Thoryota

Been lurking for a while here on Yotatech and I like what I see. Been going through build threads and I figured I should join and start a build thread on my truck. This build will be a long and slow one so please bare with me.

The truck in question is a 94 shortbed 4x4 I picked up from my neighbor about a month ago. I have been trying to buy this particular truck since the day he bought it. He finally broke down and went to the dark side and bought a heep. So now that the heep was taking up his driveway the yota had to go. I bought the truck for 2 grand. It does have some issues though. The drivers do will not unlock with the key and the dash panel that goes over the gauge cluster is missing. I have noticed this with quite a few toyotas from this era, so its no biggie. This truck has the 22re with a W56 trans, 410 gears and 31'' tires. As of last night I have 208,000 miles on her. Also with in the last year and a half the rear end got new bearings, seals and fresh gear oil. The disc and drum brakes are new with in the last year as well.

Here is the thing everyone likes, the pictures.

The first few pictures are from when I first got it. They were taken at my neighbors house.



This is the only real rust in the whole truck. The frame is super clean. The truck came from the Martinsville/Danville VA area so its not eat up with rust.


About a week after I got the truck I took it to a friends house and played in his back yard. The yota did really good in the mud.





After 10 dollars at the car wash, it looks pretty good.



This is the latest picture of the truck. This picture was taken last night. The roll bar I got from a friend of mine for free. Can't beat free toyota stuff.


Any how this is all I have for now. Keep in mind this build will be a long one. I will be working on the truck as money and time comes in. Please feel free to comment ask questions etc.

Orion22rte

That's a nice looking truck! That's a steal around here, nc area. What do you have planned for it? Heavy trails, mud, rocks, sand? Anything particular? Or just whatever you come across?

Thoryota

Thanks Orion. I am digging your truck btw. My neighbor gave me the good neighbor to neighbor deal. He was going to sell it for 3000 dollars but he knew I always said I will be the first one to buy it if you decide to sell.

I am going to keep it mostly stock for now. I do a few trails and the occasional mud hole but nothing to extreme. I am planing on cutting what little rust out of the truck and welding in some new metal when I get the time. I do want to hang an ARB winch bumper on the front and build something for the rear. I am planing on building some sliders in the future. In the next few years I am going to put some air lockers under it. So far I haven't needed them but I know there will be a day that they will be needed.

Thoryota

Ok so its been a few days since I last posted anything about the truck. The truck has been doing great mechanically. I started poking at the rust behind the drivers side tire and I made the rust hole worse. I was planing on cutting the rust out and welding in a patch panel but I was hoping to wait to do it. Any how here is a picture of the rust from a month ago and as of today.

Before I got bored.

And after. I know that these trucks are known to rust out from the cab back but I want to keep this thing rust free as possible. Maybe I am asking to much.

I think with the new weight reduction I might be able to go 65mph.

Orion22rte

Lol, yeah I've made that mistake before. But if that's the worst bit of rust I think your doin pretty good! Looking forward to seeing it built!

Thoryota

Thanks Orion. I need something to do so I don't keep picking at it and making it worse. This is the biggest patch of rust in the whole truck. I have a pin hole above the left rear tire and a small hole in the driver side inner fender. I am going to just get a new inner fender when I get the money saved up. If I wait till the fall I can just weld up a patch panel in my schools welding shop. I don't think my teacher will mind to much. I mean we did a full frame rail replacement on a Dart last year.

I am still coming up with ideas on how I want to build this thing. I picked up a spare tire carrier off of a International Scout 800 we used to have. I am thinking about making it work on the back of the yota. I want to build a bumper with a swing out tire carrier kinda like a jeep. As for the front I am planing on building an ARB style bumper. I got lots of ideas in my head but I don't know how to describe them. If that makes sense.

Orion22rte

Oh trust me, I think everybody has big plans and ideas for their yotas. I know I sure do! I'm liking the spare tire swing idea. Sorta like some of the 1152's I used to work on

It's a cool idea and it would definitely be different. I'm also contemplating building a front winch bumper.. Not really sure on how much my teacher will let me get away with though lol

Thoryota

I really like that swing out tire carrier. That is pretty close to what I have for an idea. I believe there is a guy on here forgot his username that has a swing out tire carrier on his truck. It looks really good. Looking over his build thread gave me some ideas.

I would go with a winch bumper just because you never know when you will need the winch. I need to build one for my truck being that my friends have allready designated me is their recovery vehicle. Luckily their stuff is smaller and lighter than what I have.

I have a pretty laid back welding teacher. As long as what ever we do can be used as a teaching experience, he will let us do it.

Combat Vet

Saw ya guys talking about the spare tore carriers.. And I have to say that I'm pleased with mine i got it from a stock runner from the same gen. I say go for it it isn't that difficult of a project

Thoryota

I really like that set up your running Combat Vet. I like what I can see of the rest of your truck as well. Looks like I need to find a runner to steal parts off of.

Combat Vet I got a question for you... Would you mind getting me some pictures of how your carrier mounts to your truck? It would be greatly appreciated if you could do that.

Combat Vet

There is a full write up in the tech section or you can search it by my name. I had to fabricate the brackets because I could not find any four runner ones around here...

Thoryota

Thank you Combat Vet. I am going to look for it and see what I can come up with.

Combat Vet

Not a problem if you cannot find it let me know I also have pictures in my profile. Also if you have any questions I'm more than willing to answer them.

Thoryota

Will do man will do. I am looking for it but I haven't found it yet. I might not be looking hard enough. Any how I am going to go snap a picture or two of the tire carrier I got off of the Scout.

Thoryota

Here is some pictures of the tire carrier I got off the Scout. I do apologize about the picture quality, my camera does not like rain for some reason. Any how I have to figure out how this thing mounted on the Scout. I want to mount it side ways so it could swing out and away from the tailgate. I believe on the Scout it swung down with the tailgate but I am not 100 percent sure on that.

Combat Vet

Http://www.yotatech.com/f166/spare-t...ickup-2070030/

Combat Vet

Http://www.yotatech.com/showthread.p...ferreid=120993

Thoryota

It works. This is going to help me a lot in the coming weeks.

Combat Vet

Mine was off a runner of the same gen as my pick up so it fit like a glove.. Good luck with yours and keep us updated.. I'm kinda stoked to see how that works with the scout carrier.

Thoryota

It should work with some modification. Its the only thing left of the old Scout so I want to put it to good use. I tripped over it in the back yard and thought ''this might work on the yota''. I might have to build a bumper and a frame for it to work but thats going to be a fun project. I was planing on building a bumper any how so if I can combine the two it will be a win win situation all around. If it doesn't work I will scour all the yards around her for a runner. Not to many around so I might just have to build something from scratch. It will be fun though.