sschaefer3

One day we decided it would be nice to have a work truck around here. I always liked the early 90's Mini Pickups as they were the last of the old school truck. So the first thing we did was get a straight axle for it all the stuff to convert it over. In the mean time, it was really nice to get in and out of a stock truck and those stock size tires let the 3.0 in the little truck really go to town. So since there is no shortage of straight axle trucks around here, we decided to do something no one ever does. Leave the IFS in place and wheel it STOCK height with stock size 28" tires. The requirements were simple, it had run a 4/5 trail with a skilled driver at the controls and still be very easy to drive around on a daily basis.



1990 Toyota 4WD Mini Pickup/Standard Cab - Short Bed
3.0 Liter V6 Engine with 5-Speed Manual
ZERO 0" of lift

Engine/Exhaust:
* Stock
* Exhaust system redone custom and moved up as high as possible
* Dynamax Turbo Muffler

Tires/Wheels:
* 86-95 Stock Toyota SR5 Factory Aluminum 15"x7" Rims (6 Total, 2 Spares)
* 235/75/15 BF Goodrich Mud Terrain Tires - 28's BABY!

Skid Plates/Crossmembers/Trusses:
* Sonoran Steel IFS Truss 17"
* Custom 1/4" Aluminum Plate Front Skid Plate, 100% Aluminum including welding
* BudBuilt V6, 5-Speed T-Case Crossmember and Skid Plate
* Beefed up stock gas tank skid with 1/2" x .120 angle iron, inside and out
* Welded On Rear Shell Style Differential Guard

Drivetrain:
* Stock 4.10 Gears
* Toyota 8" V6 Electric Rear Locker from a 2001 Tacoma, Pulled at 14 miles, Retro Fit to the 1990 rear axle tube
* ARB RD90 Front Air Locker, The unit that was originally installed in my 1999 4Runner when it had IFS
* Small ARB Compressor
* Heat Treated and Cryogenically Processed Front IFS Axle Shafts
* Rear Driveshaft Re-tubed with .134 wall DOM tube
* Stock chain driven transfer case
* Stock rear axle shafts

Suspension:
* Front stock replacement Tokico Trek Master shocks
* Rear stock replacement Tokico Trek Master rear shocks (Don't laugh they have 9.5" of travel)
* Lower rear shock mounts relocated to use 100% of the rear shock stroke
* Stock front torsion bars set at the stock position
* Custom Rear Alcan Leaf Springs, 7 leafs per pack, stock replacement
* Rear U-Bolt flip kit
* Rancho FJ-40 Polyurethane bump stops, Cut out U shape was what we were after here, optimized to use the entire rear shock stroke
* 2" over stock rear shackles for added drop but, still zero 0" of rear lift

Steering:
* Total Chaos Fabrication "Caddy" Idler Arm
* FZJ-80 TRE's and 1 1/4" DOM tube sleeves, not easy to align, but ridiculously strong

Sliders/Bumpers:
* Sonoran Steel Front Valance Insert with Shackle Hangers
* Stock front bumper fully boxed for added strength
* Custom 1 3/4" DOM Tube Kick Out Sliders with 4 mounting legs to the frame, angled inner supports
* Custom wrap around rear tube bumper following the lines of the factory step bumper, keeping the license plate mounted to the bed
* Sonoran Steel Hi-Lift Jack Bed Mount with two Bicycle Mounts

Radios/Electronics:
* Cobra CB and Wilson 1000 Antenna
* Panasonic AM/FM/CD/MP3 Stereo
* Kenwood Powered Subwoofer

How about some photos?



How it started out



SR5 Wheels and the BFG Muds



Front View



Massive 28" tires



Aluminum Front Skid



Front Valance



Boxed front bumper



Front end out on the Sunflower Mine Trail



Total Chaos "Caddy" Idler Arm



IFS Truss and front skid

sschaefer3

BudBuilt cross member and transfer case



BudBuilt cross member and transfer case



BudBuilt cross member and transfer case



Gas tank skid and .134 wall DOM rear drive shaft



Custom rock sliders made from 1 3/4" DOM tube



Rock sliders follow the lines of the truck to always have the same amount of protection



Bottom view of the rock sliders



Hi-Lift mount



2001 Tacoma Electric Locker retrofit into the stock axle tube



Custom rear bumpstops

sschaefer3

Rear axle, nice and clean on the bottom



Rear Bumper



Rear Bumper



Out on the Upper Woodpecker trail



Out on the Sunflower Mine Trail



Front and Rear Locker Switches



Stereo and CB Radio



"Squeeze" on the Upper Woodpecker Trail



When you air down a 28" you had better be a good driver because your going to pay hard for any mistakes



Out on the Upper Woodpecker trail. This year the rains made the trail harder again like it was before. She really got a workout but ran it just fine. The front ARB RD-90 and Rear E-Locker are the BEST mods money can buy to make a truck wheel better.

sschaefer3

Out on the Upper Woodpecker Trail



Out on the Sunflower Mine Trail


What does the future hold? It would be nice to replace the bench seat with 2 nice bucket seats and add a center console. I'll also build a pre-runner style front tube bumper for the front someday when I get some extra time. Just a simple thing so if you hit or scrape the tube gets it, not the stock bumper.


*** Also a lot of this stuff was custom made, they are not production parts we sell. A few of these modifications were only possible though some major industry hookups. Opportunities that are not available to the general public. ***



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