New Toy (1 Viewer)

[fj40tom]

Greetings friends!

Well, after a couple of years w/o a Toyota, I finally went back to the dark side...

I had been looking for something that would work as a daily driver and get ok mileage. I finally found a stock '85 4Runner, almost stock anyway. It does have 32's on it.

It has 273,000+ mi. on it. I love it!

I need to regear it as it sucks a bit on the hills. I figure a set of 4.88's will take care of that.

More fun to come...

Cheers,

tp

 

[JasonH]

More fun to come...

Fast forward one year: bobbed, one tons, 42's....





Very sweet rig!

 

[cbmontgo]

Awesome. I love those 1st gen 4Runners.

 

[SHREG]

My Friend Doug sold his gold one last year to a guy in Texas. Looks JUST like this one.

Great lookin rig TP.... Love those First Gen runners..... Did this one come with a Can Back?

 

[fj40charles]

Very nice Tom.. Are you going to change your userid to, "4runnerTom?"

 

[fj40tom]

My Friend Doug sold his gold one last year to a guy in Texas. Looks JUST like this one.

Great lookin rig TP.... Love those First Gen runners..... Did this one come with a Can Back?

The owner claims it has been a TX rig for years. I also have repair receipts that date back 10-15 years from a shop in Austin.

Cheers,

tp

 

[fj40tom]

Fast forward one year: bobbed, one tons, 42's....

No 42's yet, but I have started fabbing up a roof rack. Here are a few pics of the start of the project:

Custom bent and dimpled corner pieces:

Custom bent and dimpled side brackets:

I still have to add several more features to it, weld it up, and get it off to the powder coat shop.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

tp

 

[Panzer]

22RE and 5 sp??
4:88 should be perfect. My old grey 83 was a 22R (carb for you non truckers) and it was about perfect for all around use, DD + mod wheeling. Add an Aussie locker while your in there and you will love it. And Mini's are cheap cheap to add aftermarket stuff to.
Nice choice, last of the best.
CAS

 

[fj40tom]

I was able to get a few more pieces welded in today.

With any luck I will get the entire frame welded up on Sunday.

Cheers,

tp

 

[fj40charles]

I was able to get a few more pieces welded in today.

With any luck I will get the entire frame welded up on Sunday.

Cheers,

tp

Looking good Tom... I like the shop.. Lots of tools and room to work..

 

[cbmontgo]

You look like Akhmesh Muhammad in that first pic!

 

[SHREG]

looks great....beats buildin them outside eh

 

[fj40tom]

You look like Akhmesh Muhammad in that first pic!

You obviously haven't seen me in my "work" clothes have you? Here are a couple of photos of me in the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan last year:

Even on a good day, you cannot pick me out of a crowd of Afghan men.

Cheers,

tp

 

[cbmontgo]

You obviously haven't seen me in my "work" clothes have you? Here are a couple of photos of me in the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan last year:

Even on a good day, you cannot pick me out of a crowd of Afghan men.

Cheers,

tp

What an awesome experience I bet that was...especially for an infidel!

 

[wngrog]

Careful, might catch a .50 walking around like that in the rocks

Nice rack stick boy....

 

[fj40tom]

I fabbed up some support brackets. These will help the rack support the weight and abuse of a solid Baja trip with no problem. I built the supports with a good bit of adjustment in them so the rack can easily be moved and mounted on several types of trucks (fj40, 60, 80, 4Runner, ect):

After hours of welding and grinding, I was finally ready to cut the floor and weld it in:

Welding the floor:

The expanded metal floors are strong, but they require TONS of welding to keep them from rattling all the time. This floor is welded in over 200 spots. It will not rattle...

The front and rear support brackets were designed with two adjustment slots in them too:

Still more to come...

Cheers,

tp

 

[wngrog]

Will you powdercoat it?

 

[fj40tom]

Will you powdercoat it?

Yeah, that is the plan for it eventually. At first, I am just going to paint it and use it on a couple of trips. That way if any design changes need to be made to it I have not trashed the powder coat.

Long term, the paint doesn't work for the expanded metal. It rusts too easy.

I picked up some lights for it this morning. With any luck I will get the light mounts fabbed up by Thursday.

Cheers,

tp

 

[Texican]

That thing weigh as much as it looks like?

Looks good for a pikturetaker

 

[JONNYFJ]

That rack is sick. I want one Not to mention the 1st Gen really sweet