slow, budget built '89 toyota pickup expedition rig

xlcaferacer

Adventurer
Where the truck is now.
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Vs. what it last looked like:
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Inside:
-Bench seat replaced with SR5 bucket seats; and again with Corbeau Baja RS reclining suspension seats, with custom dog bench in extra cab. Basic stereo upgrade. Not much else.
Outside:
-Trail-Gear sliders
-Budbuilt full ifs skid and single case crossmember
-Me-Built rear bumper with swing out (gone)
-Me-Built front bumper
-Wildernest camper (sadly no longer with me), and then a free fiberglass shell, and then a built out A.R.E. aluminum utility camper shell, now a Me-Built flatbed with an RTT.
Mechanicals:
-minimal suspension lift (1 1/2" ball-joint spacers front with Old Man Emu rear springs)
-1" body lift on the cab
- 35" BFG KM'2s
-stock 22re 4cylinder
-4:88's in the axles with a Detroit Locker in the rear end.
-Single t-case with Trail-Gear 4.7's and twins.
-lots of upkeep parts and service.

The start of the story:
I'll start by saying that this rig is built on a budget with some thought on what I really want to do with my truck. I went through a couple of vehicles to bring me to this vehicle that I call Ruby. This build started out with me acquiring an '84 Toyota pickup with a rebuilt motor and dreams of turning it into a serious trail rig. Well, those ideas changed when I met a lady that would eventually become my wife. The problem with a Toyota pickup at this point came with the fact that she had a son. He's a great kid and I didn't want to leave him out of back country exploration. A Toyota Pickup is not exactly the most family friendly vehicle. So I got rid of it and looked for something cool and a little more family friendly. So being a rational guy that has always looked at reliability and cost of ownership as reasons to buy a vehicle (I have owned several Toyotas because of these reasons) I used this as an excuse to buy something out of the box. So I bought this:
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1978 International Scout II. It was claimed to have about 88,000 miles on the ticker, a 4" skyjacker lift, 4:10 gears, and a Detroit Locker in the rear. What a perfect start to a trail rig. It needed tires but that was no big deal as I picked it up for $2,300. I finally had a vehicle with a V-8. It was fun (when it ran), but it was also serving as my daily driver, not so fun! It spent more time in the garage waiting for parts, and me to put them on, than it did on the road. On top of this, the kid wasn't into camping with us or exploring (teenagers, go figure). So after almost 2 years of ownership, a couple thousand more dollars and many weeks in my garage waiting to be fixed, she had to go. I got what I paid and was so glad she was gone!
Now it was time to start looking for what I wanted initially. Craigslist here I come!
I was definitely going back to my roots and started looking for a Toyota pickup. I had to have a 22RE under the hood and actually looked for an IFS front end! I realized that with where I wanted to go and to have a nice ride on the street that IFS was the way to go. Yeah, the front ends only have about 7" of travel but that is O.K. I was looking for something that could spend time on trails like those offered in the San Juan Mtns. of Colorado. Some difficulty with scenic beauty was what I was after.
So after about a month and a half of searching I found a 2 owner, 1989 Toyota extra cab, with a 22RE, 5 speed and 101,000 miles. I had to make it mine! She had a few dents, a minor amount of rust, and a few other minor issues but she came home with me for $3,500. I felt like I won the lottery. Here is the truck that became known as Ruby: IMG_5307.jpg

I bought her in the spring of 2011 and I feel like I have done enough to her to validate a build thread. Here is a pic of her in the Wildernest days:
 

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DeMented Toys

Adventurer
Sweet!! I have had a few Toyota pickups. I currently have a 99 4Runner as my expo trailer pulling and camping rig, and a FrankenYota I built for offroad. What all have you done to your so far?


DinéMetalworks.com
 

xlcaferacer

Adventurer
In my purchase of a used Toyota I got super lucky. Kelly; the guy I bought it from, was super legit and super cool. The stack of records that he had on Ruby were about an inch thick. He had receipts for everything, from oil and wiper blade changes on up. Everything was documented! This was my dream purchase as I didn't mind some cosmetic damage and some routine maintenance that needed to be done.
She ran good so the first things I did were upkeep and luxury items. I de-tinted the bubbled window tint and added a basic stereo. The original one only had 3 1/2" speakers in the dash and sounded terrible so I went to Crutchfield and ordered a new Kenwood cd player with a USB port for charging electronics and a set of 6 1/2" speakers. I got rid of the 3 1/2" speakers in the dash and put in new Kenwood 4" speakers. I also got rid of the storage pockets in the extra cab and made them speaker boxes for the 6 1/2" speakers that I ordered. The sound difference is very much more enjoyable.
Another issue was the rear window. It ha d a broken panel on the slider and I was told that I needed a whole new window. I live in a small town in the mountains of Colorado and there is not much in the way of someone making something to work. So I have parts replacers to deal with. So be it, I ordered a solid rear window to replace the broken slider window. Being budget minded, this saved me $150. I wish I would have paid the money and bought a slider again.
The camper shell that came with the truck was also a question on what to do with it. It was a plastic shell that had numerous cracks and had missing glass on the cab side window. So I decided to get rid of it and look for something else. I found a nice condition shell about 150 miles from me for $100. I went and picked it up and painted it black.
I also manage to come across a used set of BFG AT's with half tread in a 33x9.50r15 size for $200. I made them mine. Once mounted they played nice with all sheet metal even without a lift so I ran them happily for the next two years, granted with little wheeling time due to other priorities.
Even though I had little time to get out and play I did find time to do some cutting and build a rear bumper. I cut the rear bottom part of the bed off in order to gain ground clearance. I cut it off so that the rear bumper would be a straight shot out the back at frame level. I am guessing that this gained me 5-6" of clearance out back. I also trimmed out some rust in the rear wheel wells at the same time. The wheel wells ended up a bit more open than I would have liked but cutting is much cheaper than body work so I went with it. I had some scrap 2 1/2" square stock laying around and some other scrap for supports so in the spirit of a budget build, I whipped out a rear bumper in a day. So now I just gained a few inches of clearance in the rear with no lift. Perfect, I kept it low and gained some clearance. Check out the pics and please stay tuned until next time.
 

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xlcaferacer

Adventurer
I also never liked the 60/40 bench seat configuration that these Toyotas and the early Tacomas came with. They were very uncomfortable and killed easy access to the extra cab portion of the truck. I wanted to get rid of mine from day one. I finally found an excuse when I adopted a shelter dog and wanted him to be able to roam in the cab of the truck. I found a junk (discount, slightly used, cool stuff) yard that had a set of 4runner SR5 bucket seats that became mine for $70 bucks. I had to modify some brackets to make them work but that wasn't bad since I had a MIG welder at work and a pile of scrap metal. The seats did require a bit of a cleaning and some universal seat covers that came from Cabela's for about $70 bucks in order to really protect myself from past owner abuse, but I am happy with the change. In order to make my new dog happy, I also got rid of the tiny rear flip seats and built him a platform that gives him a level space that takes up the whole area behind the front seats.
I know this is a bit off topic but I am super stoked that I adopted a shelter dog. He is mostly Lab and part Golden Retriever. I affectionately call him my Labradork because like all Labs he is a bit dorky but super loving. The shelter called him Rex and we stuck with it. The only bummer is that he doesn't so much like riding in vehicles, so that is the reason for me building him his dog platform (and a few other things) and installing bucket seats so that he has full access to the truck cab. Anyway, when I think of saving my dog from the shelter the saying of "who saved who" comes to mind, because we are definitely both better off with each other. So; to sound like Bob Barker, who preached spaying and neutering, I preach adopting.
Sorry for going off topic, but most luxury items are now accounted for. The next installment will entail preparations for a trip from Colorado to Oregon and back. (timing chain, axle gears, and sleeping accommodations). Here's some interior shots to get you by till next time:
 

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xlcaferacer

Adventurer
My wife's mom lives in Eugene, Oregon. We decided on a road trip. For this to happen, I had a bit of work to do to the truck and we had to get plane tickets for our son. With the help of Grandma, tickets were the easy part. On the other hand, Ruby was about 12,000 miles overdue for a scheduled timing chain replacement and its related parts. So with a 5,000 mile round trip-road trip ahead of us it was time to get to work.
A quick call to enginebuilder.com netted me all the parts necessary for the timing chain replacement. It turned out to be a good decision to do this job prior to the trip due to the fact that very little of the plastic timing chain guide was still intact. The plastic chain guide is now replaced with a metal backed timing chain guide which is good insurance in the long run. And, enginebuilder sent all parts necessary for the job with a new waterpump for a little over $100.
To do a timing chain properly on a 22RE engine you need to drop the oil pan. If you have an IFS front end this entails dropping the front differential. In the past I have cheated this process and I have never gotten my oil pan to seal quite properly. So, this time I decided to do the job correctly.
Since I was dropping the front diff, I decided on a re-gear. I knew that with 33" tires I needed 4:88 gears. Re-gearing is not cheap so I decided to find out how cheap I could do it for using used parts. I had a buddy parting out an old trail rig that sold me a Detroit locked 8"diff with 4:88 gearing for $250.00. The gear backlash was not as tight as I would like but the price was right and 10,000 miles later, everything is still good.
For the front I gave Jims Got Parts a call. the 4runners of my truck's era that came from the factory with 31" tires also came with 4:88 gears. Jim's is a Toyota salvage yard in Denver with great service and very reasonable pricing. They shipped me a factory 4:88 IFS front diff for under $200.00.
So, by doing the work myself with a combination of new timing chain and water pump parts, and with used diff parts, I had a new timing setup and was locked in the rear and re-geared for less than $600.00.
Tune in next time as I get the sleeping quarters worked out.
 

xlcaferacer

Adventurer
As I stated before, we were heading from Colorado to Oregon to see my wife's family. We were planning on 2 nights sleeping in the truck on each end of the trip. We already had a shell to keep us and our stuff dry and semi comfortable. But Craigslist stepped in once again. I found one of those carpeted bed box kits. The ones that give you storage boxes down the sides and a platform that creates a level sleeping area when used in the high position. When in the low position it gives you mostly full access to the truck bed. It was in good shape and just needed a carpet shampoo so I bought it for a mere $50.00. A little bit of luxury on a budget. My search for comfort doesn't end there. Tune in next time to see what I mean.
 

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xlcaferacer

Adventurer
DeskToGlory, reading your build this weekend was what motivated me to start this thread. I like what you have done as well. Hopefully I can find time after work tonight to add more to this thread.
 

xlcaferacer

Adventurer
As I said in my last post, I was looking for some extra comfort. This need (want?) was more intended for the long term than just this trip to Oregon. I looked at this trip as a kind of shakedown trip for the future and an excuse to buy a camper and turn my truck into a 4x4 RV!. So after laying in the truck with the new platform/bed in the level position across the top of the wheel wells and my wife and dog in there with me I determined it would be tight, but it would work. I still wanted more, and I think my wife did too. I had been shopping for a while and looking at different camper options for the truck. These included slide in campers of many varieties but the ones that I really wanted (four-wheel, phoenix, or even the old six-pack hard sides) were either to heavy and bulky (six-pack) or too expensive for my budget.
After thinking more about why I wanted a camper, I realized that I only wanted it to get out of the weather and to sleep off of the ground in a comfortable bed. I still enjoy cooking outside and hanging out around the campfire and I didn't really want or need any electrical devices that couldn't be charged in the cab of the truck while we are driving. I also didn't need a heavy camper in an already low powered truck. So; after about 2 months worth of shopping for used campers on craigslist I finally found one that was in the budget, was semi-lightweight, and gave me a comfortable bed to sleep on. The funny thing is; these campers are what I started looking for in the first place. My search had ended where it began and I finally bought the camper that I originally wanted. I bought a great camper that is no longer made. I bought a:
 

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xlcaferacer

Adventurer
I bought my camper from a 20 some year old kid that bought a truck that came with the Wildernest on it. He said that he had only used it a couple of times but had owned the truck for a few years. He had had it on craigslist for about two months and he didn't really like to answer his emails. So I kept emailing him. A month later he finally replied and sent pictures. The canvas was in great shape and the fiberglass was leak free. He was asking $650.00 but he settled on $450.00. I scored!
The beauty of the Wildernest is that it only weighs 300lbs and folds up to look like a regular camper shell. But when folded out we have a pseudo living room and a full size bed to sleep on. It is like having a roof top tent, except that when it is all folded up I don't have any wind drag on the highway.
Here are some pictures of the inside and outside taken on various camping trips in the year that I have owned it. The pictures show my wife and our friend playing cards in the "living room" during a thunderstorm in Utah, me and the dogs in the "bedroom" during the same thunderstorm, and 2 pics of the outside (both folded up and opened up) on our to and from Oregon.
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J

JWP58

Guest
Whats funny is, I've been emailing some guy about a wildernest in the Denver area for about two months with no reply. I don't get it, why post something for sale if you're not going to respond. Honestly I'm continuing to email the guy just to annoy him.....

Nice looking pickup btw.
 

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