Heather's 92 Pickup Build

First, welcome to TW! Thanks! I highly recommend building up a truck as a hobby. It is so much fun...There are tons of accessories and parts available for Toyotas. I did most of the work myself and with help from others. I am still building my tool collection, so I need to borrow tools and knowledge from friends sometimes. Also, I am pretty small, so I often need someone stronger to help me break loose and tighten up bolts.

I have gained all my skills from reading on here and another Toyota forum. Also, I can't stand to pay someone to work on my truck. I started out with easy stuff: When I had my 2008 Tacoma, I added an aftermarket grill, a brush guard and an aftermarket air filter. That is how I got hooked, now I can't stop...

 

i love your truck,,, i had an 89 just like it, same color and graphics. it had 6" lift on 33's with 15x12 alcoas and a xhrome lower valance from a 4runner. Imis it a lot, wish i never sold it.

 

Nice! Sounds like you had a good looking truck.

 

Yeah I got the pro comp 4" stage 2 and I ran into some of the same problems but with a cutting wheel 12 hours of laying on the ground and some hard work it was worth it I saved 500 bucks I got my lift from 4 wheel parts and just from asking I got a 180 off

 

A good discount always makes a little extra hard work worth it! I experienced lots of time and injuries with a cutting wheel to get the lift installed too...

 

I love my truck but I kind of wish it was red like yours

 

I like the white! I have been considering getting mine painted white, blue or gray. But, that would be a lot of money just for aesthetics...

So, did you get a Trail Gear bumper ordered up yet? I found the cheapest I could get was thru Addicted Offroad...$30 bucks cheaper than from Trail Gear directly!

 

Also, after looking at your truck... I want my windows tinted now...

 

Painting is fun


What do you both run for the rear? the blocks that come with the kits? any idea if you can eliminate the rear lift portion of the kits when buying them? If I were to do the DP lift I think I would want to put Chevys on the rear

 

I just looked at your build. I love that green color, and it looks really good.

I am running the four inch blocks that came with the kit and some lift shackles. It is pretty raked right now. Four inch blocks seems excessive, so I could switch to 2 inch blocks with the shackles and it would be leveled out. I figured if I had issues off roading I would look into traction bars. But, so far it hasn't been an issue. I have heard that people run different leaf packs in the rear as you mentioned. I would guess that would change the ride from stock, but I don't know much about running those...

 

Yes for another 175 you can get a leaf pack that will lift it the same as the blocks and 4 wheel parts will give you 60 bucks for your unused rear blocks but I didn't have an extra 110 dollars at that time but I will be getting them eventually

 

Good to know! I might look into that eventually too.

 

No not yet I just dropped 300 for my sliders I'm trying to see If I will have enough money to get it next month and still afford to go to moab thanks for the info on the cheaper price I don't know how they can do it for that cheap and be that badass

 

Sweet! What sliders did you go with?

 

Thank you, up close it isn't that great of a paint job. But someday it will be just a trail rig so i'll deal with it.

You may want to look into new leafs instead of traction bars, even with bars the shackle and block combo will eventually flatten your leafs. If you get good ones they will eliminate axle wrap, and unless you go with a heavy duty high spring rate one you will end up with a nice smooth ride in the rear

 

Well, the paint looks bad ass in pictures! haha

Yeah, someday I'll look into new leafs. They are 20 years old and probably need to be replaced anyway...

 

One of my fellow Vegas Tw members made them for me there hybrid he is DonnoD he can probably make you some for 350 but shipping would probably kill you LOL

 

That's cool. I'd always rather have homemade style stuff, rather than mass produced parts. Shipping is ridiculous these days though--and it keeps going up!

 

Homemade armor is the best You should find some wheelers in your area that do a lot of their own fab work see if they are willing to build a set. Sliders are relatively quick and easy. I'll be making a friend some for his 10' standard cab soon and for materials it will be less then $150. If you can find good steel at scrap yards it will drop the price dramatically. I built mine for probably around $60 cause all the steel was from a scrap yard

 

Thanks for the welcome. I totally agree about the "I can't stand to have someone else working on my truck/car". Other people seem to mess up even simple oil changes!! My Acura is leaking oil now after an oil change, and it just seems like the only person you can trust to do it right is yourself. But living in California made it tough for me to do that, as the condo association I lived in forbade working on cars in your own driveway. Now that I finally have a house, I can start getting the tools I need. First is a simple floor jack and jack stands!!!

Thanks for the tips, I am very impressed with your work. Ditto on the "I need help with someone stronger" comment you made; I am also a woman and my upper body strength is lacking.

I don't have a Tacoma yet, hence my comment about future green build. I do have a Subaru Forester though, which has AWD. Funny, it gets about 22 mpg, which is only about 2 mpg better than the truck.... Anyway, I put all terrain tires on it, and tinted the windows. It IS fun to mod the car/truck, and it will be a blast to learn how to do some of it myself. You have definitely inspired me to do that!