'86 Truggy Chronicles

84YotaChief · Feb 22, 2026

Just wanted to jump in here and introduce myself and my new-to-me truggy. If this is not the forum, please let me know and I'll move it.
I moonlight at a fab shop when I can, and I had this '84 fall in my hands. It was assembled about 4 years, pretty much everything on the truck has been either replaced or rebuilt.
Truck runs perfect, everything works like it should it just needs some tuning, which I've done, and I need to learn how to drive it. I'm coming from a YJ on 35s so its a "slight" upgrade.
One of the pics has the full build specs for the truck. Things I've done since getting it in December include I swapped out the steel 15s and Pitbulls for some 17" Dirty Life beadlocks and worn M/T Baja Boss tires, I lowered the truck about 2" and adjusted the Radflos correctly, and its great. I swapped out to 125' of USA-made winch rope on the 8274 and added a slim light bar. It did great on its first weekend a couple of weeks ago at Windrock, but I did lay it on its side at the top of 15. I ran out of talent. We winched it back over, cleared it out, and finished 15, Little Mule, and School Bus.
We're going to redo the rear suspension to fix some of the common issues with the TG 4-link in the rear in the next week. I will get some pics of the progress.
Here are some pics for everyone.

84YotaChief · Feb 22, 2026

I know the title of the thread says '86, but the VIN on the truck and the title say '84. Just wanted to clear that up. Also, sorry for the large pics. I'll adjust that going forward.

Firemedic831 · Feb 22, 2026

Whats the plan ?

Ditcherman · Feb 23, 2026

84YotaChief said:
I know the title of the thread says '86, but the VIN on the truck and the title say '84. Just wanted to clear that up. Also, sorry for the large pics. I'll adjust that going forward. View attachment 4091236 View attachment 4091237 View attachment 4091238 View attachment 4091239 View attachment 4091240 View attachment 4091236

It's hard to tell for sure but I think your bezel may be on upside down.
Nice throwback touch though.

Looks like a lot of fun.

84YotaChief · Feb 24, 2026

Plans for now:
Correct the geometry of the rear suspension. Lower links are sitting at 14* at ride height, need that under 10*. The upper links are about 5" longer than the lowers, causing the pinion to point down when flexing. Since we're correcting link mounts on the frame, we're stretching the lower links about 4-5", and the uppers will shrink about 2-3", so that will correct link lengths and pinion angle change.
We're also redoing the upper coil over mounts frpnt and rear to lower the truck another 2" hopefully.

The truck runs like a dream. Heater works, all the windows slide open/closed like butter. It was actually painted at the local Toyota dealer when first built.
It's going up on the lift today, I'll make sure to update the thread with pics of the progress.

AgentOrange · Feb 24, 2026

Sounds like you have a pretty good plan for this. Just looking at it though, you may consider leaving the upper links the length they are at their mounting location after you make the lower links longer. It may be just right and keep the pinion mostly flat as it moves up. Either way, looking forward to seeing the rest of this thing!

84YotaChief · Feb 25, 2026

AgentOrange said:
Sounds like you have a pretty good plan for this. Just looking at it though, you may consider leaving the upper links the length they are at their mounting location after you make the lower links longer. It may be just right and keep the pinion mostly flat as it moves up. Either way, looking forward to seeing the rest of this thing!

I was coming back on this morning to say just that. You beat me to it, lol. I was a little confused on link lengths and pinion angle changes, but after spending the afternoon with my buddy who's helping me, he made it all make sense. It's up on the rack now, we've pulled the coilovers off and have a game plan on lower link mount locations. I'll get some pics when I'm at the shop later.
Thanks for the info AgentOrange!

AgentOrange · Feb 25, 2026

84YotaChief said:
I was coming back on this morning to say just that. You beat me to it, lol. I was a little confused on link lengths and pinion angle changes, but after spending the afternoon with my buddy who's helping me, he made it all make sense. It's up on the rack now, we've pulled the coilovers off and have a game plan on lower link mount locations. I'll get some pics when I'm at the shop later.
Thanks for the info AgentOrange!

Get some pics from under that thing. Looks like a lot of nice stuff there and now I'm curious lol

84YotaChief · Feb 25, 2026

We figured out the rear coil overs don't have any shim stacks in the pistons. Seems someone before me didn't know how shocks work. A quick call to Radflo, and I have a full set on the way. Also picked up some fresh 5wt for the COs. Buddy has a plasma table in his garage, so we spit out some upper link mounts with 4 holes for some adjustability. Lower link mounts will be spit out tomorrow. We're also redoing the trackbar mounts to lower the truck some more. Current specs: 125.5" WB, 23" under the belly.

84YotaChief · Feb 25, 2026

Overall, truck was built well. Fuel lines are stainless, and the clamps that hold anything are all bolted to threaded holes in the frame. The frame has been plated on both sides and bottom. Knoxville Driveline will be building some new .250 wall 1310 driveshafts for it once we know where everything will go.

Firemedic831 · Feb 25, 2026

not a fan of the nuts for spacers on the driveline . since you are full hydro why not add a 4th link up front and get rid of the panhard

84YotaChief · Feb 26, 2026

Firemedic831 said:
not a fan of the nuts for spacers on the driveline . since you are full hydro why not add a 4th link up front and get rid of the panhard

That was a trail repair from two weeks ago at Windrock. I destroyed my rear DS playing on some rocks, so a buddys spare with some nut spacers got us back on the trailer. Both driveshafts were thin-wall OE stuff. Knox Driveline has my flanges in, they're just waiting for my measurements.
As far as 4-linking the front, the Calmini header takes up what little space there is on the drivers side. It is doable, but tight. The front works great, its just that the TG brackets are longer than needed. Thanks for the input FireMedic, keeps ideas flowing.

84YotaChief · Mar 5, 2026

Quick update and some pics. We moved all 4 upper shock mounts up to help lower the truck, we redid both trackbar mounts, were able to add almost 5" to the trackbar length, and rear upper frame-side mounts are also done. We had to redo the passenger side motor mount, the upper link was hitting it at full bump. From what we measured before we started, we're sitting about" lower then before. I'm right at 19" at the lowest part of the trans/tc skid. We get the full travel out of the 16" COs without any binding. Tomorrow we're gonna swap upper springs on the front COs, it needs a lighter spring. I'm also dropping off the old driveshafts @ Knoxville Driveline tomorrow for some new .250 wall units. Here are some pics.