Builds My LC79 build, HZJ79 body, 2uz/A343f UZJ79 (2 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

You should just drop us a photo a day. Such a nice looking truck.
I should be able to manage that.

With the motor I freshened everything up, cleaned everything I could in my parts washer and painted. Replaced timing belt, water pump, tensioner, just about every seal, all coils, and swapped the front sump to rear sump. Of course using all new oem parts.

CB518C9A-3577-44B5-9734-651B33751397.jpeg


D77C53A4-5592-47AE-BFA3-3520DD96571A.jpeg


0B6674D6-02B2-4B24-8CC7-EE90E97E1844.jpeg


42E13CDD-C66D-43D2-BEFA-13ABA4D8120A.jpeg


AA69F64D-6D79-4513-A0BD-A7AB05028FEA.jpeg
 
After the motor was completed I spent the winter months working on the wiring harness, removing the unnecessary things like airbag wiring, and power windows, locks, mirrors, etc. I still had not gotten a body, that wouldn’t come till spring. The donor truck was non abs so none of that to deal with. I wanted the harness to be simple as I could get it. I had to track down a wiring diagram in order to figure what plugs I needed to make the 79 series gauge cluster, clock, fan, hazards, signal and wiper stalk, etc work. To my surprise some plugs were the same when it came to headlights and taillights, just needed to be re-pinned. The pic I posted was the initial layout of the wiring in the cab just to see where things would go and to see if anything needed to be lengthened or shortened.

453F86C1-B110-4535-A6E0-15926837923E.jpeg
 
With no lift I was left with only a couple of options, buy one or take it to a friends house 45 min. away. I then came across some hot rod forums and seen where a guy built a cradle out of 2x4’s to lift his 55 Chevy cab using an engine hoist. Can’t say that I wasn’t a little nervous at first especially when came to putting the bed on, had to get the weight perfectly balanced.

B1547357-52A1-4F48-A75E-329FB025BA83.jpeg


A2B83E68-44D8-448E-8F23-97EFA84D4ABB.jpeg


CC17DC03-806A-489B-AE24-B75F0F686930.jpeg


94C1A850-6B1F-47C5-8790-EF7F1C0BADC9.jpeg


75DDF614-8DD8-4B6E-917B-777169A8A9D4.jpeg
 
Thanks for sharing the steps that lead to what is obviously a high quality, innovative 79 Series build. 😊
 
Prior to lifting my body in place I was able to find a 79 series (single cab) frame diagram with dimensions for the body mounts. I had a check tool made at work on our water jet with each hole size and distance between each hole cut out. With the tool I could set my mounts in position without the body in place. As you could imagine this took some time measuring, setting, and re-measuring. The diagram also had heights that each mount is set at when the frame is set at a certain height, I used this as guide but knew there would be differences since the 80 series and 79 series frames are different.

So when it came to mounting the body my hole distance ended being nearly dead on as far as distance between each hole. I think I had to adjust my front cab mount slightly and the rear most bed mounts. For the height setting, I ended up being about .750 too tall for the bed mounts and front cab mounts. I was able to make the adjusts with the cab and bed in place by removing one mount at a time by cutting and adjusting to the correct height.

All bed mounts were fabricated, rear cab mounts utilize the factory 80 series mounts and the front cab mounts are modified 79 series front cab mounts. For the front crossmember I completely removed the 80 series crossmember and utilized the 79 series front crossmember, mounts, and gussets. All new bushings with hardware were used throughout.

D663EE68-1B16-40E9-9C85-CD3A6BD97003.jpeg


B651170F-0F88-425A-8FDE-374BB7C8BD5E.jpeg


58CF9483-BC63-46C2-9F94-AFDC4FF2AAB7.png


094D878E-4C2E-45D6-BB8B-F7D33549ED46.jpeg
 
Last edited:
With these increasing numbers we’ll need to schedule an east coast “Ute get-together” at some point. It would be cool to see a group of 75/79 Series trucks all together. 😊
 
With these increasing numbers we’ll need to schedule an east coast “Ute get-together” at some point. It would be cool to see a group of 75/79 Series trucks all together. 😊
Absolutely!

I see a major problem with this build...

It is just so clean and beautiful, it will take serious willpower, casting all cares aside to take it out offroad and make it dirty. 😩😕

🤣
Eventually my friends are going to catch on when I keep telling them I’m still working on it. 😄
 
Here I added the hzj79 radiator, condenser, ac lines. I ordered all the misc factory pieces that attach to the core support as well as hardware. I used the grj79 power steering line and had to cut off the factory connection to the pump and weld on the Tundra pump connection to the line. Used the factory brackets to mount it to the frame. Made brackets for the Tundra fuse box, Evap canister and modified the factory bracket on the 100 series power steering reservoir that I would use. Mounted and ran lines to the transmission cooler. I also had to make a fan shroud, I used a kit and had to extend it to properly cover 2uz fan.

3681F6D0-E7A7-46C5-929F-3A7CF47F16CC.jpeg


78F949D4-990A-423F-BADC-D53BBA0A7513.jpeg
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom