Last winter I was snow wheeling my FJ40 in some really crappy snow. I had been winching all night long just to get a couple miles or so up the road, every time I would break through the crust and get stuck these little Toyota trucks would just keep rolling by! At the end of the weekend I couldn't help but think, why don't I have one of these for these types of trips? Something I could just jump in and drive up to the trail, snow, whatever? And they seem to work really well.

I have always had a thing for the 1st generations, don't really care much for the rest. So I started looking for a decent stock long bed to start with. It had to be a long bed for the wheelbase and also for the cool looks of a long bed. So I found this stock ugly as hell POS! It ran, so I paid the guy $1500.

 

Sounds like a fun project!

 

Next I put on a junky 4 inch Trail Master suspension, this I knew was temporarily, but since I had it for almost nothing I thought I would have the lift amount I wanted and could figure out tire size and cross over steering set up.

 

After adding the 4inch kit, I added 305/ 70/ 16's on 16x8 wheels. (33x12.5). Got a super good deal on these, so figured they would be good rollers for awhile. I want to run 35-37" eventually. Around this time I also scored a nice set of Poison Spyder rock sliders built for a Jeep JK, I chopped, modified, and mounted up.

 

Front bumper.

 

Nice bumper. Plan and simple. What size did you use. Is it just one solid piece and you cut out the angle to bend the ends in.

 

It's 2x6 x .188, yeah just cut and bent. I have allot more pictures, but it seems I'm at my quota of 10 mb? Does this mean that I cannot post anymore pictures to this thread?

 

Here's how I ended up finishing the bumper. Also Did a cross over/ high steer set up, and a round headlight conversion.

 

More pics.

 

Hi steer, axle gussets, new shock mounts, cut & turned knuckles.

 

Nice

 

Sliders, E-locker.

 

This truck went from nada to lotta in about 5 seconds.. Hahaha wow!

Very nice work!

 

Now that I have most of the mechanicals under control its time to tackle the body & paint. At this point I've already wet sanded the entire truck and primered it black. Now I'm doing minimal body work and prepping for paint.
Remember, this is a To & Thru build. Meaning, It will be driven to the trail, and back, no trailer.

 

About ready to paint in a week or two.

 

What's your plan for paint?

 

Olive drab single stage. So it'll be a glossy army green.

 

Next I installed a 4xInnovations interior cage.

 

Trail Gear rear bumper. Required a bit of fabricating to fit. I'll post pics of mods needed if requested. Otherwise pretty basic.

 

Great build. Been looking at those 4x kits , fitment looks great