1982 RN48 SR5 Pickup- Saved From The Grave (5 Viewers)

[cruiserinsanity]

A few weeks ago I found this 1982, SR5, pickup rusting away in a junkyard here in rural Alabama. It has been dead for a long time, and has had the rear axle shafts, rear diff, and a few miscellaneous pieces robbed from it, including the relay rod.

This is how I found it, the bed destroyed, filled with trash, but overall pretty complete and not extremely rusty, so naturally I had to have it.

I obtained it along with a ‘87 4WD truck from Johnny the Junkman, who I met on the side of the highway when I was leaving notes on MK1 Rabbits.

@Godwin and I went and got both trucks last Saturday.

The ‘82 is pretty complete and has its engine and transmission. The 22R in it turns over and the truck itself only has 161k miles on it according to the odometer.

My plan is to make it run, of course, and swap the axle from the ‘87 under it, run IFS hubs on the front axle with FJ60 rotors and V6 4Runner calipers.

I’m not planning on making this thing a giant crawler, just a capable little reliable pickup.

Yesterday I pulled the intake and carb off to clean all the rat crap out.

 

[Lucille]

Nice. I love a good comeback story.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Nice. I love a good comeback story.

Thanks, this will be one for sure. I’m hopefully going to go get a bed later this week for it, and the next step actually wrenching on the truck will probably be to swap the rear axle because I need to get it off my trailer.

 

[t6dpilot]

Nice save! Good luck with the project. I have an 81 that I sort of "saved" that I am working on. Fun little trucks.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Either movement or progress…

I got a better bed for the truck tonight, a ‘82, I believe, 2wd frame with a pretty rust free bed. It does have some body damage but it’s overall solid.

I believe I can work the damage out into being more bed shaped and less attacked by a forklift shape.

I’m going to try to sell the frame after I get the bed swapped over to try and recoup some of my money. This truck also has a gas tank which I’m going to see if it’s worth using as mine got ripped when loading.

I also got a relay rod from the guy I got the bed from. The relay rod is bent, but I think I can straighten it out enough to work for now.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Got the bed off it today, many bolts were broken, and I think I lost my 10MM, but it’s off!

The bed is in horrible shape, so I cut, hammered, and ripped sections of the floor to get access to the bolts.

Old bed

Replacement bed

The frame is in good shape on the truck with only some surface rust. I’ll clean and fluid film it before the bed goes on.

Next step is to get it off the trailer and swap the rear axle out.

 

[thatcabledude]

Classic “early Toyota pickup with a home brew bumper added” tag placement on the new bed.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Classic “early Toyota pickup with a home brew bumper added” tag placement on the new bed.

Oh yes, it’s very old man.
And the white truck has a home brewed 5th wheel plate welded to it.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

The truck is off the trailer, and my next step will be swapping out the rear axle to make it, at least, a roller.

I attached my relay rod so that it can be steered once it rolls.

I am almost definitely going to do a Marlink setup like @The Machinist did on Field Crust. The stock relay rod is ridiculously weak, mine was bent and I made it less bent with minimal effort. It needs to be stronger than it is.

 

[gnob]

bro. hysteer. sa steering suuuucks

 

[cruiserinsanity]

bro. hysteer. sa steering suuuucks

Yeah, but I’m budget minded with this truck and the Marlink is 1/2 the price of a Histeer setup. I’m also kinda used to sucky steering from our 40.

But, I need to make this thing run first before I get to that.

 

[gnob]

Yeah, but I’m budget minded with this truck and the Marlink is 1/2 the price of a Histeer setup. I’m also kinda used to sucky steering from our 40.

But, I need to make this thing run first before I get to that.

that's why ive been trying to find a low steer arm. shipping a kit here is $$$$

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Axle is out of the donor

 

[cruiserinsanity]

It’s a roller now

Slapped some spacers on the front and threw on some 80 series rollers, the donor axle is leaking from the pinion now and the pinion bearing feels bad, it has lots of slop in it.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

I also went ahead and stripped the IFS hubs from the donor truck.

 

[clx16]

Do you have enough good stuff on the white bed to just drill the pinch welds and move the front lower skirt panels over? might have to do a little rust repair but I looks like it would get you pretty far along. There is a guy in Meansville GA that I am pretty sure has the same brown bed. He sells on facebook, if you want to contact him, I can dig up his number some place for you.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Do you have enough good stuff on the white bed to just drill the pinch welds and move the front lower skirt panels over? might have to do a little rust repair but I looks like it would get you pretty far along. There is a guy in Meansville GA that I am pretty sure has the same brown bed. He sells on facebook, if you want to contact him, I can dig up his number some place for you.

I do on the side that’s crumpled, and that may very well be what I do, I think I can work out the dent on the other side though. I’m not trying to make this truck pretty, but I am going to try to make the bed straight-ish.

You’re talking about Randy, he’s the one I got the bed from!
He’s a nice old country guy, if I end up needing more parts I’ll probably reach out to him.

 

[clx16]

Haha that's why it looked so familiar! Yeah good guy.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

Haha that's why it looked so familiar! Yeah good guy.

I’d buy from him again, his pricing seems pretty reasonable.