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- #61
Builds Flooded 1981 Toyota Pickup Revival & Sprung Under FJ80 Axle / Dolphin RV Dually Axle Swap Build Bonanza on 4Ds
- Thread starter Lucille
- Start date
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- #63
oh fo sho. I hope the front springs break in some. plus the weight of the bumper and winch up front. If that doesnt work, maybe an add a leaf in the rear or pull a leaf in the front. Its definitely getting leveled out.you're going to correct that "Carolina squat" right?
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- #64
Finally finished the truck enough to take it for a spin around the block. ran and drove pretty good for its first time out. Runs a little lean on the stock injectors so im going to swap in some pink tops i have on the shelf. Exhaust is straight piped 3" exhaust out the side of the bed and is loud. A resonator is already on order. Other than that it went well. Got it up to 65mph. Still need to wrap up a few loose ends and it should be ready for a camping trip in the New Mexico / Colorado mountains.
Im in the process of changing the bed out to the 2wd rust free-ish bed. Need to clean up some of the wiring in the cab and install the front winch bumper and winch. Hopefully that brings the front end down a couple of inches. The new marlin springs up front need to settle a lot for it to be level. It has that carolina squat going on at the moment.
The dented bed rails didnt help the squatted look.
Next to my IFS 1st gen on 35s. Almost the same ride height.
A tad bit lower than the cream pie.
Bed off. Doesnt look nearly as squatted.
Doors and front fender back on. Its starting to take shape of a first gen again. Going to do some more fender trimming up front. The 40s hit all the things.
Current exhaust out the bed. When i add the resonator ill extend it out the back more.
Im in the process of changing the bed out to the 2wd rust free-ish bed. Need to clean up some of the wiring in the cab and install the front winch bumper and winch. Hopefully that brings the front end down a couple of inches. The new marlin springs up front need to settle a lot for it to be level. It has that carolina squat going on at the moment.
The dented bed rails didnt help the squatted look.
Next to my IFS 1st gen on 35s. Almost the same ride height.
A tad bit lower than the cream pie.
Bed off. Doesnt look nearly as squatted.
Doors and front fender back on. Its starting to take shape of a first gen again. Going to do some more fender trimming up front. The 40s hit all the things.
Current exhaust out the bed. When i add the resonator ill extend it out the back more.
littlevulture
SILVER Star
I'm having trouble getting your pictures to load right now, but did you run the long side of the leaf towards the rear of the truck still with the shackle forward?
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- #67
Yes i did.
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- #68
More pics before the first trip out.
New (better) long bed installed.
Made it 5 miles to town for gas. No issues.
Front bumper welded on 50% and a baby flex test. Tierod makes contact with pitman arm when the drivers side is stuffed. (new flat pitman arm on order from Skys to fix this)
Not a good pic but i installed the 2nd gen 4runner seats from my parts rig. They fit well and are nice and low. Still need a blue drivers door panel if anyone has one.
Before the trip to colorado, i installed a main leaf from some random RUF pack i had on the floor to lift the rear some. I also moved the rear spring hanger forward which helped. It was like 55 degrees.
New (better) long bed installed.
Made it 5 miles to town for gas. No issues.
Front bumper welded on 50% and a baby flex test. Tierod makes contact with pitman arm when the drivers side is stuffed. (new flat pitman arm on order from Skys to fix this)
Not a good pic but i installed the 2nd gen 4runner seats from my parts rig. They fit well and are nice and low. Still need a blue drivers door panel if anyone has one.
Before the trip to colorado, i installed a main leaf from some random RUF pack i had on the floor to lift the rear some. I also moved the rear spring hanger forward which helped. It was like 55 degrees.
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- #69
Loaded up the rig on the crawler hauler and headed out to Sante Fe on Saturday of last week.
Partial group shot. You can really see how low the truck is next to a Can-am defender on portals and 35s.
Did a lot of fishing.
View from 11,000ft.
Then came the mudding. Not really. The dirt roads were soaked and the 40s sticking out threw mud all over the place.
Took a ride to the train station.
Made it home and took Doug out for a ride in the first gen first gen. He missed me.
Trip report: We drove our rigs ~130 miles or so in the mountains over 4 days. The truck never had one drivability issue the entire trip. Heat worked when it was cold outside and with the windows down, it was down right perfect weather. Aired down to 8psi and the ride wasnt too bad on the rough mountain roads. Did a little snow wheeling and got to show off the boost. Never went over 185 degrees the entire trip. Last year the tundra couldnt stay cool with a bad radiator cap. Some issue did pop up though. I still need to trim the rear part of the wheel well back another couple of inches. Pitman arm makes slight contact with tierod, and i lost/destroyed a rubber bushing in the front spring hanger. Ill replace both with poly. Overall, i couldnt have been happier for the first trip out and cant wait to do some actual wheeling with it.
Partial group shot. You can really see how low the truck is next to a Can-am defender on portals and 35s.
Did a lot of fishing.
View from 11,000ft.
Then came the mudding. Not really. The dirt roads were soaked and the 40s sticking out threw mud all over the place.
Took a ride to the train station.
Made it home and took Doug out for a ride in the first gen first gen. He missed me.
Trip report: We drove our rigs ~130 miles or so in the mountains over 4 days. The truck never had one drivability issue the entire trip. Heat worked when it was cold outside and with the windows down, it was down right perfect weather. Aired down to 8psi and the ride wasnt too bad on the rough mountain roads. Did a little snow wheeling and got to show off the boost. Never went over 185 degrees the entire trip. Last year the tundra couldnt stay cool with a bad radiator cap. Some issue did pop up though. I still need to trim the rear part of the wheel well back another couple of inches. Pitman arm makes slight contact with tierod, and i lost/destroyed a rubber bushing in the front spring hanger. Ill replace both with poly. Overall, i couldnt have been happier for the first trip out and cant wait to do some actual wheeling with it.
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- #70
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- #72
Thank you sir.
Looks like an awesome truck and a great trip, Santa Fe area is my stomping grounds, it’d be great to get both our white patina mini trucks together one day when I finish my build soon!Loaded up the rig on the crawler hauler and headed out to Sante Fe on Saturday of last week.
Partial group shot. You can really see how low the truck is next to a Can-am defender on portals and 35s.
Did a lot of fishing.
View from 11,000ft.
Then came the mudding. Not really. The dirt roads were soaked and the 40s sticking out threw mud all over the place.
Took a ride to the train station.
Made it home and took Doug out for a ride in the first gen first gen. He missed me.
Trip report: We drove our rigs ~130 miles or so in the mountains over 4 days. The truck never had one drivability issue the entire trip. Heat worked when it was cold outside and with the windows down, it was down right perfect weather. Aired down to 8psi and the ride wasnt too bad on the rough mountain roads. Did a little snow wheeling and got to show off the boost. Never went over 185 degrees the entire trip. Last year the tundra couldnt stay cool with a bad radiator cap. Some issue did pop up though. I still need to trim the rear part of the wheel well back another couple of inches. Pitman arm makes slight contact with tierod, and i lost/destroyed a rubber bushing in the front spring hanger. Ill replace both with poly. Overall, i couldnt have been happier for the first trip out and cant wait to do some actual wheeling with it.
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- #74
Finally fixed the broken knuckle on my buggy to get it out in the yard to take this pic. Eventually there will be a 4th with the Trekker being finished.
I asked chatGPT to bob the bed 16" and this is the best it could render. I dont hate it, lol.
I asked chatGPT to bob the bed 16" and this is the best it could render. I dont hate it, lol.
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- #75
Started on a set of sliders for the flood truck. Simple 2x4x.120 sliders tucked up high and tight to the body. I didnt like the gap between the bottom of the bed slider so i chopped up a perfectly good rocker to raise the slider ~1.25" to close the gap.
Before:
After:
Figured while i had some time id start on a cage. Building an internal cage in these suck. The body mounts are in the way of where you need to send the tube through the floor, so im getting creative. Had to cut out the floor anyways to fix the rust where my feet went so here we are. Dash bar fits under the dash and clears the AC vents and everything else, except the back of the gauge cluster. Im going to have to space it out some or run aftermarket gauges. As you can tell i need to patch the floors for the drivetrain anyways. Just ordered a vinyl floor from RA so hopefully once its all done, it will keep most of the exhaust heat out. Currently it will bake you alive in there.
Before:
After:
Figured while i had some time id start on a cage. Building an internal cage in these suck. The body mounts are in the way of where you need to send the tube through the floor, so im getting creative. Had to cut out the floor anyways to fix the rust where my feet went so here we are. Dash bar fits under the dash and clears the AC vents and everything else, except the back of the gauge cluster. Im going to have to space it out some or run aftermarket gauges. As you can tell i need to patch the floors for the drivetrain anyways. Just ordered a vinyl floor from RA so hopefully once its all done, it will keep most of the exhaust heat out. Currently it will bake you alive in there.
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- #76
Cage is done. Boy did that suck, but its high and tight and mostly welded out. At least as much as i could get when i dropped it down through the floor. Dash is cut and notched to fit around the A-pillar tubes. Should bolt in as usual.
Next up fixing the huge holes in the floor, seam sealing, sound deadening, jute padding, then a new vinyl floor. Hopefully this will keep the heat out. Currently its unbearable to drive with all the holes. Im going to fix that.
Next up fixing the huge holes in the floor, seam sealing, sound deadening, jute padding, then a new vinyl floor. Hopefully this will keep the heat out. Currently its unbearable to drive with all the holes. Im going to fix that.
Looking fantastic. I love love super low cog rigs on big tires. I dream of this in my 40
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- #78
Been plucking away at the interior. Dash is trimmed and back in. Installed a coverlay dash cover and it sure did clean it up.
Before:
After gluing it down. These fit so nice. The two holes drilled are for the inclinometer.
Picked up some LP-poors for the front end.
Built a surround for the shifters. Cup holders will also be added behind the twin sticks. Ill make an aluminum top piece thats removable with nutserts. Now i just need to add metal to cover up the sides and seal it all back up. Floor is getting butyl sound deadening, some mass backing, some jute padding, and then a new vinyl floor to hopefully keep out most of the heat. Im also putting some of that boat decking on the roof as a new headliner.
Before:
After gluing it down. These fit so nice. The two holes drilled are for the inclinometer.
Picked up some LP-poors for the front end.
Built a surround for the shifters. Cup holders will also be added behind the twin sticks. Ill make an aluminum top piece thats removable with nutserts. Now i just need to add metal to cover up the sides and seal it all back up. Floor is getting butyl sound deadening, some mass backing, some jute padding, and then a new vinyl floor to hopefully keep out most of the heat. Im also putting some of that boat decking on the roof as a new headliner.
Last edited:
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- #79
Interior is 95% done. Waiting on my new 3D printed dash defrost vents to come in, then i can wrap up the dash portion.
Welded in the floor patch panes and seam sealed everything.
Next a layer (two in some spots) of stick on butyl sound deadening.
Then a layer of mass backing foam stick on stuff.
Then i glued on some jute padding that came with the vinyl floor kit.
Then cut up the vinyl flooring to fit around everything. I added some trim pieces that go around the shifter console.
And pretty much done. New seat covers for the 4runner seats. Some boat decking for the shifter console and roof. A throwback to Dirt Squirrel 1.0 that had wood grain door panels. Interior came out great. I can only imagine that it has to help the noise and most importantly the heat.
Also pulled the 4runner efi tank and bolted in the Motobilt 19-gal fuel cell. This cell uses a drop in 05-06 TJ fuel pump assembly. This will make it easy to get replacement parts if anything happens. I hope to get it installed and plumbed after work.
Welded in the floor patch panes and seam sealed everything.
Next a layer (two in some spots) of stick on butyl sound deadening.
Then a layer of mass backing foam stick on stuff.
Then i glued on some jute padding that came with the vinyl floor kit.
Then cut up the vinyl flooring to fit around everything. I added some trim pieces that go around the shifter console.
And pretty much done. New seat covers for the 4runner seats. Some boat decking for the shifter console and roof. A throwback to Dirt Squirrel 1.0 that had wood grain door panels. Interior came out great. I can only imagine that it has to help the noise and most importantly the heat.
Also pulled the 4runner efi tank and bolted in the Motobilt 19-gal fuel cell. This cell uses a drop in 05-06 TJ fuel pump assembly. This will make it easy to get replacement parts if anything happens. I hope to get it installed and plumbed after work.
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- #80
Started the bed bob last night. Took 14" out to make it a shortbed length in the off chance i put on a camper shell one day. I got the gaps to be pretty tight. A little fine tuning and it will be ready to weld. Going to build the rear bumper first as it will be easy to weld out with the rear of the bed off.
No turning back now.
Proportions look a lot better now.
Its going to be fun to weld out as always. i did manage to cut out a good portion of the rust along the bed seam with the 14" taken out. I ordered a set of those butt weld clamp things on amazon to help hold it all in position to hopefully make the welding easier. we will see.
No turning back now.
Proportions look a lot better now.
Its going to be fun to weld out as always. i did manage to cut out a good portion of the rust along the bed seam with the 14" taken out. I ordered a set of those butt weld clamp things on amazon to help hold it all in position to hopefully make the welding easier. we will see.
