Figured it would be cool to make a build thread of the 60. After reading through @under_psi s milkjug thread, it kind of inspired me to do one myself. This one wont be anywhere near as awesome as his has been so far hah. Now that im on break from grad school i have some time to make a thread and build it up.
Last year I had to restructure a bunch of stuff due to covid uncertainty and other hoopla last year and had to sell Lee Majors and my Power Wagon to downsize. Thankfully the wife's 100 series is fully paid off and still at less than 200K miles. This 60 is now my only vehicle and will be my daily driver. The last build thread I had was of the white firstgen 4runner that I never should have sold, so this 60 is going to be redemption for that truck. My wife bet me $5k that if I sell this truck in 5 years I owe her 5 grand.
I bought this 60 off of a guy who lived about 2 miles from my house in the Ritz Carlton neighborhood of Hedgemoor in Memphis. He didnt really know how to work on cars, but the history is that he bought the truck from Classic Cruisers in CO. They got it prettied up, threw a rebuild H55F in it, rebuilt the Tcase and got it all running good. When I got the Truck it came with an invoice from a local shop for like $22K of parts they threw at it and it was pretty brutal to read. They Threw a DUI dist, brand new aisin carb, desmogged it, headers and new exhaust all the way out the back, etc.
Here is the truck right after i got it.
After tightening all of the driveshaft bolts (they were all hand tight) fixing the insanely advanced timing, setting idle fuel mix, adjusting the valves, throwing new ujoints at it, and putting the driveshaft back into phase it ran great. It had 33x12.5 R15 Toyo MTs on it on the original stock chrome wheels, and it was quite squirmey on the road, so i threw some D window crawler wheels on it and it helped a ton. Thanks @dnp for buying the old wheels!
We had a ton of fun in the snow, made it into the newspaper (twice) and helped out the fire Dept.
Built a pretty basic sleeping platform in the back that would let me fold the seats up for regular driving and would fit plastic under bed storage bins underneath. Turned out pretty well. Its super cramped for the camping with the dog thing, so it will be all storage after the Roof-Top Tent arrives this month from Go Fast Campers. So far its worked for multiple bike trips and mountain bike races to going on fun rides out of town. Camping in it is a little tight. It was surprisingly cozy in the snow camping in arkansas
Speaking of roof top tents, I ended up looking for a roof rack with two requirements. Very low profile so it would fit into my old ass tiny garage door, and made of steel. Ended up going with a Gamiviti rack and couldnt be happier. Stout, all steel, made by a dude in colorado. Cant go wrong. It will hold our Go Fast Campers Superlite tent. The tent only weighs 80 lbs, because theres no way in hell my wife is going to help me put it on and get it off. Its super thin too. Interested to see how it turns out when it shows up. With the rack in its lowest setting, it fits into my garage with 3/8 of an inch to spare.
I also really wanted dual batteries in this thing. I know a big deep cycle battery and a noco jump pack works well, but i just wanted the project and I like the idea of the two batteries. Went with the national Luna kit to make it easy, and also so i could run two different batteries. I really like the X2 power batteries, but this one already had an optima so i just went with a yellow top as the second battery. The kit really makes wiring it up pretty easy and fool proof.
Scored a crazy good deal on this 8K winch. Its probably not enough for single line pulls on the 60, but for emergencies I can just double line everything i guess. Its only been used 3 times and i got it for less than half price off new. The weird Thimble thing is already gone and ill be using a regular warn hook.
Thats kind of it so far. I have been building up a mountain bike to race enduro, but since its pretty much done I can throw some effort into throwing more parts at the truck. In the next week I'll have a weld together slider kit to throw on it, and hopefully a front bumper.
Ive been talking with Dave at 4plus about getting a weld together front bumper kit, and he said he should have updated pricing for me this week. Depending on pricing i might go with the assembled unit or the weld together kit. I just got a new welder and table and would love to get some hours behind the gun.
Last year I had to restructure a bunch of stuff due to covid uncertainty and other hoopla last year and had to sell Lee Majors and my Power Wagon to downsize. Thankfully the wife's 100 series is fully paid off and still at less than 200K miles. This 60 is now my only vehicle and will be my daily driver. The last build thread I had was of the white firstgen 4runner that I never should have sold, so this 60 is going to be redemption for that truck. My wife bet me $5k that if I sell this truck in 5 years I owe her 5 grand.
I bought this 60 off of a guy who lived about 2 miles from my house in the Ritz Carlton neighborhood of Hedgemoor in Memphis. He didnt really know how to work on cars, but the history is that he bought the truck from Classic Cruisers in CO. They got it prettied up, threw a rebuild H55F in it, rebuilt the Tcase and got it all running good. When I got the Truck it came with an invoice from a local shop for like $22K of parts they threw at it and it was pretty brutal to read. They Threw a DUI dist, brand new aisin carb, desmogged it, headers and new exhaust all the way out the back, etc.
Here is the truck right after i got it.
After tightening all of the driveshaft bolts (they were all hand tight) fixing the insanely advanced timing, setting idle fuel mix, adjusting the valves, throwing new ujoints at it, and putting the driveshaft back into phase it ran great. It had 33x12.5 R15 Toyo MTs on it on the original stock chrome wheels, and it was quite squirmey on the road, so i threw some D window crawler wheels on it and it helped a ton. Thanks @dnp for buying the old wheels!
We had a ton of fun in the snow, made it into the newspaper (twice) and helped out the fire Dept.
Built a pretty basic sleeping platform in the back that would let me fold the seats up for regular driving and would fit plastic under bed storage bins underneath. Turned out pretty well. Its super cramped for the camping with the dog thing, so it will be all storage after the Roof-Top Tent arrives this month from Go Fast Campers. So far its worked for multiple bike trips and mountain bike races to going on fun rides out of town. Camping in it is a little tight. It was surprisingly cozy in the snow camping in arkansas
Speaking of roof top tents, I ended up looking for a roof rack with two requirements. Very low profile so it would fit into my old ass tiny garage door, and made of steel. Ended up going with a Gamiviti rack and couldnt be happier. Stout, all steel, made by a dude in colorado. Cant go wrong. It will hold our Go Fast Campers Superlite tent. The tent only weighs 80 lbs, because theres no way in hell my wife is going to help me put it on and get it off. Its super thin too. Interested to see how it turns out when it shows up. With the rack in its lowest setting, it fits into my garage with 3/8 of an inch to spare.
I also really wanted dual batteries in this thing. I know a big deep cycle battery and a noco jump pack works well, but i just wanted the project and I like the idea of the two batteries. Went with the national Luna kit to make it easy, and also so i could run two different batteries. I really like the X2 power batteries, but this one already had an optima so i just went with a yellow top as the second battery. The kit really makes wiring it up pretty easy and fool proof.
Scored a crazy good deal on this 8K winch. Its probably not enough for single line pulls on the 60, but for emergencies I can just double line everything i guess. Its only been used 3 times and i got it for less than half price off new. The weird Thimble thing is already gone and ill be using a regular warn hook.
Thats kind of it so far. I have been building up a mountain bike to race enduro, but since its pretty much done I can throw some effort into throwing more parts at the truck. In the next week I'll have a weld together slider kit to throw on it, and hopefully a front bumper.
Ive been talking with Dave at 4plus about getting a weld together front bumper kit, and he said he should have updated pricing for me this week. Depending on pricing i might go with the assembled unit or the weld together kit. I just got a new welder and table and would love to get some hours behind the gun.
Last edited: