Saving a 200?

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

CharlieS

CharlieS

GOLD Star
10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Threads
450
Messages
9,175
Since they aren't making them anymore, I've been thinking about whether it might be worthwhile to have some work done on mine to make it last longer.

Rust is the enemy where we live (Northeast US), so my main thought was to find someone who could pull the body off and restore the chassis and running gear.

I know people that have done this with classic vehicles, but why not save one before it gets to the point where it needs a full restoration...

My guess is the barrier is probably cost and finding a shop both capable and willing to tackle it.

A few questions for the 'mud hive mind:
1) has anyone here done this?
2) understanding that labor costs range dramatically, what kind of range of hours or costs might be involved?
3) What kind of shop would be best suited for work like this?
4) Do you have any specific shop recommendations
5) What kind of treatment, coating, etc. would be most corrosion resistant?
6) Any tips?
 
In my annual rust prevention work, I’ve found remarkable access to frame and body even with them both still bolted together. Removing the front and rear bumper is really all that’s needed to get a really thorough treatment. Same for running gear access for maintenance. I can’t help with your questions 1-5, but my tip for #6 is to not risk the potential reliability issues of body R&R and do proposed work on a lift. I think your truck and wallet will be better for it.
 
It’s a body on frame truck so I’d assume there are shops who could and would do this sort of thing. Is it overkill? Probably. This forum is full of autistic overkill modifications so I’m certain if you do this and have a thread on it there will be a ton of discussion and things to learn. I doubt it will topple replacing the head gaskets as preventative maintenance from its perch of idiocy (iykyk) but don’t let anyone casting dispersions in this thread stop you. If you live in a rust belt state and drive on those salted roads then there could be some value to this endeavor.

Aside from rust, I see a plenty of Cruisers suffering severe issues from lack of sunroof drain issues. Since longevity is your goal I would add this to your routine maintenance.
 
There's a European guy on here who did a complete frame off on a 100 series. I think he galvanized the frame or some other fancy coat... I would have to try to find the link.
 
One problem I've had with frame off restorations is that after all of the blood, sweat, and labor, I'm reluctant to take such vehicles on more than a Sunday drive. Personal flaw, I suppose.
 
Oh boy...

So this can go 2 ways: do it yourself, or drop it off at a shop with the cargo area stuffed full of $100 bills. In New England, you could use Land Cruiser Restoration | Cruiser Solutions - https://cruisersolutions.com/, they are about 30 mins from me.

I did one myself, my '87 Xtra cab mini. Took me 4 years, every nut, bolt, part, everything got done. Had the frame sandblasted, then I used Rustoleum primer and satin black. Had a local shop do all the paint work, I delivered the cab, bed, doors, etc to them. Spent hours in front of a blasting cabinet doing all the parts. Meanwhile had the block bored, all new pistons and goodies in the 22RE, etc. I even found a place in NJ that did small batches of CAD plating, so I sent most of the hardware out to get done. I added power windows & locks, a bunch of wiring upgrades. Finally got it back on the road in 2014. Loved that truck.

LongFront.webp


DD the truck, even in the winter. By 2017 it started showing rust in the bed and other spots. Broke my heart, but I sold it to a Mudder, shipped it to CO. Truck now lives in Phoenix, last time I think it sold for $25K on eBay.

Was it worth it? Probably not. I learned a lot, but I do remember at one point thinking "I wish I hadn't started this project". I wouldn't do it again.
 
CanadianRockyCruiser said:
One problem I've had with frame off restorations is that after all of the blood, sweat, and labor, I'm reluctant to take such vehicles on more than a Sunday drive. Personal flaw, I suppose.
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is a flaw, more like a “trailer queen” vs “wabi-sabi” argument, especially if you’re the one having the frame off resto done. If you’re looking for perfection on the vehicle you already own then you do the frame off and achieve the trailer queen perfection and drive it as the queen it is, on Sunday but only if the weather is good. If your into the purpose built vehicle being used for what it was built for then you make the repairs and do the maintenance as needed and see the bumps and bruises as a beautiful patina and embrace it while trying to achieve the highest mileage possible looking for tough trailed and enjoying the journey.

Then there are those whistling diesel types who buy the trailer queen frame off resto vehicles and then drive them like they stole it and completely push past the wabi-sabi patina into demolition derby condition. This is the third type of enthusiast… the one who must atone for those crimes eventually, either in this life or the next….
 
KLF said:
Oh boy...

So this can go 2 ways: do it yourself, or drop it off at a shop with the cargo area stuffed full of $100 bills. In New England, you could use Land Cruiser Restoration | Cruiser Solutions - https://cruisersolutions.com/, they are about 30 mins from me.

I did one myself, my '87 Xtra cab mini. Took me 4 years, every nut, bolt, part, everything got done. Had the frame sandblasted, then I used Rustoleum primer and satin black. Had a local shop do all the paint work, I delivered the cab, bed, doors, etc to them. Spent hours in front of a blasting cabinet doing all the parts. Meanwhile had the block bored, all new pistons and goodies in the 22RE, etc. I even found a place in NJ that did small batches of CAD plating, so I sent most of the hardware out to get done. I added power windows & locks, a bunch of wiring upgrades. Finally got it back on the road in 2014. Loved that truck.

View attachment 4062129

DD the truck, even in the winter. By 2017 it started showing rust in the bed and other spots. Broke my heart, but I sold it to a Mudder, shipped it to CO. Truck now lives in Phoenix, last time I think it sold for $25K on eBay.

Was it worth it? Probably not. I learned a lot, but I do remember at one point thinking "I wish I hadn't started this project". I wouldn't do it again.
Click to expand...
We just returned from a long road trip where, at one of our camps in southern Arizona, I met an older gentleman (70+ yrs old) who had a truck like this, a ‘85 I believe, beige color. He said he had bought it new and used it daily. When I met him he had been towing it behind their class C RV for years, it was their camp vehicle and he had been doing all the typical 4x4 stuff in it. It had a homemade bumper and bed mounted roll cage thing with lights, bigger tires, and a bunch of battle scars. A 300k plus mile example of Toyota awesomeness, it was really bad ass. It would have been a crime to do a frame off resto on that truck.

As for yours, beautiful truck. I would struggle to do that work and then daily it but I’m not saying that was the wrong thing to do. It’s tough to have something so special then to just see it sitting in the garage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom