Well I was not planning on starting this until spring. Yesterday I went to the car wash to clean the truck. After I got home I tugged on the chrome trim on the front passenger fender. There wasn't much holding it on the truck anymore. So I broke out the 10mm rachet wrench and removed it, then the inner fender plastic tub.

This fender was far beyond repair. So I grabed my tin snips and started trimming away. I still need to trim a bit up front as you can see the sharpie lines in the pictures. But I didn't feel like cutting the front bumper just yet. The lines were set at 2 inches out from stock. Although I had to go a bit farther on that fender. I traced out the lines on the other fenders as well, but I am not going to cut them until I get the new tires on the truck.

I am pretty sure I will go 2 inches in the back, but might only take a inch out on the fronts, and replace the passenger side fender. But then again If I just take out 2 inches all around its just more reason to go 35's once I wear out the 32's that will be going on it soon.


First picture is the front passenger side fender after trimming.



And here is the rear driver side fender, the passenger side isn't nearly as bad.



And here are two side shots of the truck.







I will use a cut off wheel to do the other fenders, and to clean up and finish the front passenger fender. I will also make some templates before I make the final cuts.

I'll post some updated pictures as soon as I get the 32's mounted on the new rims, which should arrive some time this week. The tires are used Maxxis Buckshot mudders, 32x11.5s. And the rims are Cragar soft 8's, 15x8 with 4" BS.

 

With that big an opening, 32's are going to look tiny...

 

looking good. Sadly enough I may have to take the cutting wheel out on my 4runner because of rust.

 

Yeah, 35's will probably go on after I wear out the 32's and regear.

 

Yea, I feel your pain I Just had to get some rust repaired and order a brand new tailgate. Yotas like to rust.

 

I was lucky with my tail gate. The original owner removed it shortly after he bought it and installed a air gate. Then he sold it to one of his friends and put the tail gate back on at that point. I am the third owner of this truck, and the gate is still very clean. And the rest of the truck is not bad at all for a 89 that has spent its entire life in this rust state.

I should be getting my rims Monday. But I might not be able to get the tires mounted until the following week. Been very busy at work lately and might have to travel out of state for a few days to setup some new equipment. I'll get some pictures as soon as I get the tires mounted. And shortly after I'll trim the rears and decide how much I want to take out of the fronts.

 

http://www.toyotafiberglass.com easy and cheep ....and no more rust .

 

I looked into fiberglass a bit. And for around $900 for all the parts is not to bad. But thats money that could be spent on a rear ARB locker. A new front fender is around $90 new, or I could find one at a junk yard. The front fiberglass fenders are more then twice that. On the trail sheet metal will dent, but can be pulled back out. Fiberglass will either flex, or break. Both can be repaired, but I would rather just pull out a dent and touch up the paint.

 

Is it even worth putting money (mods) into a truck with THAT much rust? It seems to me if the body is that bad then every nut, bolt, and other metal parts must be rusted like hell. Whats your frame, brakes, steering components, etc., look like?