A tacoma is a cool truck and all but For a pre runner the Ranger makes way more sense. You find one with the suspension done drop in the motor of your choice and your barely paying more than a low mileage taco.
Mountain cruiser, Do you ride?
A little bit, I have oil coming out my ears. I used to ride quads, had a 250R that I assembled and wrenched on for the better part of 16 yrs with 13" of travel up front and 10" out back, now I have a dirt bike so I can single track and I didn't like my quad chasing me down and running me over when I would wreck.
Ive got a 66k mile caged 4dr tacoma with 18" up front and 17" in the back that didnt cost that much. Id rather have reliability over sloppy beams all day long.
I agree fully, Rangers are just a very low budget way to get 18-20" up front, arms tend to be pricier all around. We will have to go play in the desert when I swap out the trans in my Chebby (would rather have a taco, but work with what ya got), got a buddy with a built Taco and my roommate is building a 89 Toy with 4x4 that swings 15" and 20".
Rangers pretty much rule class 6,7, and 7S in SCORE - Just sayin
Maybe 1450 too? They are the most common mid sized pre-runners and race trucks on the track or at the dunes. It seems when the Taco came out more people started building toyotas but the Rangers still out # them for sure.
I really want to build an IFS 4x4 FJ62 runner one day, but will probably sell the chebby and build a Taco or an 86-88 pickup with center mount lower arms.
Saw an FJ80 at a buddies shop being built (caged, bypasses, etc.), but it left his shop before being finished or else I would have posted up some pics for everyone.