from my rhino. I would like to run a new fuse panel and grounding block as well, looking at it now im probably looking at around another $500 for the electronics i want.

Its a good project for me with still a ton to learn. If i can be in a totally outfitted rig for around $7000 that will be acceptable.

As for the bars on the back, im not a huge fan. I would like to move the rads in behind the back window and cut most of the back end of the rack off. Make it look more like a buggy but i dont know when or if i will get to that. Im home from work on June 4th and plan on being out wheeling that weekend to try it out.

Thanks for the comments and sorry for rambling on

WILDCATROCKMACHINE

Nice rig man i dig the cage on the back. I am thinking of wrapping something like that around my bed. It will be a beast one way or another. Happy Trails

Sudstoy

Does anyone know if this is a GM transfercase? I really want to buy twin sticks but i dont feel like blowing $250 on the wrong parts. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Sudstoy

This is the gauge/switch panel i have, still need to buy the switches and gauges

Sudstoy

Not many followers on this thread but a chat forum is for posting updates so here goes.

Since I am at work it seems like i have alot of time to think about the rig, my budget build is slowly creeping up over not being a budget build anymore.

Once i get home i will need to clean up that rusty old bumper and paint it with rock gaurd. I had a look and even though it is welded to the front frame of the truck I believe the job was quality enough to hold a winch. I ordered up a Smittybilt XRC 8. Living in Canada prices for this crap is too expensive as i got a quote for $600 on special at one place and $550 using by buddies account at his vendor. I got the winch shipped to Canada for less the $350 so i am happy with the purchase.

I also ordered six marine switches from blackrhinoperformance.com to fit in my gauge/switch cluster. I got white faced Jegs gauges for volts, engine temperature and oil pressure. I also ordered a bunch of waterproof relays and relay bases (the part with the wires) and a mess of heat shrinkable butt connectors. The last electrical item i ordered was a grounding block as i will have a hard time finding good grounds i think inside of the cab. I have room for six switches and at this time i think i will run the following:

Winch control so i dont have to always plug in the remote
Front bumper light switch
Hood light switch
Manual override electric rad fan switch
Two roll bar mounted back up lights
Interior light

I am hoping that this will clean everything up inside of the cab

I have been told that toyotas brakes are notoriously bad but i think mine are terrible. When i pulled off the front driver brake line it was completely dry, not a single drop of brake fluid. When i get home i will be bleeding all four corners and checking for other leaks. Another item i have to check for is a vacuum leak. I went with the assumption that the cam installed in the 350 lowered the vacuum to the point of killing the brakes so i ordered a vacuum canister and gauge in hopes of fixing the problem the cheap way.

I should have a nice mess of parts when i get home!

Also this truck has a cd deck mounted on a bar near the roof, the cd player only plays CDs and i dont have any so i ordered a marine deck with USB and auxillary inputs.

EFI85

awesome !! keep up with the updates . I cant ID the xfercase for ya but im interested in watching the progress of your build .

Sudstoy

Well parts have started rolling in. Here is my trail gear stuff, everything else is supposed to arrive on the 23rd and 24th. Cant wait to get it running again, hoping it will take two or three days tops.

warmonger88

I love it when a box that sexy shows up on my doorstep!

Sudstoy

In the next couple days there should be a few more that look just as good! Im on the other side of the globe right now (i mean this quite literally, 12 hours time difference) and it makes it kinda hard to be at work,

What does everyone think of repainting the cab a dark gloss black with white front bush bumper and white rear rack? Remember, this is strictly an off road rig and will be spray bombed but im thinking white would look pretty sharp. The yellow HAS to go. I want to try and pull the dents somewhat and splash the cab, im thinking if i take my time i could make it look half ass decent.

Tell me what you think...

Cedge208

Fresh paint makes a world of difference. I think it would look great with the black and white, very clean. What ever color you choose would beat the yellow / rust combo.

This thing is a beast! keep up the good work

Sudstoy

I think i may go with the black and white and if it doesnt look good ill just scuff it and paint the bars with rock gaurd like i originally had planned.

Anyways a couple more items rolled in today.

Vacuum canister, vacuum gauge, volt gauge, oil pressure gauge and water temp gauge! They are cheap gauges but chances are ill wreck some of them bagging anyways so they will look nice for a while hopefully.
Should have another order coming today, one tomorrow and then one that i dont know of becuase i have no tracking number on it.