Junkers88

Today I got asked why I dropped thousands of dollars into a 20+ year old vehicle. My response was "I know it'll get me there and back." The guy, after we had been talking for a while, got in his H3 and drove off shaking his head. I guess I should have said "Why would you drop 30,000+ on something you can't take off the street?". My mistake but it got me to thinking.

Why would I drop thousands of dollars into a 20+ year old vehicle??????


I think it comes down to finding a reliable platform. I mean the Toyota has been around for a long time. Straight axles, IFS, 2 wheel and 4 wheel drive, trucks and cars, they tend to weather the elements and horrible owners better than most. Of course our 22 series motors aren't Chevy 350's that can be tuned to insane horse power, neither are they Cummins diesels that can run up to 1500lbs of torque on a common rail system.

So what is it?

Economy? Nice bonus but not everything.

Longevity? Again nice bonus but not the cats meow.

Parts availability? Not bad unless you have to replace an OEM TPS or AFM.

So what makes folks buy a broken down 1986 Toyota pickup truck and see in that dented, worn out, tired, abused platform a vehicle that will do what he wants-when he wants and ask for more?

Let me tell you why I made this decision and if you feel generous tell me yours.


I bought this because of two things. The price was right at 2500$ and my wifes family runs nothing but Toyotas. Even the camp rigs are pre 86 pickups and we can't kill the damn things.

So I pulled up in front of a house and here sits my future rig. It won't idle, radiator leaks, oil is low, tires are bald and it's in dire need of a hug........ so I bought it.

Well I get her home and replaced the rad, coolant, a few belts etc.... and dropped her off at a local shop to fix the idle. They replaced the cap, wires, plugs etc and did an oil change and diagnostic to the tune of 300$. It idled worse afterwards, never been back.

I found this forum and adjusted the TPS, AFM, cleaned the TB, replaced an 02 sensor, one injector etc and ran some Seafoam through it. The Seafoam showed me the 3.15$ busted intake gasket that caused the bad idle (hind sight and all that). Replaced the gasket and I'm getting 25mpg.

Thus begins the addiction. I figure hell I can probably get some bigger meats and re-gear this thing for a good beginning on a survival rig....... You can laugh now because you've all been there and we can all thank Zuk for his great right ups and wonderful web site.

To date I've got just under 6000$ in this thing including buy in. Radiator, alternator, belts, fluids, 4.56 gears, Aussie locker in the rear (Matt16 this is partly your fault), Treadwright 31's, O2, injector, windshield and Marlin Crawler bumpers. I actually consider it to be a darn good rig that I have faith in whether I'm running to the store or hitting the lake to find a back trail to the fishing spot.

So when it comes to a reliable platform for a build why did YOU choose Toyota? Or did it choose you?

Rant over.
Ricky.

jason191918

First of all and

When I was 15, my mom's cousin sold me the truck for 1500 bones. Had about 250,000 but ran great. No real problems yet and I am well over 300,000 miles, most of which have been through WI and MI winters, wheeling, as well as long hauls to Milwaukee and back. Not to mention hauling the snowmobile around and plowing snow. All in all, pretty sure I got my 1500 dollars back, and then some.

76ANTHONY

i always tell them, shiattttt i drop more than that on my wife and she 25

874runnersr5

its so true thoe, my 87 4runner is my first car right, everyone asks me why would i buy something like this with 389000 km's? and you cant really explain why, its like theres some force with these yota's
hmm, i love mine haha

algranger

i got my first, an 86, 2 years ago when i was 15 it barley ran if you were lucky, looked like crap, had only headers, bald tires, rims didnt match only turned over half the time you wanted it too, seats were torn to crap, missing a drivers door weatherstrip and had a fair amount of rust. at that point i knew nothing about it except it had potential and i wanted to learn. so $975 and i was on my way home. fixed it all up spray painted it dumped in thousands (worked my ass of for it) and had a damn beautiful truck. now i have 4 toyotas an 80 2wd an 85 2wd an 84 4wd and of course the 86 4wd and i still want more im saving for a 1st gen 4wd i now have the disease, im addicted to them, working on them, driving them, being around them, talking about them, watching them or doing anything that has to do with them they are my true passion I LOVE MY TOYOTAS!! ...so thats my story

kcrunner

Maybe some of the "older" fellas (and the three lassie's on this board) can relate to my situation:

Had a brand new 04' Tacoma TRD, blah, blah, blah, awesome truck. Went through a divorce and realized it was pretty much stupid to buy a BRAND NEW truck off the showroom floor (not the cause of the divorce, but I did love my truck more than her), when all I was going to do was use it for work, and a daily driver.

Sold it, knew exactly what I wanted. Bought a 1st gen 4Runner in great shape, BECAUSE, they're still great with all those miles and years.

It came down to money.

toyotatom93

Honestly for me they just look the coolest. Maybe it was back to the future that made me fall in love with them when I was like 11, been hooked ever since.
The reliability, simplicity, high resale and character these trucks have is a bonus.

TORTIS

iTrader: (1)

because it is still paid for, even after spending 3 grand on gears, lockers, tires, t-chain, brakes, stereo system, spring swap, and head gasket.

stormin94

Mine's not 20 years old, but I like new cars, but I like the fact that my 14 year old rig is paid off, and still has lots of life left in it. Definitely not a bad investment.

I think it's a safe assumption that there are more than a few people on this board, that have older Toyotas, just because they like them, even though they can afford to buy something new(er).

abecedarian

I bought my 88 runner for 1600 with 220,000 on the odo. the 91 I inherited with 92,000 on the odo.
I put money into them because I like the trucks. the engine is based on an industrial engine design, which is why they last so long.
the body design- visually keen. not too high on the front, doesn't look heavy like a mazda, ford, mitsu, chev, isuwuwu (lol).
higher resale value compared to the other options.
why not put some extra into it?
I'd rather put 5000 into a truck that'll last 10 years and still sell for 5000 than put 5000 into a truck, another 2000 two years later... and so on, for a truck that'll go for 1200 OBO.

corax

if you are patient you can always find some yahoo, who doesn't know what he has, selling one for cheap. the parts interchange is awesome and opens a whole world of junkyard possibilities (7MGE bolted in for under $1k, $30 factory parts regear, $30 LSD's). I love tinkering and the platform is versatile enough to get just about any gear you want on it, and I have an affinity for 80's Japanese trucks, cars and motorcycles. That's why I won't give up my 4runner and the wife leaves me alone one day each weekend.

86Original

That is certainly my case. I just haven't found a newer vehicle that has the durability, simplicity, ruggedness, and fuel economy (oh, and a removable top ). Besides, I hate the depreciation. This 4Runner never depreciated at the rate that everything else seems to, not that it mattered, since I've held on to it.

duel

Had a 91 4wd sr5 = hated Ifs, wheels lift up all crazy? sketchy for sure...SOLD

Took a break from yodas...
Did research...crunched #'s...concluded that 85' xcab is un-comparable to any other 4wd mini out there. Face it- TOYOTA makes the best old skool 4wd rig (Jeep is def. comparable but I needed a 6ft. bed)

Really, WHAT other mini truck can you benchmarch against the TQM, TPS, TMS systems that TOYOTA developed in the 70's - 80's?

Those systems are really reflected up to 85' and the last year to really see the enthusiast-oriented 4wd vehicles...

Thats why I chose...plus the durability/reliabilty Toyota's are hardly seen on the side of the road/trail broken down

JasonWin

well it all started summer of 2006, it was the end of the summer and I was looking for my first car, looking o spend around 1500, I was kinda in a rush so went over to an auction, knowing I wouldn't have much money for gas I decided i needed a nice small car, good on gas. Two cars caught my eye. a firefly (forget what year now) and a 93 tercel. I ended up getting the tercel, lets just say i beat the crap outta that car, driveing it on back roads, throught snow, a shale pit, and even throght fields, places some people probally wouldn't even take trucks... and the little beast never let me down. I was sold! A ear later I got a line on a 94 tercel for $400 with a stick at first it was suposed to be the parts car but i loved the stick so much the 93 became the parts car. a few months after that I had some exra cash lying around so I went looking for a truck, wasn't expecting to find a toyota (due to high resale value) but that's what i really wanted. As luck would have it I found my 85 for $1000 and the rest is history (or at least from then on is in my build up thread)

I don't know if I'll ever want to buy anouther brand.

kramykram

So for me it all began back in 1988 when I worked all summer driving a piece of Chit 1980 Pontiac Sunbird and saved up 1K. (Hey that was A LOT back then ) well half way thru that summer the sunbird died and I started driving an even bigger POS Mercury Monarch. 4Dr faded Canary Yellow with a straight 5. (That's right a straight 5 = straight 6 with a blown head gasket and rings on one cylinder.) ( God I tried to kill that thing ) Sold the Sunbird and the Monarch for $900 and dad was willing to co-sign for a new to me vehicle.

I had no idea at that time the the love affair would start. I bought a 1985 X-Cab PU 22R straight axle with 38K on her. Honestly I don't even remember what the total price was. It does not matter now. I loved that truck and I DROVE that truck and she would not die!! She also saved my life in a very bad wreck and to this day I do not know how she did it.

I can remember ALWAYS remember wanting a 4Runner when they came out but could not even dream about affording one. So almost 15 ysr later I started looking for a gen 1 4R because I have always wanted one. Everything I found was in Colorado, Oregon, Washington or just way too freakin far for me to try and buy a truck. Then Gina found her way to me from right here no more than 1.5 miles away from my house. She did not run well ( been sitting for a while, owner did not want to sell her but he had a new baby on the way and did not need 3 cars. ) She had 186K on her, leaked oil smelled like mildew in side had a leak in the cab ect ect. I paid too much for a truck that I knew would need some major overhaul maybe sooner than I thought. I did not care.

Full tune up and had to put about 1K into the AC that quit and I did not fix soon after it quit working but she has 198K and she has been hit in the A$$ end twice but I keep rebuilding her. The brakes went out ( while driving but I was never afraid, I could stop her using down shifting and E-brake combo ) but I bought a booster and MC from this site. ( Just got here today....Whoo freakin Hoo ) So hopefully she will be on the road soon.

My wife does not understand it and neither do I, but the dogs sure do when we find that spot that no one else is at on the lake or river and have the best afternoon, load them up and hose her out upon arrival home.

This site however should come with a warning!!!!!!!

Junkers88

Don't try to understand it, it's like faith....... it just IS.


That has got to be the biggest understatement of the year!!!!

bobs01sr5

It all boils down to the saying "it's a Toyota thing you wouldn't understand"
Excellent post indeed !

ssupercoolss

i tell people i dont spend money on things that go down in value. i would rather own 2 homes than be spending a bunch of money on a stupid car payment. i love my truck. i think i have washed it twice in the past 2 years, it gets great gas mileage, i'm not afraid to use the 4wheel drive function, i can park it way to close to someone elses car, nobody tries to race me, and i didnt get upset when my buddy missed the bed and threw a bunch of crap down the side of it. if you are driving down my street, mines the real nice looking house with the "crappy little pickup" parked outside.

Matt16

I'll take what I can get, thank you.

Out of the box, its probably as offroad capable as anything (solid axle jeeps being the only real competition), but the Toyota is a lot tougher. The parts are easy to get, because the trucks at the wrecker, although they have rolled, flipped, crashed, caught fire, drowned etc, most of the parts are functionally good as new. Toyota's are really easy to work on as well, the engineers really thought it out so that you could fix it on your own, in the jungle with a paper clip, pocket knife and pair of pliers.

Furthermore, not only are they capable, but they're nice vehicles too. Radio works, heater, defrost, power windows etc. IFS makes for quite a comfortable ride as well, without really sacrificing all that much offroad prowess in almost all situations I encounter on the West Coast getting to my fishing/ camping etc spots.

jsn_stockard

I an the trail boss of our local group. My love for these trucks started at the age of six, when I saw a nice 1982 toy go through a pit that stuck a Bronco and a Blazer. I will never forget the crisp sound of that little four banger all wound up ( they still sound good to me with a rumble ). I can go drive to the trail, trail run all day, drive home, and still have gas left over. This truck makes it across when the others wont. Now, two of the people in our group swapped to Toyotas. I know the truck can get me where I point it, and get me back. A full size truck with a V8 would be faster, but would drink the gas and not get as deep on the trails. Did I mention that I use this truck as my daily driver, despite the fact I have four other vehicles in the driveway? I put the miles on it, and love it.