The Wench build (1 Viewer)

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jynx

Turd Herder
SILVER Star
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Apr 24, 2010
Threads
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Location
Eagleville, TN
So this is Erins new DD. She has been talking about getting something small to drive to the shop for a few months. I told her I would get my old pickup cleaned up and running for her, but the motor build hit a snag and I havent gotten to it yet. So this little truck popped up and the price was right. Since roundup got postponed we hoofed it over to Boone, NC to pick it up from @pawwright before he kicked it north to Maine.

I'll get mor pics later, but here is what we are starting with.

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1990 regular cab 4wd, v6 5spd. I know all the hoopla about the v6, but I'm not scared of them. I've built 2 and they are good motors if you just take care of them. And this little thing runs like a top, we drove it all the way back from Boone and it never missed a beat.

So first thing we did at our pit stop in Knoxville was replace the wipers and clean all the windows good.

Got it home this afternoon and we are slowly putting together a plan. It needs new taillight housings and headlights, so those will get ordered tonight. It has a set of WARN hubs up front that work fine, but they will be swapped for a set of Aisin hubs soon enough. I've got a set of 90s SR5 wheels and a nearly new set of 31x10.50R15 bfg KOs to wrap them with.

I ordered a set of ball joint spacers from 4crawler before we left for NC and I'm going to add a ZUK coil out back to level it out. Then a set of new shocks all around.

I'm trying to make sure I let Erin drive the boat on this since it's her truck, but one thing we have agreed on is that we will be building a flatbed for it, but that will come after all the PM and misc stuff is squared away.

More to follow. And yes @TeddyBoy It's another Jynx production, brought to you by @Mrsjynx
 
Exactly where mine started camper top and all so of course i like it.

I hope that one of these days tou cut up one and throw some real tires on it and wheel more than trail 22 at windrock.

Watching closely...
 
Lol, I got something cooking on that front as well. Baby steps
 
Exactly where mine started camper top and all so of course i like it.

I hope that one of these days tou cut up one and throw some real tires on it and wheel more than trail 22 at windrock.

Watching closely...
Unless something changes this little thing will be my daily driver/shop truck. Pick up parts with it and such. Just didn’t like all the miles on the GX.
 
Exactly where mine started camper top and all so of course i like it.

I hope that one of these days tou cut up one and throw some real tires on it and wheel more than trail 22 at windrock.

Watching closely...

Since I like 22 and normally run it several times on every trip, it appears that must fall into the wimpy category.

No news there. I have always stayed on the bunny trails and probably will at this point.
 
Exactly where mine started camper top and all so of course i like it.

I hope that one of these days tou cut up one and throw some real tires on it and wheel more than trail 22 at windrock.

Watching closely...

Nice truck, Matthew!

Ted, what about 22? LOL
 
Well, the parts are stacking up. Today I picked up a carplay compatible head unit. No CD capability just radio and android auto/carplay. It's crazy how little this thing is. Anyway, then I dug into my stash and produced a set of Polk Audio components and an amp. Then pulled out some cabling and a camera that Erin bought for something else a few weeks ago to round out the package.

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I am going to order some lizard skin tomorrow to spray down the inside of the cab with.

Also going to swap the wheels and tires off of the brown 80 onto it to try and get a few miles out of that nearly new set of old tires, may try and knock that out tomorrow after work if the ground will dry up some.
 
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Got home with some day light left, so we hooked up shorty and drug'em down closer to the house (need to anyway so I can replace the fuel pump) and swapped the wheels onto the Wench. These are the wheels that I ran in my pickup for years and now hopefully she can run some of the tread off those old tires.

Before/After

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It's amazing how much a new set of wheels will change the look of a truck...

For the good and the bad. Poor old 80 looks kinda sad now.

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Well after we got home with the 80 today, Erin mowed while I did some rearranging in the shop and while sitting down she asked if we could put her new radio in. So we did.

Lucky for her as I started taking things apart it all came back to me and in no time I had the dash stripped and the old head unit out.

I wasn't as prepared as I'd like to have been, so it will need to come back out to wire up the cameras and get into the amp wiring and all, but we got the head unit in and she has bluetooth and CarPlay now, so she is a happy camper.

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She also grabbed the console cooler she got me for Christmas a few years back and it fit just right between the seats. Need to get the 12v power port sorted, but she does have a cup holder now.

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Things are coming along nicely for the little Wench.
 
Finished putting the dash back together this afternoon and then did a well needed oil change. It had a OE filter on it, but it definitely was due based on the color of the oil.

Erin also washed it and did a clay bar on it to see if we can get a read how bad the pait it. Where there is clear coat left, it shined up nice. Unfortunately the good, roof and tops of the fenders are toast. Plan right now is 800 and 1000 grit wet sanding to knock down the edges, then hit it with some cutting compound on a DA then polish and wax. The red cleans up good and its growing on us.

Sending the Factory front skid to Brian @ACC Toyota to see if he can fabuis up a beefier unit. Also talked to Sonora Steel about a crossmember they used to make that tied the rear arm mounts together. Going to try and get a skid between the crossmember under the diff.

As with most momma projects, things move at a little faster pace.
 
Got home with some day light left, so we hooked up shorty and drug'em down closer to the house (need to anyway so I can replace the fuel pump) and swapped the wheels onto the Wench. These are the wheels that I ran in my pickup for years and now hopefully she can run some of the tread off those old tires.

Before/After

View attachment 2250204
View attachment 2250200

It's amazing how much a new set of wheels will change the look of a truck...

For the good and the bad. Poor old 80 looks kinda sad now.

View attachment 2250205
Put some tall skinnies on there! I like the steelies.
 
Erin was pilfering thru the barn today and I get a text with this picture with the caption "what does this go on?

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I had all but forgotten I bought this POS from Golden State Motorsports off Pirate over 8 years ago. It didn't fit my 1990 then and it still doesn't fit her 1990 now...

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I have long held the belief that they used a 86-88 winch plate to build it, which is why it is about an inch too low. The front end on my truck had been damaged in a minor accident so the front crossmember was a little off, but this truck is straight and you can clearly see that there is a serious gap and that the PS is higher than the DS.

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(That's my 4' level filling in the gap)

So I had alway just planned to use this as a base and build off of it, now I will just get on with it. I did a lot of measuring and I think the PS wing is crooked which kicks it up on the outside. Plan is to cut the wings down to give them a better profile and then build up the gap with some lighter stuff, probably 1/8" plate since the main body is pretty rigid.

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Give the corners a multi angle radius to better match the lines of the truck. Then I will build the bumper up to the truck. Will throw a 8k or 9k winch in there, some tow points and roll out. Should be good practice to flat bed fab...
 
possibly. The front crossmember is flat with mounting holes.

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Best pic I could find on the web. This one has been reinforced with an additional plate.

Problem with moving it up is that the lever arm is already pretty long for trying to rotate the mount off the front. I need to add some gusseted to the top to add some reinforcement already. Also, without measuring, I'm not sure if the new bolt locations would not hit right on the top of the rails instead of above them.
 
Matt,
Since the mounting surface is could a template of the mounting holes be made/plug weld the holes in the bumper/weld on and re-enforce material along the bottom surface/re-drill holes using template/paint-n-mount?

I just outlined a number of steps, but it might be easier than modifying the bumper along the upper contours.

Good luck
 
Turn that thing into an @TeddyBoy crawler special and be done with it. @tgreco is in the process of @teddyboying his rig as we speak. I think he named his “Country Gravy and Biscuits“.
 
Turn that thing into an @TeddyBoy crawler special and be done with it. @tgreco is in the process of @teddyboying his rig as we speak. I think he named his “Country Gravy and Biscuits“.

I know not serious but... in theory a good idea but have my doubts about 80s ever being a legitimate crawler. Cant really gear them properly, suspension limitations and aftermarket support doesn't live up the need. Cost of getting it there is very prohibitive.

That said, DO IT!!!!!!

Yes, Tony has jumped in with both feet. He's gonna love it too.
 
I know not serious but... in theory a good idea but have my doubts about 80s ever being a legitimate crawler. Cant really gear them properly, suspension limitations and aftermarket support doesn't live up the need. Cost of getting it there is very prohibitive.

That said, DO IT!!!!!!

Yes, Tony has jumped in with both feet. He's gonna love it too.

Until I break something expensive... Matt, you can’t have all these Toyota’s and no crawler!
 

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