When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hey all, this 3.0 came onto my radar recently and, well I kind of just bought it out of nowhere. I've been looking for the right compact truck for a project, and this one fit the criteria, seller was motivated enough to come down significantly from his asking, and now here she sits.
The odometer reads 457,XXX, PO had it for only a few months and knew nothing about work done or the PPO...so unfortunately, I knew very little about this truck before taking the dive. Luckily, after now spending a couple days cleaning, changing fluids, removing broken crap...Most of the surprises have been good ones.
Frame is solid. Cab/int is immaculate, Had an hour long drive home with it on the highway, and I was blown away by how smooth everything felt, at almost half a million kms.
In the process of degreasing and cleaning them up, would love to throw them right on but I will wait until I get new wheels/tires.
Today I fixed the air bag suspension valves, the old ones busted in half when we tried to inflate, totally rotted. Managed to get two replacements inflation valves at cap-it for 10 bucks. Had to do a little grinding to have enough of the valve sticking through, but they look good now! The bags seem good at 20, anyone have tips about that? Firestone system.
Next up is this bumper, its salvageable IMO. Going to grind off the crap and shallow rust and put fresh rhino on.
Been out of town working for the past week, will probably be another week before I get back and start working on the truck again.
Although I would like to be doing everything right now, it has been nice to have time to do some research and make a plan for the truck.
I'm still trying to decide between 31x10.5 or 33x12.5...M/T
The lift/clearance is not an issue, but gear ratio?? The 3.0 is running strong, maybe it can handle it? I will be doing more trails and dirt than crawling and mudding... Thoughts would be appreciated.
First thing on the to do list when I get back home is to take off the running boards and fender flares for good, and remove the bumper to be processed
Hooray!! Finally returned Back home last night. Wasted no time getting back to work on the truck either, checked the mail, cracked a beer, and started dismantling....here's all the crap I've removed so far, sitting in her bed:
That spare tire...ended up using a carbide bit to drill it out so the crank contraption could fit through, and low and behold, it lowered like a charm! After soaking in WD of course.
The mounts for the spare tire were completely rusted, one pretty much fell off...
After that, removed the hitch and ugly tube bumper. That was fun, required an impact gun and a lot of breaker bar action, but now she's clean and high, ready for a nice subtle bumper:
Nice looking extended cab you got. That is a hard to find truck it seems anymore. Really good shape for the miles it has on it. Looking forward to your build. Welcome to Yotatech.
Nice looking extended cab you got. That is a hard to find truck it seems anymore. Really good shape for the miles it has on it. Looking forward to your build. Welcome to Yotatech.
Thanks for the welcome! Yes it was a lucky find, had to jump on it
Until this week i was undecided about what direction to go with the motor. Originally i was planning on getting a remanufactured 3vz, but at the cost of the long block itself, plus all the new parts needed to compete it, i was having serious misgivings.
Add on to that the overwhelming sentiment of distaste for the 3vz in general, by enthusiasts and mechanics alike, i started to consider the 3.4 swap.
The good great awesome news is: yesterday i found a viable option to move forward on this, my local wrecker has a 99 5vz pulled from a rolled taco, with only 40,000 miles on it. With wiring harness, and ecu, from a manual tranny.
WooHoo!
So 3.4 swap here i come! Good thing i hadnt ordered any engine components for the 3.slow yet
And so the teardown begins, im realizing quickly that new hardware is going to be necessary for many of the fasteners...lots of rusty bolts that would rather shear off than loosen.
Also, there is never enough light! Going to try and find a good floor standing LED.
This is some of the worst rust I've found on the body. It's under the clutch pedal in the wheel well. Hopefully there isn't too much more of this lurking...
As you can see, I'm working with limited space in my garage. The truck only barely fits with space to get around all sides (sort of).
So i put up this shelter to house panels/doors/box/cab...etc. While working on the frame and what not. I put in a makeshift floor made from junk pallets from my local building supply store, and a few sheets of OSB.
it's a 13' x 20' tent, and once everything was put up i felt like it was going to be tons of room.
Well...it's incredible how fast space gets filled up. Take a few panels off, and bam!
So today's project was to build a rack to store all the panels upright, had some left over pallets from building the floor, add a couple 2by's plus some scrap boards i found around the side of the house, and here is the end result. Not pretty, but it will work!
I have a feeling the game of Tetris will have a permanent place in this project...
go to harbor freight and you can get wheel dollies. basically, jack the truck up, put the wheels in the dollies, and you can move the truck any direction you want. perfect for turning it sideways in a small garage.
go to harbor freight and you can get wheel dollies. basically, jack the truck up, put the wheels in the dollies, and you can move the truck any direction you want. perfect for turning it sideways in a small garage.
Yea for sure! That is on the to-get list. Either to buy some or just make some up.
The 24mm nuts holding the box carriage bolts on were completely siezed, that's okay, grind the heads off right? Well in doing so i find out my box is fiber glass and plywood! So as the bolts heat up from grinding they just start melting down into the fiberglass...
Long story short, a friend brought over his oxy acetylene torch.
06-10-2015, 01:34 AM
