CJ94yota

I got my truck a year ago on November 8th. I've made a little progress since then and I've been taking pictures along the way. So I'm starting my Build-Up a little late but hopefully you enjoy! heres a couple pictures of when she was stock.




The only real mod I did for the first couple months was taking the doors off. Being in high school and working part time doesn't really leave time for anything else. And I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do yet.

In case you start wondering what happened to my front end. I was in the woods one day after a snow, started down a hill, hit the brakes, couldnt stop, and I plowed into a tree.

Then April rolled around and I found a guy on craigslist looking to trade his 33's for some 31's. So I went out to his house and got me some 33's! But instead of lifting it I just rolled the fenders.

And then I painted the rims and truck.



Then May came and I got the coils for the Zuk mod, and front ball joint spacers. And the thing about my build was I had no garage. It's completely a backyard build. So sometimes I had to do what I had to do. haha.

Zuk mod done!

Ball joint spacers done!

After that I went out and got her a little muddy.

So then I started looking for a camper shell so I could sleep in the back of the truck when we went out. I found one for $30 bucks on CL, here it is.

CJ94yota

So before I knew anything about 3rd members, my rear 3rd locked up going down I-95. After a lot of researching I found out my truck came stock with 4.88's. But one of my buddies had a 3rd out of the front of a solid axle that he didn't need that he gave me. I'm still not sure what the gearing in it was but I know it didn't match. So i was two wheel drive for a while. When I went to change it I took one of the bottom bolts out that holds the 3rd in and at least a gallon of water pored out and there was no gear oil at all. So that leads me to think that some water got in through the diff breather and blew the pinion seal, all the gear oil leaked out and more water got in and ended up tearing the bearing apart. But any ways this is where 2 wheel drive open diff got me.

Then I blew a tire.


So I started looking for some more 33's on CL. I found a guy that was selling a set of 33 12.50's on white wagon wheels. With a set of axles out of an 81 pickup with matching 3.97 3rd's and the rear was welded and he had some 3 inch lift springs all for $350 so I jumped on it pretty quick.

I figured instead of putting the new welded rear in my axle and keeping th zuk mod I would just take my springs and axle off and put the 3 inch lift springs and the axle with the welded rear in since the springs were already on the axle. and apparently rear springs on an 81 are considerably shorter than the rear springs on a 94. News to me.

And I also found out that my V6 rear axle housing is thicker and I'm guessing stronger than the 81 4 cylinder axle housing.

So please people learn from my mistakes it will save you a little bit of time. All I ended up doing was just putting the welded rear in my stock axle and putting my stock axle back in with my stock springs and the zuk mod. So a lot of work for just putting a new rear in.

Since I already had the solid axle, I went ahead and ordered the 6 in SAS kit from trail gear. And I started keeping an eye out on CL for some 5.29s. While I was waiting on the SAS kit, I tore my carpet out and got some of the spray on bed liner from auto zone and sprayed that in.

I personaly wouldn't do this to another vehicle. Its nice to be able to just take the doors off and seats out and spray it out. But the floor boards gets so hot from the exhaust. And it doesn't block any of the sound out, which I'm not worried about its just the heat that bothers me.

CJ94yota

My SAS kit came in, so I started the axle rebuild.

And I finally found some 5.29's on CL, the guy wanted $350 for just the diff's. But he wasn't able to get the diff's out because the housing was bent. So he gave me the diffs with 5.29's and front and rear axle housings for the same price. Now I have extra knuckles and extra hardware for the whole axle. So that's a plus.

I forgot to take a picture of how bad the housing was but it was awfull, I had a hell of a time trying to get the axles out.
I tried this.

I broke the yellow strap once and the green one twice.
Then I tried this.

That seemed to work a little bit better. But of course it was an axle out of an 85. So I had to cut a big chunk out of the gusset to be able to get the grinder in to the inner part.

Final product

And now she's in

I figured if my truck was going to be on Jack stands for a couple days it shouldn't be on those little baby ones stacked on a couple blocks haha. So I invest in some monster ones.

Last Picture of ifs! Figured I'd take it next to another yota.

Getting a little help welding on all the spring hangers.

Goodbye ifs
Before

After


Went out in my car to get some food and... well


Got the springs in.

I forgot to take pictures of the full progress so here's the picture of after I got everything in.





I got the TG winch mount and a harbor freight winch and put those on.

And I went to pick-a-part and got a fender and back glass.

And on the way back from pick-a-part this happend. My suggestion, don't use the cheap autozone blocks, one time in the woods and there no good. I picked up a set of 3 inch tapered blocks that angle's my pinion towards the t-case for 50 bucks from the local off-road place.

Poser pic with my buddy mike's yota

Found a pretty mean hole

And they decided it would be a good idea to park me on a tree when pulling me out.

Then I was at autozone and they had green paint on sale. So the new paint job just kinda happened.

CJ94yota

Went and got some tires!

Wasn't about to pay the disposal fee, when old tires make the best bon fires.

Put the tires on. She still sags in the back a little bit. But I put a cheap ad-a-leaf till I put the Chevy springs in.

Those old 33's came in handy, had to move the civic in the yard so I didn't get oil on the parking lot.

I ended up making a square drive shaft but the angle was to sharp and the drive shaft wouldn't bolt up. So I dropped the t-case an inch and put six degree shims on the axle to angle the pinion. The drive shaft bolted up but it wouldn't turn when I put it in gear. I'll take pictures and post them later. I ended up taking the shims out and grinding the inside of the double cardan joint. And it gave it a lot more angle. Everything bolted up good and I could spin the shaft all away around with my hand. I got in the truck to go try it out and it wouldn't start. The fuel pump went bad. And that brings me to present time. This is how my truck sitting now.


I know I could have just dropped the gas tank, but I went ahead and took the bed off because I had to weld the shock mounts in and i'm gonna weld the chevy spring hangers in and strip everything under the bed and repaint.
But heres the pics of the shocks in.


I'll post when something new happens.

CJ94yota

Bright green 1994 toyota pickup transformation picture

Roark

Whoa, man.. Not sure whether to smile or cringe, hahaha.. Mean looking truck!

lil_red_yota

Idk bout the lime green but I like the truck! Just need to get the rear sag fixed and it'll be better.

CJ94yota

Thanks man. I put an add-a-leaf type thing I got from autozone on it. You can kind of see it in the pictures with the bed off. It brought it up to the perfect height.

Yota94ext

Wow is all I got to say is hillbilly deluxe

CJ94yota

haha yea buddy!!

CJ94yota

Does anybody know where I can get a manual lspv for the rear brakes? and it looks like there is a bleeder valve on the stock one, do I need to bleed it.

Yamiryder

Yes you need to bleed it. And you can bypass them and run a straight brake line. Look it up, i know i saw a thread on it before.

CJ94yota

Okay Thanks man. Now should I bleed it before or after the tires?

CJ94yota

Okay so I put the fuel pump in, but it still wont start. Could the distributor cap or spark plugs go bad and not let the truck start in a couple days? Or would there be warning?

CJ94yota

Just found out there is no power to the fuel pump. Is this common on the 3vze, What needs to be fixed. Could I just run a toggle switch to the pump?

Yota94ext

Yes I run an on off switch on my truck just for security turn you key to the on position and use a test light to find your power wire at you fuel pump the just run a toggle switch on your dash for it and splice a wire into it before your pump

CJ94yota

Alright, I found out why it wasn't getting power, the hot wire to the fuel pump was completely fried I mean burnt all the way through in some places. So I thought I was going to have to follow the wire all the way to the front and run a new one back. But luckily the wire was spliced into another wire, and where it was spliced it had like black goop all over it and it stopped the burning. So I spliced another new wire into it and ran it to the pump. So its getting power now, but I tried to start it and it still wouldn't start. Granted I could only try a couple times before the battery went dead. Do you think this could have blown one of the fuses. My Dad said it might be the ECU or something.

CJ94yota

So it turns out I wasn't starving for gas, I was starving for air. The plug on top of my intake box was unplugged haha. Man do I feel like a moron. I got the truck all put back together. The 4X4 works great. I forgot what a big difference it makes. Here's some pictures of the drive-shaft


And the shock mount hole in the bed.

And I went ahead and did a rear brake job.

And I'm not sure what this is. It looks like some kind of oil cooler. But it was where the shackle hanger for the front leaf springs had to go. So it's just kind of hanging there. If anybody has taken any pictures of where they relocated this that would be awesome.



And here's some pics of what the 4X4 did.

CJ94yota

I haven't been making much progress. But over the weekend I put a bumper together. I used a little harbor freight wire welder. it seemed to burn in pretty good but I'll post updates once I get a chance to use it.

CJ94yota

So this weekend I fabed up a light bar out of an old refrigerator dolley, I think it turned out pretty good.