I had a 94 pickup a number of years ago, it had a grab handle on both sides above the door, and on the passenger's side it hand a grab handle on the A-Pillar as well.

I sold it a few years back but just recently picked up an 89, it had a grab handle only above the passenger's door. I found another handle on eBay for the driver's side above the door and have already installed it, but I can't find any evidence of an A-Pillar grab handle ANYWHERE...

I really wish I had a picture of the interior on my old truck to confirm I'm not imagining things. My truck is pretty tall (7" of lift on 35s) with no step, and I'm sure my short wife would appreciate an A-Pillar handle to grab on to getting in.

I've searched here, other forums, ebay etc, and I can't even find a picture of one...

Did Toyota ever offer an A-Pillar handle on these trucks, and if not does anyone know of a good handle that could be hacked in place of one?

Thanks

 

i wish i had an A-pillar handle too. short chix are griping since i put on 33s. hehehe

please follow up on this if you find anything out. a good search to do, when you're looking for ancient history stuff like this, is to do search for the advertisements and brochures from 93. Often you'll find what you seek pictured in them.

good luck

 

Only the 90-95 4Runners have this I believe. Grab the A-pillar cover from a 4Runner and I believe the handle above the door is the same. My 4Runner is lifted and I use that handle to get my fat ass in everyday!

James

 

Thank's James... I was able to find a picture of one




pictures are from an unrelated thread here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...r-install.html

it looks like the shape of the handle is slightly different (it droops toward the door slightly, and is slightly longer and more shallow than the one above the door)... this bodes with my memory of the one in my 94 pickup..

I can sadly also confirm that my 89 lacks the threaded holes in the a-pillar metal where this attaches I might have to weld on a nut or something if I want to make this work.

 

My '93 single cab had one on the drivers and two on the passenger's side.

 

Here are the grab handles in my 95 DLX shortcab




Sorry, the driver's side cuts off, but there is only 1 handle on the A pillar and no 'oh, s**t' handle.
Hope that helps

 

my 4runner has them.

 

awesome, thanks, this gives me some hope of finding some... I'll check again for mounting hardware since those pics help me know where it's supposed to be mounted.

kind of off-topic but are those seats out of an AE-86?

 

Actually they're out of an MK1 MR2. They had been pulled out years ago and were in this guy's parent's garage. Found em on craigslist. I just had to drive a couple hours to go get em. Definitely scored.

 

that's what i was afraid of too. you must be able to bolt it to the steel of the A pillar with at least a 10mm bolt to rely on it consistently.

but if you do a build, be sure to take some pics!

 

yeah I pulled off the A-pillar trim on the passenger's side today, neither have any bolt holes, just the slots for the trim clips and a couple of plain unthreaded holes in the sheet metal that are way too far apart for a handle.

maybe the handle wasn't added until later years that generation, or maybe those that have them were modified somehow.

 

just to get you thinking a different direction twisted... if your truck does not have rock guards or sliders then adding those would give the short lady a step up to grab the roof mounted handle. I honestly can not tell from your avatar photo.

I added a secondary handle on my 3rd gen drivers side roof mounted and it does come in handy. I am a little guy myself so I step up on the All Pro Slider and grab the roof handle to swing my butt in.

thought those seats looked familiar and an AE86 rear drive Corolla is the MR2 cousin/brother(?). I am learning lots about MR2s from Death Cougar of this very forum and happen to have an extra pair of similar seats.

I honestly do not know why we have newbie tech sub forum whatsoever as I learn more over here than some of the threads in regular tech....Do not hesitate to post up in your respective years' sub forum to get more variety of opinions and more people chiming in.

 

no, no sliders


I was also looking at retractable step options, everything from a stirrup that would bolt under the seat to an electronic step that flips out when the door opens.

Rock Sliders are a good idea though, add some durability as well as functionality, certainly better than nerf bars. I think I'd still want the a-pillar handles even with something to step on though.

 

Yea thats from a 3rd gen 4Runner. Not a 3rd gen truck. Different beasts.

Your truck may have the bolt holes for the a pillar grab handles under your a pillar trim.

Ditch the huge body lift and maybe people won't have such a hard time getting in your truck

 

as I stated earlier, I already checked under the pillar trim, no bolt holes. I found pics of my old 94 pickup and it has a-pillar grab handles on both sides.

as for the body lift, I'm not too keen on it either, but I bought the truck pretty much as you see it in that picture. The previous owner built it as a show truck. The 35s wont fit without the body lift, and considering I just spent all my $$ on the truck I can't really afford a new set of tires for the thing at the moment.

Right now fixing the power steering, the crappy wiring, and putting a less obnoxiously loud exhaust on it take precedence over new tires, especially considering the ones that are on there are practically brand new.

I just figured some extra grab handles or a step would be a quick and cheap option until I can sort out the suspension and lift the way I want it.

even with 33"s and no body lift my wife will still have a hard time getting in it, so I'd want the additional handles regardless.

 

Yes they will. Get an angle grinder and start cutting.

 

I know you're trying to help but I'm just asking for advice on grab handle options... Not really interested in cutting up my truck and changing around the lift setup right now.

I know what I want to do in that regard, it's not really an issue I need or am seeking opinions on.

------------

As for the topic at hand, I'm currently hunting for some a-pillar trim pieces from a 93/94 pickup with the integrated grab handle. I'm going to see if at least the clips line up and I'll probably weld a nut to the a-pillar metal to line up with the handle bolts.

even if I were to use non-oem grab handles I'd likely have to do this anyway.

 

Seriously??
That truck's too nice for that!!

 

No truck is too nice to cut. Do it right and no one knows the difference.