Scratch and dent "build"

Today I welcome Tipsy the 96 to the family. Sadly she's seen better days and I'm contemplating whether to fix her and keep her or see if I can flip for a profit. If I wanted to keep it, it would realistically need new front fenders, new bed panels, C channel part of frame heavily repaired, and rocker panels. Too bad really because from the leaf mounts forward the frame is spotless. And it has a fantastic drivetrain. Feel free to chime in with your opinions.

 

Played in the mud for the first time this year. Great to get back at it again. Now just what to do with that damn 96....

 

What a badass looking rig, I really love the look of the bed too. Also serves as great inspiration knowing a fellow college aged man owns this Tacoma, maybe I'll be swapping mine for a 4x4 and building it soon

 

Thanks yeah it took a lot of minimum wage working to get it where it is lol. Best of luck with the 4x4 conversion!

 

Well here's an update to prove I'm not completely dead, just haven't done much to her this summer. Looks pretty much exactly the same, but now has a straight pipe from the cat back due to the factory muffler falling apart. It's obnoxious and I'm planning on a stainless exhaust but it'll do for now. Also almost at 190k, still going strong and riding like a lumber wagon as usual.

 

Well the truck is probably gonna be taking a back seat again because I welcomed this guy into the family today. Only took 2 years to get a decent one

 

Been a hot minute since I've done anything "build" related on this page. But figured it's a Toyota so I might as well! Picked up this 98 Limited 4x4 back in 2020, was a totally rust free rig from Arizona with the worst for sale ad I've ever seen. No mention of it being rust free, 3 horrible pictures, and no description beyond the miles (that were high, 268k). Had been sitting on the market for about 2 months before I decided to finally take a look at it.

I got there and was blown away with the body and frame condition, visually it was rough though. driver's side paint was totally sunburnt, dash was cracked, and the FR tire was flat. To add insult to injury, the owner was 2 hours late to the meeting. He finally arrives, and it won't start... So 30 minutes on jumper cables and it finally cranked to life. Thankfully it ran and drove great, and all the electrics worked, so I offered him $3,500 for it and took it home. (3rd picture down is how I got it)

At the time of purchase the thing had a set of OME overloads in the back, along with Airlift bags in between those. And for the front what I imagine is a terrible RC lift. Also had just barely had a full front and rear brake job done, and a full timing kit with less than 5k on it.

Since owning it I've gone through every fluid, with trans fluid (+filter) and engine oil done several times each. Put new sway bar links in it all around, KYB Gas-A-Just rear shocks, cleaned the throttle body, adjusted every cable under the hood (badly needed), the infamous LBJs, thoroughly douched the thing in a mix of Fluid Film and PB Blaster surface shield, installed a

$58 Hayden 679 Universal 11” Rapid-Cool Add-On Transmission Cooler to Enhance Cooling (not for direct replacement of the factory unit)

Hayden 679 external trans cooler, snagged the white set of wheels with 33x12.5r18 Yokohama Geolandar X-ATs, and had the paint corrected! And come this spring I've got a set of King 2.0s for the front end waiting to go in

It doesn't see winter use, so it's only up to 276k now. But it's been a wonderfully reliable thing that I'm overjoyed to own and putt around with!

My list of hopes and wants for it is pretty long, but we'll see how many get acted on

 

That 4Runner is fucking sweet. Been really wanting one of those lately, just like that one too. 98 is a nice year for them. Also love that flat bed.

 

Thanks! I do wish it had the J shift transfer case and an E locker, but it's still far more capable than I'll probably ever need. I definitely prefer the 98- skinny bumpers over the later fat lips. Also none of that traction control BS. But you really can't go wrong with any 3rd gen

 

What coating did you put onto the 4Runner frame?

 

'20 and '21 I used Fluid Film. But this past year I sprayed it with the surface shield, personally I'd absolutely use the surface shield over the other options. I bought it already oil undercoated, I just kept adding on top of it