YotaSyclone

Ive got a lot of editing to do, but just thought I would get this thread started. Some things may be a little out of order right now, but i am working on it. At the time i am writing this, the truck is back together and in semi drivable state, but still needs work. So heres the story:

Back in October i picked up this 1992 Toyota 4X4 Pickup Ext. Cab, manual trans, with the 3.0 engine for $1300, with only 136K Miles on it. Truck only needed a new clutch, which i replaced, and has a dent in drivers door, which i will replace. I got it from my girlfriends grandparents so they gave us quite a good deal obviously. We live in Long Barn California, which is a small town up in the Sierras at around 5000 ft elevation, which means we get several feet of snow every year. So we really needed a 4x4, and plus i ride dirt bikes and love 4 wheeling out in the forest on the trails.

During a heavy snow storm in mid February, i was driving down the mountain to pick up my girlfriend from work (she doesnt enjoy driving home in a raging blizzard at midnight). Unfortunately, about halfway down, an absolutely MASSIVE tree fell across the highway right in front of me, and i could not stop in time, and smashed into the side of it at about 20 mph. This tree was almost the diameter of my whole truck. I was extremely lucky the tree didnt fall on me, and to walk away with only minor whiplash and soar neck.

So i ended up keeping the truck and getting $3000 from the insurance. And i decided to go ahead and fix it.. without knowing the extent of the frame damage. So it begins..



Instead of freezing my ass off I sat in the snow plow while waiting for help to arrive.
Ended up using the plow to drag my truck away from the tree and out of the road.
If you look closely and compare the 2 front tires, the drivers side tire is actually kicked out compared to the passenger side. I never really figured out why, but it ended up being straight again after I got it all back together on the new frame.
Just after she arrived at my work. I work at a welding shop currently and was very fortunate to get to use the shop to rebuild the truck.
As you can see I hit that tree pretty damn hard. That tree did not move in the slightest either. I only had a split second to brace for the impact. I put both arms on the steering wheel and thankfully my chest went into my arms, and i didnt hit my face in anything. My back, neck and shoulder hurt for about a week after but it wasnt too bad.

Drivers side sagging lower due to the twist in the frame.
Cab contacting bed on passenger side. Put a small dent on the cab where the paint is chipped.
After tearing away the mangled sheet metal to find the extent of the frame damage.





Frame damage caused engine mount to completely separate

Discombobulated

Man that’s dedication!!!!!!! Way to keep it alive good luck and do keep posting progress.

YotaSyclone

Drove 2 hours to a pick n pull to strip a truck and take the frame. Pick n pull smashed the cab and bed because of some "air bag danger" and ruined what looked like a descent truck in the picture before it was smashed. The truck didnt even have an air bag.






Pick n pull were of absolutely NO HELP. They wouldnt pick the frame out of the tight spot with one of the big fork lifts that were driving around. So it was a pain in the ass to get it out of there. They wouldnt even let us pull our truck and trailer back there to load it up. They even tried to charge me for the mangled wiring and brake lines still stuck to the frame, so we had to pull that garbage off even though it would have gone in the trash. So we decided to leave the cab with the engine and trans on the roof, in the middle of the yard for them to clean up. It looks just like it was dropped on the roof. LOL. This is why i hate wrecking yards.



Took us 5.5 hours to strip that truck to the bare frame. Couldnt have done it without a couple friends and brothers of course.




Cut the old frame vin out and fabbed it into the new frame lol


Frame all cleaned up, primed, and repainted.







Starting to look like a truck again!

YotaSyclone

Doner 4Runner front end














Ended up getting a Non power steering shaft for my power steering truck. Had to shorten it about 9 inches.





RIP Original frame

Got some plans for the rear half of the frame

Whats left of the mangled sheet metal from the wreck

YotaSyclone

Did not expect a snowy memorial day weekend.

So I took the truck down a trail near my house just to test things out. The truck did great aside from it idling really high and rpms fluctuating. The truck is also hard to get started when cold. It took me about 5 mins to get the thing started. Once it finally started it was barely running for a few seconds, before i got the rpms up by giving it gas, and it smoothed out. Then it would idle around 1200-1500 rpms. Im not sure why it is doing this, because it ran and started perfectly fine before the wreck. Ive got all the vacuum lines connected and in the correct place, and all of the electrical connectors connected, EXCEPT the coolant temp sensor on the back top of the engine. I left that unplugged because the engine made and awful noise from the passenger side. Almost like i disconnected the muffler or something. It just got alot loader. I have no idea why it did that, but ive got a CEL on because its not connected.

UPDATE: So the strange noise was coming from the PAIR Valve because i forgot to connect the hose that goes to it. After absolute Hell getting that hose back on, the strange noise is gone and my CEL is off now that ive got the temp sensor connected. I believe it fixed the hard to start issue, but of course it didnt fix the fluctuating high idle problem.