Confession of a die-hard Land Cruiser guy......I bought a Trekker and I love it. (1 Viewer)

[c2dfj45]

In between messing around with the cooling system on the Trekker(water pump, thermostat and now redoing the OEM radiator)....I thought what better time than during a pandemic to do some interior work. Today a "let's pull a seat and have a look at what we need to do", resulted in full on seat install.

I'm using seats out of a late 80s truck.....I think. They're 18" wide where they mount to the floor. My truck has 15.75" mounting holes. Still not sure why they didn't bolt up....well I know why....but I was under the impression that most all of these seats interchanged. Not so.

The new seat mounting points were rusted on the passenger side..... so it was a big mix of some original stuff, some of the new seats...some flat stock....some hardware....some welding. They are going to be a MILLION times better than the non adjustable seats that were in the truck.

We also ditched the goofy flip forward bracket that Winnebago made for the passenger seat....it didn't flip far enough, rattled and generally sucked...so now, it will be boxed and put away for safe keeping along with the OEM seats.

Disgusting "new" seats in the Trekker....felt bad for the kid who was doing the work to have to handle these. They match all the various browns and tans pretty well....

Some bracket work.....I OK'd welding the tracks together...usually we would have made an adapter base, then bolted the sliders to the base....then seat to sliders. These sliders were so beat up....it doesn't bother me to weld them. This is really similar to what Winnebago did to the flip up passenger seat. I think new sliders are still available....might grab some up.

New seat with the first of the 2 brackets going on.....seat will bolt to the slider setup. Pretty much all bolt together.

 

[GatorBait1551]

Another thread of yours to subscribe to, so many cool projects and trucks!

 

[c2dfj45]

Another thread of yours to subscribe to, so many cool projects and trucks!

I hope they're entertaining threads......this one probably won't be too in-depth....not like the 79 builds.

Yanked out the rear seats this AM so we can have them redone....the hinges that allow them to flip over and into the floor are all broken so I'll have to fix that so it works like it should.

More 80s RV company goodness right here with these....

 

[c2dfj45]

We pulled the seats back out so we can get everything prepped, cleaned and painted......and of course the seats out to be recovered.

Brackets we made were simple...nothing fancy for this little truck.

This was the Winnebago flip forward seat....at least some of the remnants of it. I could probably adapt one out of a 1st gen 4runner to fit...but it seems to put the seat into the headliner when you fold it forward and flip....leaving about a 6" gap to climb in the back. Not the most well thought out setup.

 

[c2dfj45]

With a truck this rare and so hand built, it's hard to know what interior is correct....I've seen them a few different ways. This one is from a super low mile cherry 1981....OEM front vinyl seats but this setup in the rear. This doesn't look to be redone.....it looks similar to mine....where certain things are sagging(side panels).

Mine didn't have the cloth inserts....this pic was before it was recovered....front seats have the perforated look vinyl on them....2 tone. Maybe some kind of SR5 vs non SR5? No idea. Mine is an SR5.

Another pic of one from the internet....again...with inserts. I believe this was an 81....matching front seat inserts....really cool.

One of the ads for the car...really cool.

 

[c2dfj45]

The blue would have been my choice....

 

[c2dfj45]

Figured these should go up here....just in case they disappear at some point. Fun reading.

 

[Manhattan]

Wow. Just one of the coolest trucks that ever made it to the U.S. The interior looks great!

 

[c2dfj45]

Wow. Just one of the coolest trucks that ever made it to the U.S. The interior looks great!

It's a really neat piece of Toyota history.

 

[c2dfj45]

So with most every one of my subs being slow these days....things are getting done a little quicker than normal.

I have been collecting samples of interesting fabrics for this truck for a while....stuff that I think looks period correct. I love the pattern that was in some of the original trucks. I found this fabric and chose some vinyl.

Normally I would take weeks to pick out colors......I just kind of picked what I liked initially without over thinking it. Which I'm good at.

I think they turned out GREAT but.....now the rest of the interior REALLY looks shabby. Carpets next I think.

 

[c2dfj45]

For a while this was the leading choice for the inserts......really cool. I'll use it for something.

 

[Manhattan]

I think you nailed it! That interior is going to look amazing.

 

[c2dfj45]

I think you nailed it! That interior is going to look amazing.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to do the whole interior now....the sides are old, the carpet is gross. I had planned on door panels and seats....now just a little more with carpeting and the sides that Winnebago put in. That means the 'roll bar' has to come out(sides go behind the bar) which looks to be challenging....I can't figure out how they installed it. I have a sneaking suspicion that the bar went in, the sides went in, the top went on. Then it got sealed to the cab. Pretty sure I'm not going to remove the top.....so we will be getting creative with how we get things done.

 

[c2dfj45]

Searching for Trekker articles in old 4WD magazines seems to be a good way to occupy time when I should probably be doing more constructive things....found this one from a 1981 issue of Four Wheeler. Kind of fun to go back and look thru the ads/articles....pretty cool old ads for Downey and Man-a-Fre in this issue.

 

[c2dfj45]

Front seats done.....guess it's time to start thinking about carpet.

 

[gnob]

Very nice

 

[c2dfj45]

Finally got to give the Trekker some love. Didn't want to do a full interior re-do right now. Way too many irons in the fire but I miss driving the little truck so in went the seats.

Had to straighten out the rear seat which was a total mess. This thing is weird with regards to how it works. It's SUPER awkward to lay it down as a flat floor. It works but it's a dumb design. Kind of have to flip the rear over...then lay it down. The truck has a really high sill in the back with no tailgate so it's not easy to access it from the back. Access from the passenger seat flip up deal was limited before we made it not a flip up. It's goofy. Lol.

OEM hinges. Definitely had seen better days.

New hinge

Seat back hinge installed to body

Seat folded back and the front fold down panel flipped behind it. Super awkward.

Can't quite figure out the wood pieces... maybe they were left over from the rear seat base at some point. It did seem like it had new wood on that cushion. Seat back was original.

 

[c2dfj45]

Carpet will be next....I'll use some ACC carpet...molded front and then about 5 yards of bulk material to cover the rest of this stuff. Need to do the side panels too.

It's hard to believe how crude this interior is.....kind of unbelievable that Winnebago did it....I would have expected more. But it was the early 80s...so who knows.

 

[c2dfj45]

And here we are....stage one done. Next up....carpet and rear side panels I think. Then maybe some dye on some of the misc. trim.....then I need to stop and leave it be. The seats are about 1 million times better than they were. They actually have some support now. Lots actually. Totally different drive.

Thinking about leaving the headrests off too....kind of like the look.

 

[c2dfj45]

Such a cool little truck.....