Hey everybody, I recently purchaced a 1981 toyota 4x4. and im planning on building it up. Ive already put a weber on it. and plan on some new tires here in a week. i just painted it flat black three weeks ago and took it out into the mud for the first time yesterday with bald tires =) here is a pic... dave

 

Welcome aboard!

 

I have been planning on painting my 81' flat black
would you sent me some pics so I can see what it looks like?
thanks

 

welcome to the forum, its good to see people from the northwest

 

there is one attached. just do it

 

Its always great to see other real first gens on the board. I have an '81 that if flat black too. Is yours a long or short box.

 

its at short bed and came stock with 4.29's =P i plan on re gearing it anyways.

 

nope, came with 4.38s

 

Nice, makes me miss my '83 Welcome!

 

Really?? i thought i read somewhere it came with 4.29.....still not low enough in my book though. im gonna go with 5.71's =) when i get some money..

 

Welcome.

 

welcome, love the truck.

 

yep, the '79-80 4x4s all had 4.38s to make up for the higher geared 4 speed used in those years. most other years came with 4.10s, 4.30s only came in auto trucks.

 

His is an 81 though. My '81 5spd long box came with 4:10's, I think. The stock gears are still in my garage, I'll have to check and see what they are, but i thought they were 4:10's.

 

'81 was a screwy year, those trucks got 3.90 gears(yuck!)

 

its an 80....its has a 20r and they started coming with 22r's in 81 didnt they?

My bad for posting 81 up above....81 is my birth year lol.

 

I would do 5.29's but not 5.71's. I've heard the 5.71's are no good for real use. They are weak and will break much more easily than the 5.29's. Other than that

 

where did you hear that? a freind or someone on the net? this truck is going to be a trail rig only not for driving to work....so i dont mind the really low gears.. and at the most it gonna have a turbo 22r in it...

 

Are 4wd rears the same as the 2wd rears? (axle assy.)

I've been wanting taller gears for my Tonka, but can't seem to find anyone who makes taller than 4.10.

Actually I'd like some gears in teh 3.7x range, but I have this sneaking suspicion that would be just a bit too tall when loaded.

 

depends -- i am pretty sure your '76 or '77 has a plain old 8" rear end, just like a 4x4. most 2wds from the 80s on had a 7.5" rear end.

i know that most of the 2wds that came with 4 speeds from the 80s onward had 3.08 gears. i really don't know of anything in between there and the 3.90s. the 7.5 equipped trucks seemed to make up the gear gap in between, as they typically had 3.42, 3.54, or 3.73 gears.