After seeing all of these other build threads and realizing that I will be working on my truck for quite a while, I figured I might as well start one. So about the truck. I bought this truck under the impression that it was an 88, but later found out it was built December of 85... so yeah it was really close to being a straight axle and saving me a lot of time and money converting it, but oh well. It ran and drove when I brought it home, but it had a lot of issues. The bed was rusted out, as was the driver's side floorboard and part of the passenger side. It didn't run great, I assumed it was either carb problems or a timing issue. The paint job was a joke, it was missing pieces like the front end, rear shocks, and seats.

When I bought it:


On the trailer headed home:


I ripped the bed off and decided to build a flatbed instead of fixing all that rust or finding another bed. My buddy had a skeleton of a flatbed, so I got that to use as a starting point.





Stay tuned for more!

 

nice looking truck

 

Starting on the flatbed


Sweet shifter knob- installed


More flatbed progress




Parts truck I picked up for $150


Floor pan cut out and new one from the parts truck installed




Passenger side. I ended up welding patch panels over the bad spots.


Body work




Finally in primer




Latest flatbed progress


Paint color

 

bright red, eh?

 

Oh yeah, the goal is to try to match the big truck haha

 

I'm liken it now. At first I was kinda sceptical.

What are the plans?

 

Honestly, I was skeptical at first too haha. The plans for now are to get some paint on it, clean up the interior (I've got a gallon of Monstaliner waiting to go down on the floor and flatbed), finish up the flatbed, and get the truck on the road. The PO stripped pretty much all vaccum lines and other "non essential" items under the hood to prep it to be a crawler, so I've gotta figure out the mess there to make sure its road worthy. I'm probably just going to find some 32's for it and wheel it with the ifs for a while. The goal is for it to be a daily driver/beater truck and a weekend trail rig. I would love to make it strictly a trail rig but diesel fuel is high and I need to be able to drive this thing so I can leave my big truck parked. Eventually as money allows I want to do the usual stuff... sas swap and probably put dual cases and lockers in it

 

Well I got a set of Laredo MT's on 15" soft 8 wheels today to throw on the truck. But I also found an 86 4runner for $600... now I'm tempted to go get the runner and build it instead of the truck haha.

 

You have skills! That's an amazing transformation so far. Are you going to use the optional hardener that Tractor Supply sells for the paint? What are you using to thin it? I hope you post lots of pics of the painting because I'm toying with the idea of using white tractor paint on my '89 4Runner.

 

Good progress for sure how long have you had the truck?

 

I am using the hardener, it is a little bit more protection against scratches and wear, so I think it is worth it. As far as thinner I can't remember what it calls for, it says on the back of the can. I wouldn't hesitate to spray white tractor paint at all. The only thing I'm worried about with the red is fading from the sun. But white won't be as big of a deal. Just spray it, wet sand it, and polish and wax it and it should look as good as automotive paint. But I will be sure to take plenty of pictures as I paint mine!

 

I've had it for a little over a month. I'm trying to get this thing finished up asap so I can play with it haha.

 

I made a little progress today. I finally got a power steering tensioner pulley put on, but found out I'm missing the 3rd pulley that bolts to the front of the crankshaft pulley. I also got all the sheet metal lined up and ready to sand and paint (the random red spots are filler primer that I sprayed over low spots), and I did a little welding on the flatbed (reciever hitch and some d-rings).

 

sweet bed!

 

Truck is looking good and has come along ways. Great job.

 

definatly has potential, cant wait to see the turnout!

 

Well, I've been really busy lately so I don't have much progress to share. I did get a pretty sweet tailgate welded up and mounted though! I'm trying to figure out what kind of latches to use to hold it closed. Right now I'm leaning towards the barrel style door latches. Any suggestions???

 

After a ton of wet sanding, taping and painting the truck is now red! I ended up painting it under a carport in the dark with only a halogen tripod light. It wasnt the best idea I've ever had, but it actually turned out good. I have to wet sand it and polish it and it should turn out to be a decent paint job.









I was working on getting the bumper painted with the DupliColor spray bedliner yesterday and I got a phone call saying one of my friends had been involved in a serious wreck and was airlifted to the hospital. So long story short I spent all evening yesterday and all day today at the hospital, but he is almost 100% again and will hopefully be released tomorrow. They think he may have had a seizure while driving and ran off the road and flipped several times. Him and his girlfriend were both in the truck. This is what his truck looked like today:



It really makes you stop and think about things after looking at it, somebody was definitely watching over them.

 

Your truck is looking better each time. Just because you have paint , there is still alot of wet sanding and polishing, but it is worth it in the end.

Your friends were fortunate to survive that accident, especially the cab coming down on them like that. That was some impact.

 

I'm not looking forward to the sanding and polishing, but I'm going to get it done. I just have to figure out what grits would be best for me to use.

I got a little bit more done over the past couple days. I cut and welded 1/8" sheet steel to the head of the bed to protect the back of the cab and give the roll bar more strength. The metal cutting circular saw I bought at Harbor Freight worked awesome for cutting that, definitely a good investment.





I got the bumper painted with the DupliColor spray bed liner, and also painted the front marker and turn lights with nightshades. I put it all together to check the fit of everything. My dad said the front looked bare without a tag, so I hooked it up with the good ol Peterbilt tag I ran on the Superduty for a while.



I also tore the interior apart so I could change everything over from dirt brown to gray.



Painted parts! I used a combination of gray vinyl paint, black trim paint, and bedliner for the door threshold trim and kick panels.