I've been lurking on the site for quite a while now and have finally decided to start a build thread on my truck. it is an 81 long bed 4x4 with an 84 22r and 5 speed swapped in by the previous owner. I'm not sure how many miles are on it, but then again I don't really care lol I believe it has a 2wd bed on it(someone correct me if I'm wrong) and not sure if it is lifted any either. it looks like it is a little bit with 31x10.50s but I'm not sure how high it should sit with 31s. anyone know?


my plans for the truck are to make it a capable offroad truck but also be a reliable daily driver. so I want to keep it simple. I was thinking 33s, regear to 4.88 or 5.29, lockers, weber 32/36, headers, armor, paint, and possibly power steering. I kinda like not having it because its one less thing to go wrong, but then again turning 33s would be a bear I guess.


I have already replaced the front main seal, oil pump cover seal, and i pulled my bed off and fixed a bad spot on the frame. so that's where I'm at right now. ill try to figure out how to upload some pics.

 

here are some more pics of it with the bed off, and the tailgate i got for it out of the local pick n pull. when i bought it it had a tailgate off a second gen on it. so i had to find a first gen one. its a lil rough but i can make it work.

 

That is a second gen pickup bed as well - that's why it had a second gen tailgate on it. That first gen tailgate will not fit that bed

 

Since that tailgate doesn't fit I would be interested in it if you don't want to keep it.

 

I forgot to mention the tailgate came off an 84 2wd so it does fit my bed, its extremely tight tho for some reason. I didn't know the bed was a second gen, thanks for the info. I'm starting to think I might have a bit of a franken-yota lol

 

Yep, definitely a FrankenYota - 2nd gen bed, hacked front fenders, missing front valance, mystery seats and that's just what I can tell from the pictures so far.

 

Yeah whoever had this truck before me did not take the time to fix things the right way,I got a feeling alot of my time is going to be spent fixing their messes. But that's part of the fun I guess.

On another note, does anyone think it looks like stock height?

 

Nice looking truck

 

Where exactly in TN are you? I'm outside of Memphis.

 

I'm about an hour and a half south of Nashville close to the Alabama line.

 

Oh ok cool you are close to that off road park. I went there one.

 

Yeah there are actually quite a few parks within an hour of where I live.

 

The front leaf springs look pretty flat, no arch to them, I'd guess that they're stock, it looks like to me that someone cut off the factory front spring mounts, then welded a new front spring hanger onto the existing front crossmember. That's were your getting your lift. Looks like a nice truck to start with, the 83' I had before the one I currently have was really bad, someone cut a hole for a sun roof that was too big, then installed the glass anyway, and covered the whole mess with bondo, lol....look forward to seeing more pics and updates!

 

took some more pictures for y'all last night. the first one is of the front end where after what rustED said I checked it out and sure enough it looks like someone has welded a tube across the front to give it a little lift.


the other 2 pics are of the patch I made at work and welded over my rusted spot on my frame. I made a c channel out of 11ga steel that matched the arc over the rear axle and barely slid over the frame. it was a TIGHT fit. I had to hit it on with a hammer. but it fit good. and it should be twice as strong as it ever was now. I welded all around every edge. the last pic shows how long it is. kinda hard to see with paint over it now. I meant to take more pics of the patch and before I welded the frame. but I forgot and got caught up in the moment lol


Before I welded on my frame I disconnected the battery, but I didn't unhook the alternator...thought it would be fine. stupid move on my part. went to start it yesterday and nothing. tried jumping it off and it would run as long as the jumper cables were still hooked up. soon as I took em off it died. so I fried my alternator. had to order one at the local parts house. so hopefully I will get my alternator put on tonight as long as this storm ain't as bad as they say it will be. anyways, has anyone else ever killed their alternator by not unhooking it?

 

Did you disconnect both sides of the battery? I do both sides when welding is being done and my alternator has never fried.

 

I disconnected both sides and pulled the battery out before I started welding. I dunno what went wrong, but my alternator is definitely junk

 

Nice work on the patch. Also noticed that those bed mounts have been tampered with.

 

thanks, it took me a lil while to figure out that arc and make the channel all one piece, but I worked out good.

Yeah someone put a 2wd bed on it so they must have had to modify the mount in order for it to fit, I'd like to try to keep the bed because its in really good shape.I just need some 4wd flares to make it look like a 4x4 and possibly trim the fender well because it I think the 4wd fender wells are bigger.I could be wrong tho.

 

There are no structural differences between a FIRST GENERATION 2WD and 4WD bed other than the 4WD beds had fender flares, but like I said, that is a 2nd gen 2WD bed that you have on there. The 4WD bed on the 2nd gen bed did not have the rolled bed rails and had a single pull tailgate; however, the 2WD 2nd gen bed had the option of single pull tailgate without the rolled bed rails, single pull with the rolled bed rails, dual pull with rolled bed rails (single wall) or dual pull with rolled bed rails (double wall). So if you plan on keeping that bed, you are going to want to look for fender flares that fit a 1984-1988 pickup.

 

Thanks for the clarification kawazx636, I was not aware that the 2nd gen 2wd and 4wd beds were that much different. But I know now lol another question tho, would I be able to take the factory rear flares from a first gen and weld them to my 2nd gen bed? Or would it probably just be easier to buy aftermarket flares for a 84-88?