Not another overlander build

Nope, a crawler build. I was going to turn my 17 Taco into an overlander but I couldn't afford the velcro patches and micro brew IPA's.

Waiting on a lot of parts to arrive. I have some TG 4" springs for the rear, gona do rears up front, hi-steer is already in the garage. Bed will get bobbed 13" or so. More than likely will do 37" tires. I'd like 40's, need to keep it relatively tame though since I will be driving it to the trails.

Parts are arriving daily though, got a lot of welding to do soon.

We begin with this rust bucket, a 1981 Yota 4x4. First thing first tho...


Bam!, much better. Spray bombed the exterior after getting rid of the rust. Trimmed fenders, removed bumpers, removed a lot really.


Clearanced both inner fenders for shocks and steering components.


While removing the factory sound deadening tar goo, I found the usual rusty areas in the footwell area. No biggie, this will all be tubbed out to make room for bigger tires.


Stock seat was clapped out..


Much better. Mid 90's Integra seats. Had to modify one mount on each seat to make em work and make four new mounting holes in the cab for the seats.

 

Got the majority of my new weldables in. Going to be burnin em in tomorrow.

Not pictured is the power steering setup, a refreshed L52 tranny, tune-up stuff, other misc odds and ends

 

Saweeeet!! This is gonna be cool to follow!

“Rust bucket” that’s cute. Thing looks good as new!

 

Did some work over the past two days.
Installed a 22RET dual diaphragm brake booster, 1" bore master cylinder, tune up, bed bob, rear lift and front lift.
Brake booster and master cylinder made quick work of the old and probably original brake cylinders in the rear, blew em both immediately.
Found out the front brake calipers had a minimum of two pistons seized each.
Brake upgrades are a definite need.
Going to hold off on welding the lower portions of the bedside, I may cut them for a bumper.

 

Great project you have going!

I think you made the right decision going with the L52 trans rather than the L50. Bobbed bed is looking good.
I find it interesting that this old '81 still sports stock rims and that the bed is really rust free.

Good luck with your build

 

Ok gettin back at it.

So with the stock rears up front, I noticed it had some real bad lean. The springs were pretty worn out and leaned to the passenger side when they were in the rear.
Switching them to the front and forgetting which side was which, the lean switched to the driver side.
So, we welded in a new front spring hanger and got some Trail-Gear 3" HD springs for the front.


I can weld, but my friend @jimmyg08 can weld more better. Here he is in his fancy crossfit socks.


Also got the steering 80% done. just have to route the power steering lines now.


And as it sits now after doing steering, front suspension, rear shock mounts.


Still have quite a bit to do, but the major stuff is over with now. Will either get shorter shocks or re-do the mounting, currently up travel is limited to about an inch with my shocks where they are in the rear.

Will also probably pull a leaf from the front and figure out what to do with the rear to lower it a bit, currently it sits too high for my liking.

 

Short update, got some work done on the floor and a few other parts.




Slapped some seam sealer inside and outsite, just gata pull the seats and re-check for any other floor issues before fully sealing it all up and spraying some bed-liner in the interior.

 

Very cool project! looking forward to more updates!

 

Looks damn good for a rattle can paint job. Details??

 

Just cans of Rust-Oleum semi-gloss in Sail Blue color.
Basically have to do a decent little prep and spray as if you were putting down real automotive paint, not how people normally haphazardly spray paint stuff

 

Updated pics with 37’s, making my taco look weak af on 33’s. You’re welcome joseph!

 

Typical James, any reason to show off the Gucci-Taco.

The tires are BFG blue label Krawlers in 37x12.5R17 flavor.

Short day yesterday at @jimmyg08 house. The majority of the welding was done, so it was time to bring it home to continue the build.
Plan was to get my brakes working and drive the truck on the trailer.

After putting a FJ80 master cylinder and a turbo truck dual diaphragm brake booster on the truck, I immediately blew out both rear brake cylinders. So along with replacing those, I upgraded the fronts to 3.0 IFS truck calipers.



After that I brought the truck home

 

Only because you neutered your taco!

 

welded the square driveshaft up. Also installed new body mounts and sprayed the interior floors with bed liner.

tomorrow I work on the front axle and rebuild it

 

I forgot how much of a job these front axles were. No during pictures because I was drowning in grease

 

Nice rig!

 

Just got done with the newest and in my opinion, best, mod.

also applying decals is hard.

 

Nice looking rig, look forward to the updates.

 

Had an accident last night while grinding, split my finger down to the bone.

A quick 5 stitches and a few modelo’s and I’m back at it.

pulled two leaves from the rear, truck is too tall for my liking. Waiting to slap a winch on the front before I pull any leaves from there.

while driving it the other day, all the lights in the rear stopped working. Turns out one of the wires grounded out and they all melted together. One more thing to fix, no biggie.

also cut down the rear frame and bed some more for the bumper I’ll be making.

Tomorrow I’ll be gettin some exhaust stuff done to it.

anyway, on to a couple pics.

 

Got a killer deal on a brand new 3rd with 5.29’s and a grizzly installed, so I picked that up. Stock 3rd from the rear will be rebuilt to an open 5.29.

I have a lead on an IFS width rear axle and may pick that up on Thursday to throw the 3rd into and shove under the truck.

Also, the truck is just way too tall for my liking. Suspension is going to be reworked. I prefer low lift with big tires for stability, so I have some old school 2” OME springs coming to replace the TG’s.

subsequent fender hacking to come, can’t wait.