Is this where to start a build thread? Shane is off school for 3 weeks so starting tomorrow, He wil finish cutting the bed pan, stat the body lift and so on. L.B.
New build Thread (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Camino
- Start date
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Nice! Subscribed,
Nice! Have you done one before? looks like a fun project.
Well you've got my attention.
looking good
Looks awesome, keep the pictures coming.
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Sent from my iPad using IH8MUD
- Thread starter
- #7
I never chopped a car body before, but I did see someone doing it on TV. I built some VW Based desert cars when I was a kid, learned a lot of frabrication back then. Shane is my grandson and will be 16 in May. I told him that we would build a Toyota 4x4 for him if he could get higher than a 3.0 gpa (which has been a challenge for him with all of the time he spends at football practice and games). Well he has done it, so I was shopping for a 85 toyota truck. I liked the wheelbase of the short trucks and the 22r motor, but not much else. We found this fj80 on craigs list and picked it up for $2700.00. I liked the axles, motor, transmission and 4 wheel discs, but was not to keen on the 112 wheelbase. At the time I thought it had non Elocker axles, and would have to buy ARB's. To my surprise, it had Elockers (not Wired) front and rear. So, Shane has agreed to only go from home to school and around town in this gas hog, and we will tow it for off road adventures. He is an amazing desert rider (dirt bike) and as fast as I am, I can never catch him. I sold his grandmother on this project by telling her it is less dangerous for him to go 5 mph over rocks than 80 mph across the desert. He is a sharp kid and is taking up fabrication quickly. We will see how this fiasco turns out! L.B.
Subscribed!
Looking good
Should be a fun project for you and the boy
Have fun
Looking good
Should be a fun project for you and the boy
Have fun
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- Oct 22, 2002
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Nice project. I can't wait to start building a truck with my son.
How much bed is he going to chop???
Congrats to Shane and his 3.0! What a great project... Chopped and caged.... 
Welcome
Welcome
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Very cool!
Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
glad to see showing much more often these kind of projects ..
- Thread starter
- #15
Thanx to "Silverhorse" for his 2" body lift thread, our 2.5" lift went smooth. We did not mess with the xfer case blocks, just ordered an extension for the 4x4 shifter from 4crawler. The stock intake worked perfect, we just rotated the tubes down (see arrow). We left the mounts connected to the radiator stock. We simply re-drilled mounting holes for the upper radiator body bracket 2.5 " down (see dashed line). Then the same for the lower radiator body bracket, and added a tab (see photo). The net result, we are 25.5" from axle center to rear fender, and 23" from axle center to front fender. We are ordering 4" iron man front springs, and building our front winch and front bumper next, before ordering the rest of the springs
- Thread starter
- #16
truck empty.
Looking good! 
With that much room (4" spring, 2.5" body lift) 37's are gonna look small!
With that much room (4" spring, 2.5" body lift) 37's are gonna look small!
Subscribed.
You are nominated for the Coolest Grandfather of the Year!
You are nominated for the Coolest Grandfather of the Year!
- Thread starter
- #19
Update, my hand is still in a cast. Shane has made some progress on our project. He mounted front 4" lift springs (using ratchet straps as spring compressors) that was fun to watch, like a monkey fondleing a football. He fabricated 3 inch spacers for the stablizer and got them mounted. His welding skills are getting pretty good (arc welder), he fabricated a front and rear bumper out of some old trailer reciever hitches and a frame cross member. Our old Warn 8000 winch dosen't seem to work so I will have to do internet searches to try and figure it out. As soon as my cast is off we will start bending tubing for roll cage and bumper stinger. See ya soon, L.B.
- Thread starter
- #20
The tubing bender (Affordable tubing bender $299.00) had quite a learning curve. The first piece of the bumper took 4 hrs. But, after reading the tutorial on Pirate 4x4, now I've got it! The rest of this build will be a breeze. L.B.
