Trimmy's 1985 Pickup Build-Up Thread
 

Well I was on craigslist the other day and came across a 85 toyota 4x4 pickup for sale for $350 dollars so I clicked on it thinking it was too good to be true. Well turns out the trucks timing chain snapped, the guy tried to fix it but it had no compression after the new chain, and front case. They thought the valves were bent because it had no compression. I offered $300 he accepted. I went and picked it up got it home and started tearing into it, behind the seat I found a brand new complete gasket kit including a new head gasket, valves seals, and all the little random gaskets i needed. I tore the head off then went to oreillys ordered 4 new intake and 4 new exhaust valves, intake gasket, and 4 new spark plugs. I got them two days later and a total cost of $90, lapped in the new valves, cleaned up the head and reused the stock head bolts (i know i should have bought new but this is just a toy thats going to get a diesel swap one day). The truck fired right up then died, I looked it over forgot to plug in a connector that ran from the intake mani to the coil, plugged it in tried it again it fired right up but ran rough. I put in coolant thinking it was just running rough because it was wasnt getting a good coolant temp read. As soon as I got the coolant full it started pouring all over the floor. Turns out I cleaned up the head but forgot the intake mani so I tore it all apart again cleaned it sealed it up and put it back together. THe truck fired up and ran good after it warmed it, it seemed to want to stall after idling for a minute or too only while cold after it gets warm it idles fine. Could this be due to the fact I havent set the timing with a light yet???

Im new to the toyota thing but I would also like to know what all need to run some 35x14s or so I dont think ill need any lift and want to keep a low COG and a low cost I have a buddy with a 220 mig and he will weld/fab anything I need. Ill mainly be in mud and small rocks

Heres the only two pics I have of it so far...

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...X/IMG_0049.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...X/IMG_6065.jpg

now why in the heck can I not find deals like this. Sub'd to see the progress. Nice score!!!!

Oh the truck has a pretty nice flat bed ya cant really see it in the pics but its there. the only rust on the truck is in the drivers floor board...

thanks xxxtreme I seem to come across quite a few awesome deals somehow...

Nice find! I would love to come across a deal like that. Good luck with the build!

Thanks and like I said Im open to any tips... I would really like to keep it on leafs but I want the front axle as far forward as possible without having the leafs hanging stupid far off the front end...

search rears up front...find a set of rear springs, you can use that to move your axle forward a bit..you can also re drill the spring perch and gain about an inch.
edit-here you go: http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265669
another popular mod: 63" chevy springs in the rear: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20665 do that you have the rear springs for up front
Ditch the crap stock push pull steering and go with high steer and an IFS steering box...best mod I have done on my SA'ed '81:D
night and day different in how it drives...

nice score on the truck...would be great candidate for an extended cab on shortbed frame too:D

Thank you ocdropzone I was hoping I wouldnt get flamed this sights a little different to navigate compared to duramax forum and cummins forum hahaha

No flaming here man!
X2 on the RUF, moves the axle 2" forward. Also, 4crawler sells axle relocation plates if you want to keep your springs but still move the axle forward. In addition to the 63" chevies in back, 57" F150 springs are popular as well (thats the route I went, for departure angle).

Thanks for the links...

87deathtrap what year do those 57" F150 springs come out of? I have a local yard that will let me bring my own tool to pull parts off of vehicles and I could get a set of springs for less then $40

I pulled mine from a '92 F150 4x2 shortbed. Any '80 thru '96 2wd will do as long as they are not too beat up. Check this out, they are referred to as 56" in this chart, depends on who measures then I guess, just like the chevy 63/64".

Edit: Hyperlink not working, here's the link: http://littlekeylime.com/MrN/mrnimages/leaf_springs.png

Well I took the truck on its maiden voyage today and it preformed way better then I expected BUT... I hate the push/pull steering, I am going to try to come up with a very cheap fix for this since it will never really see the street. I need to put a muffler on it, its so loud it gave me a headache. Right after the exhaust Y's together it goes into a stainless straight through cat then the exhaust is cut off at the end of that so right under the drivers seat the exhaust is cut off. I plan to weld about a foot of pipe to the cat then a muffler a few inches or so of pipe then a turn down tip. I didnt have any problems with fumes in the cabs. When I put it into 4wd, I cannot tell if its in 4lo of 4hi. I also have a few small things I want to do to the suspension.

My questions are
1. Are there any springs I can run on the rear to stretch the rear out to give it a little longer wheel base? I plan on putting the rears on the front and redrilling the perches to stretch out the front.
2. Any ideas on a CHEAP steering fix?
3.What are some quite mufflers that are also cheap?
4.Any tips to know for sure what 4wd im in?

Im a poor airman in the USAF and love wheeling so I need to keep the cheap theme here lol

Heres a pic of it on my trailer being pulling by my buddies 98 12v cummins (he complained because he wanted to tow something so we left my duramax at home and he paid for all the fuel lol)

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...X/IMG_9315.jpg

Oh and my buddy is going to weld my rear diff for me so its locked all the time. I got hung up on a rock today if the rear would have been locked it would have never happened.

For springs to stretch the rear, you can use the f150's just don't mount them as far forward. Normally when you mount them you mount long side 11" forward of the original mount to keep the axle centered in the wheel well. so for your application you figure how far back you want the axle from center and subtract that from the 11". eg. if you want the axle 5" farther back 11-5=6, so you would put the new mount 6" forward of the original. Simple...

Hope it helps
Larry

In the case of the f-150 you do not use the 11" for measurement. That's the overall length difference. You use that "A" measurement instead. This measurement is from the centering pin to the front eye or the spring. This is the only part that determines the position of the axle.

For example the 85-88 toy springs measure 20 1/2 and the above mention F-150 57" springs measure 25". So if one were to not move the mount the f-150's would push the axle back by 4.5". If you were to move the mount forward by 6" like you say then those springs would push the axle pushed forward by 1.5" not back by 6".

Thank you guys for answering my questions, my truck is stored at my buddies house 30 minutes from base which is where I live. I sit around at work thinking about things that would help this truck perform and I'm terrible at getting results when I search, and I cannot just walk out to my truck and visualize what I want to do like I could have before the military...

Thank you blackdog...

I'm on leave all week so hopefully next week I can get the f150 springs from the local yard and I'm going to be building the mounts for it all...

Looks like fun!