Lil' Red build

[Rdonahe]

Back in early June I picked up this '83 flatbed from Mud member @CreeperSleeper. It already has all the big stuff in place but I'll be documenting maintenance and further build/upgrade work here. Most likely I will toss wheeling trip stuff in here too.

Couple of pics from the day I brought it home to get things off the ground.

 

[Rdonahe]

The truck as it came to me:

• Original 22R w/a Weber 32/36
• L52 5 speed
• Dual transfer cases, 4.7 in rear
• 5.29 gears
• ARB in front & spool in rear
• Hydro assist
• RCV shafts in front and Bobby Longs in rear
• Upgraded brakes front & rear
• Custom flatbed
• Badlands winch
• Manx beadlocks w/37" SxS Maxxis stickies

When I buy something like this I generally have ideas about upgrades & mods I want to do but I try to resist the temptation and give the truck time to tell me what it needs. The rig had some maintenance items that needed attention right away so I set about to address those...

 

[Rdonahe]

One of the first things I wanted to do was swap my wheel/tire combo from my old truck on to this one. I'm excited to have legit beadlocks and sticky tires but I want to save those expensive tires for stuff like Utah trips and the like. Living in the Pacific Northwest I'm wheeling dirt mostly, I also knew I was going to be doing a fair amount of puttering around town as I sort out maintenance stuff.

So on went the Methods & 37" Patagonias.

 

[Rdonahe]

Next up on the top priority list was front leaf bushings. The fixed end of the leafs at the front end of the truck had no bushing material left in the leaf eyes. I had to get creative to figure out how to get the weight of the truck off the suspension to free the ends of the leaf. Built some crib blocks from scrap wood lying around. Replaced all bushings in the front leafs. It wasn't too bad of a job.

 

[Rdonahe]

Next up was to baseline fluids - diffs front & rear, transfer cases, transmission. All looked pretty normal with the exception of the transfer case having some small pieces of metal that came out with the gear oil. I was bummed to see this as it probably means a rebuild in my not-too-distant future but so it goes with used rigs. I've rebuilt Toyota transfer cases in the past so have been down this particular path.

Also checked all the nuts & bolts underneath. Most were good, some on the loose side needing attention. Paint marked all the important stuff once I was done.

There was a fair amount of discovery figuring out what leaf springs I had front & rear. What transmission was in the rig. Stuff like that. It's part of the fun of buying a rig like this for me, getting it sorted and documenting what I find.

 

[Rdonahe]

There was a fair amount of non-Toyota wiring for stuff like auxiliary lights, stereo, ham radio type of thing. Another thing I like to do when I get a used rig is to go through wiring like this and understand what goes to what. Once I started down this path it escalated a little and I ended up deciding to delete most of it other than the stereo to simplify everything. I'll add stuff like aux lighting back in over time. While I was in there I had some sound deadening already taking up space in my garage so laid that down for both sound and maybe some heat insulation as well.

Lastly the seats that were in the truck when I bought it were in pretty rough shape. These cabs are tiny! I did some internetting and learned that there aren't a lot of seats that fit and still leave enough leg room for a 6' tall guy like myself. I scored a pair of Honda seats out of an early 90s Civic for a good price on FB Marketplace. They went in pretty easy. I think I could get them an inch or more lower but that's a future project.

 

[Rdonahe]

The rear driveline was in rough shape at the slip joint. It could expand but didn't want to compress at all. I didn't feel good about running it like this so Tom Woods got some of my money.

 

[Rdonahe]

My 3 trucks and 1 dog.

 

[Rdonahe]

At this point I had all the stuff addressed that I had categorized as must do before wheeling. So it was time for my first shakedown run with the truck. Took it out to my local Browns Camp. Since I was solo I just stuck to easy & medium difficulty trails. I just wanted to get a feel for how the rig does on trail and let it tell me what needed attention next. Couple of poser flex shots just for fun.

 

[Rdonahe]

Next up was a wet trail day with a couple buddies, also at Browns Camp again. For those local to me we ran Firebreak 5, Saddle Up, Dog Leg & Hogsback. It was quite slick and even though I had an ARB locker in front, at this point in time it was not active since I had no air compressor installed. I struggled in the slippery rocks climbing Firebreak 5. Fun day though and the truck is doing great.

 

[Rdonahe]

Time to get that front locker working for me. Installed an ARB compressor and dug my Auxbeam gang switch out of parts box. Works a treat!

 

[Rdonahe]

The front end had bump stop extensions welded on to the frame but no actual bump stops. Additionally 7 of the 8 U bolts were much longer than necessary and at full stuff were contacting the bump stop extension. This will probably not be my final solve for front bumps but is better than it was before by far.

 

[Rdonahe]

I took the truck up to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and met up with a buddy at Tahuya State Forest. Before Portland I lived in Seattle and hit up Tahuya semi regularly. In the past 10 years the place has been transformed in a great way. It used to be a bit of a snoozer but now has trails at every level, some real serious articulation challenges and rock gardens galore.

The truck did great but on the trails that were really twisting it up I was getting a lot of tire contact in both front & rear. I figured out where the major offenders were. We were able to take care of a good amount of the front end issue with some sledgehammer persuasion of pinch welds. The rear interference though I couldn't fix on trail as the tire is contacting a generously sized flatbed mount to the frame on each side. It won't be a big deal to sort out with a grinder but just had to gut it out for the rest of the day on trail. Just a few pics as we were busy having fun. I love my 80 series but I have missed having a manual transmission and dual cases, you always have the right gear at hand!