cghollowman

So I just bought this truck a few days ago and am thoroughly impressed with it. It's a manual with the 2.4L 22RE. Paid $800 for it, it has a rough body with some crappy rust patch work on the body, rusty bumpers, and other spots but engine, transmission, clutch, and interior are in great shape. I plan on making this my mud toy/trail rider/hunting truck since my daily is a 2012 Kia Koupe This is my first import truck as my previous ones have all been American models (98 S10, 97 Ram, 89 Cherokee) and I love this little truck already. Already put a stereo and new speakers. My plans right now are to fix the little things wrong with it, do a better patch job on the body, paint the bumpers black to follow the black paint line already on it, and rattle can spray-in bed liner.

Near future plans are:

-Winch on frame plate and cut front bumper (for a semi stock look)
-32x11.5R15 Dunlop Mudders on black 15x8 4.5" BS steel wheels
-Roll bar with lights
-Custom tool box to go in between roll bar posts
-CB Radio Install
-New exhaust, nothing crazy loud but a little rumble would be nice...thinking Magnaflow or Flowmaster.

Not planning on a lift anytime soon, until suspension parts start breaking. And definitely just enjoying having a fun little 4x4 to do all kinds of outdoor activities with. Will update with new pictures as I start receiving/installing parts. Looking forward to being part of this community as I have been browsing for a few weeks now. Thanks guys!

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

That's a nice truck you have there. Heck of a deal too!! Sounds like you have some good plans for it. I think you will find out very quick how much you will love it over time.

There is alot of good information and alot of great people on here to help out with advice and problems.

Welcome.

bone collector

good looking trick. search around the build section for your type pof truck and see what others do. lots of options. Oh and welcome to YT

cghollowman

Time for a quick update...did a little off-roading at a creek near my parent's house in PA with my brother and a buddy and ended up getting stuck trying to go through a small ditch; front made it through fine but back tires sunk and front end was too high for the fronts to grab enough. Needless to say this made me change my mind on waiting for tires cause those ATs just don't grip like I need them to...had to get pulled out by a buddy with a Chevy ZR2 . Picking up some 31x11.5 Super Swamper TSL Radials in almost new condition for $400 tomorrow. Smitty XRC8 winch and Trail-Gear winch mount should be here this week as well (also would have helped getting un-stuck haha). Will be working on installing that within the next couple weeks and will update with new pictures. Definitely looking forward to having a winch and cutting/painting my front bumper . Thanks for the comments, this is definitely an awesome forum to be on.

outlawredcvyota

good cheap mud tires does wonders on these trucks if you wana keep the sound down on the road swampers and awsome in mud but kill your gas mileage and nice truck buy the way im interested to see what you do next.

cghollowman

Yeah I know Swampers are loud as hell on road, my buddy used to have boggers on his Ram. But since this is not my daily and just a mud/hunting toy and the tires I'm getting are almost new for half the price I decided to go with them. I appreciate the advice though man. I will have updates within a couple weeks.

cghollowman

Well got the new tires on and was able to test it on my girl's land and man what a difference. The new tires look awesome and grip extremely well. XRC8 winch and Trail Gear frame mount are sitting in my living room and being installed this weekend so should have some more pictures of that next week.

kornhuskerwizard

Bet that zr2 wouldnt of made it through where you got stuck, youll be pullin him out soon enough.

outlawredcvyota

oh those tires arn't as bad as i thought they look good on your truck too!

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

Tires look great!! x2 on the ZR2 Those things suck!! Get that winch on there!!!

cghollowman

Got around to installing my winch while on duty since I have a large boathouse and a large amount of tools at my disposal to work with. Went really smooth and only took a couple hours with a couple buddies helping out. Installed my XRC8 on a Trail Gear front frame mount.

Removed the useless front valence and my buddy started cutting the bumper.


Bumper all cut and ready to go, angle grinders are so useful when it comes to stuff like this!



Put a few coats of Bed Liner spray on the TG Mount to help with rust and make it look nicer.



While I was painting the TG Mount, I went ahead and sprayed the bumpers as well.



And the rear bumper.



Started to mount the winch and realized we needed a little last minute cutting to make it fit better.



All mounted up



Decided to remove the mud flaps as well, made the truck look taller and the tires look even beefier.



And all buttoned up and ready to go. Thoroughly impressed with how it looks.



And again, closer image.



Tomorrow I will be greasing the cable and testing it out. Next step is to install the control solenoid in the engine bay and mount an in-cab control.

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

Wow looks great! I like how you made it work with the stock bumper. Looks very streamlined.

outlawredcvyota

that looks good and i took my mud flaps off my truck too they were just in the way when i would wheel