Allyia

Since several have asked for me to post pictures, here is a few. The cab and frame have no rust (well not much, a wire brush can remove it all) but the bed looks like it was patched together with putty and pop cans. still pretty solid inside the bed and floor where it counts.

inside.... a nightmare of filth. This afternoon I removed the seat, the carpeting and then scrub brushed and simple greened the whole floor inside.

Once I buy a nice bench cover for the seat, and shine up the rest inside it will be pretty nice.
providing I can get it to start!

someone painted it with spray cans and its runny and orange peeled and.. well hideous. Just the thing someone wont want to steal.

I have no idea why there is a ball hitch on the front.

$700 for this one, $300 for the other one I haven't picked up yet.

I'll post more on this thread as I take them. I should have taken a picture when the seat was out and the floor was covered in suds.

I burned the carpet, it was the only way to kill the stink.

I think it has potential....

2ToyGuy

I know exactly why it has the hitch on the front: It was a tow behind vehicle for someone with an RV. They tow the little truck along behind so they have something to drive when they park the RV someplace. We are friggin inundated every winter with what we call "snowbirds". Geezers whose age averages about 90, which is probably a good deal higher than their IQ. Senility must suck. Anyway, they drive their RV's around town, badly and slowly, park in the suicide lane, and so on. But many many of them have those little trucks and cars and such towing along behind. They forget they're there alot when changing lanes too... Anyhow, make sure you check the drive shaft and u-joints veeerrryyyy carefully, as often they're too stupid to disconnect the drive line, they just drop it neutral, and the u-joints are trashed. Same with the differential and tranny. Being towed like that is HARD in the drive train if they don't pull the drive shaft.
Looks good other than that. Bet you'll have a lot of years of great use out of it!

r0cky

that thing could be made VERY sweet!!

Allyia

I thought you towed a car with the ball on the RV and the hitch arms on the bumper or frame of the towed car/truck....

I'm trying to picture in my head how you would tow a car with a ball hitch in the front...

2ToyGuy

They have the other side of teh hitch set welded on their bumper. So that it doesn't bind in the turns, I was told by one...

4RocRunner92

I'd say it definately has potential.

iGGz

Two of my friends have that on the front of their jeeps... for them its because they cant get up to even 30... and they pull it with thier trucks somewhere... so they can go on the interstate get there quick and then they have it there to have some fun in...

Kinda weird

Chenedog

The receiver may be for accessories. I have one on my Dodge for a fishing pole rack and also use it to move the camper around the yard. It works great at the beach while fishing for stripers!

He ball may be stuck in there just to keep it from rusting.......can you tell I live in New England

rswords

We had an old truck at the marina that we put a ball on the front of to move boat trailers around the yard... It makes it real easy to do presision work after you get used to it.

EDIT: Nice truck.

84toyo

nice buy, shouldnt take much to get it back in shape.

Beartracker

That truck body doesn't look bad at all. Looks like you have a fun project ahead of you. With the way you like to do your own work I would bet it will look and run great when your done with it. Have fun! , Mike

99_Runner

Good luck with the buildup. Don't forget to post lots of pics.

Intrepid

Where in MA? You a part of NE4ROC? www.ne4roc.org

That truck definitely has potential! I have been considering grabbing something to be a trail rig, if the body is in lousy shape you don't feel so bad banging it up!

94x4

$700 and $300..., good buys all around there Allyia, and potential galore.

I know that you said that you had to burn the carpet to kill the stink..., but it looks more like you had to burn it to kill it, something strange growing there.

Pick up an electric angle grinder or a random orbit electric grinder or, if you've a compressor, an air grinder, some googles, long sleves and knock out that cancer as it looks pretty minimal and you'll have fun at it.

And I'll have to side with 2ToyGuy in his conclusion that it was for towing behind a trailer or rig even (seen alot of that, too) and that you should pay special attention to the driveshafts and U-joints.

Other than the great pics of your ride, I'm disappointed..., no topless shots to be found anywhere, boo hoo. :cry:

Allyia

It does have a bad U joint... it clunks every now and then if you shift sloppy.
its raining outside so you wont see my top off this week.
lol
I cleaned the cover and I don't see it leaking anymore (the wonders of synthetic oil) so I might not bother to take it off till I much later...
I have shocks to put on, the rears are totally shot and the rubber bushings are nearly gone... that explains the odd rattling sound... loose shocks.

94x4

Both the "U"-joints and the shocks are an easy swap.

Damn rain, but wait, is'nt it better if wet, no, no, wait, that's something else.

I'd have a concern about use of the synthetic oil if I were you as I've read of many instances on here where people with the earlier model 'Yota's were complaining about leaks appearing in places where there were none before because they had switched to the synthetic and I'll have to say that I was one of them myself.

You can do a "Search" for this and read everyone's posts. For now, I'd suggest getting three cans of engine cleaner and hosing the engine down good to clean it up (probally needs it, huh?), and then keeping an eye on it to watch for leaks as they appear.

You really are going to make me wait to see you topless, are'nt you ?

MeinPappa

Generally, a ball on the front of a vehicle is used to hook to trailers when you require maneuverability. I don't see a picture of the rear bumper or the rear of the vehicle but I would guess (?) there's a ball somewhere there too (or, at least the hole is empty in the bumper suggesting there was a ball that was removed?) This just means the thing was used to tow and maneuver something or the person who owned the vehicle didn't like backing up with a trailer attached. Used to see this on boat ramps in the 80's as a kid.

When doing a 4-wheel tow, it is very dangerous to do so when hooked as would be required by what 2ToyGuy and 94x4 are suggesting. If you look at the way trailers are configured, the geometry is such that it forms a triangle from the ball on the towing vehicle to the outer edges of the first (or primary) axle of the towed vehicle. This provides stability at speed and reduces sway. The heavier the trailer, the sooner it will spread out to the width of the hubs of the axle. To reverse this invites sway or wobbling at speed, which can rapidly take out both the towed and towing vehicles.

In a 4-wheel tow configuration, there are usually two solid attachment points on the towed vehicle to which the tow bar (http://www.drivetrain.com/Excalibar.html) is connected and a ball or receiver on the towing vehicle to make the connection. Reverse this and the front wheels (you must unlock the steering to 4-wheel tow) will tend to do their own thing and the vehicle will drift, sway, and be a general hazard behind the tow vehicle. Rather dangerous.

Allyia, this looks to be a fun build. With the hitch, at least you don't have to do the additional frame bracing up front.

Beartracker

Looks like he spelled it right to me. Mike

2ToyGuy

It may well be dangerous as hell, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were, but I see it all the time. Snowbirds are blatant, blithering IDIOTS, trust me on this. I see these poor little trucks being dragged around behind huge RV's like unwanted step-children, and as I mentioned, most of the never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed snowbirds forget they're there, and drive as though they were in a normal car, with nothing in tow. At 10 MPH in a 45 zone. And then they dart across lanes, turning left from the right lane and so on, their poor little tow vehicles bouncing off curbs, other motorists, pedestriens, you name it. The tow vehicles being on a single-point tow ball just like the one she shows. At least they stay on MOST of the time...

I hate snowbirds...

94x4

I thought that we've moved beyond the whole "snowbird" towball hitch thing and are now on to driveshafts, shocks and bushings and perhaps a little engine clean up to troubleshoot possible leaks, so please keep up guys, it's embarrassing to see you all stuck in the past.