Toyota guys, I need some opinions

[Trike Kid]

I'm looking at buying an 84 short bed regular cab pickup, the 22R has about 150K on it (the odometer is thrown by some bigger than stock tires). It's basicly stock outside of some 32" mud kings and smitty built step bars and rear bumper (if I buy they will be gone within an hour of it being home). The engine is a little grimey, but what 84' anything isn't? It has a new carb, brake master cylinder, rebuilt 3rd member in the rear and some other small stuff. The exhaust is gone just after the cat, and the front of the bed floor is separating from the front wall, I want to flat bed it anyway so that isn't a problem. The doors need a little repair but the front end is great, frame is rust free. The interior is SUPER clean, has an aftermarket CD head unit. He's asking 2000, and it'll be up and running next weekend (carb and master cylinder were off when we were there. Think it's worth the money for a project?

[Magic]

i had a truck like that, only it was an 85, great projects. i say if you have the funds go for it.

[CSR]

$2000 isn't too bad. I'd probably pay that for it if it was in decent shape. I paid $1500 for a '85 XtraCab with a 22RE, but it needed clutch work, hubs, and a front seal. Any 2nd generation Toy is going to have rust in the bed. My '85 had holes big enough to stick your fist through!

Careful, those solid axle Toy's make excellent money pits!

Here's my ol' Toy before:



$7000 later.......



RXCrawler owns it now. He 'wheels the crap out of it....... just as it was built to do! ;)

[Trike Kid]

Well mine will also be a daily driver so I can't go too crazy, just rears or waggoneer springs in the front, some 56" F150's in the rear, 33's and a flat bed, some rock sliders and bumpers. Flat bed is an excellent excuse for me to drop the cash on a MIG welder too. Toy's up here are uber expensive, and in many cases WAY over priced (I saw a mildly built 3rd gen on craigslist for 10,500, and it wasn't even SAS'd). The average 1st gen is between 3000 and 4000, second gens are in that area usually. Your 85 had the same ugly smitty built step bars on it as this one, just like almost every one I see, must have been available at the dealer or something.

[CSR]

The Sh!ttybuilt nerf bars and rear bumper got hacked off the first day I had the truck!

My plan was to build the '85 fairly conservative...... gears, rear locker and enough lift to clear 33's or maybe 35's. I sold my bass boat and big block Nova that you can see there in the background, so I had plenty of money burning up my pockets. Then TSL introduced the IROK Radial. Loved Them! 36" was the only size available when they were first released....... so to hell with conservative, I built the truck around a set of 36" tires.

I swapped in longer All-Pro 4" leaves in the front, dropped hanger moved forward, All-Pro HiSteer with IFS box. Chevy 63" springs in the rear. Inchworm dual cases, Budbuilt 1" rise x-member, 4.88's with Detroits front and rear. All-Pro 4340 chromoly inners with POS Profields (broke 3 of 'em).

It was kinda slow out on the highway with the big heavy tires, but still very streetable. I drove the truck every day. I even made a 300+ mile trip to Tellico in the 'yota one night, aired down and hit the trails the next day, aired back up and drove it home that night.;)

The truck should be bomb-proof now. Joey swapped in Longfield 30-spline axles and birfields and hydro-assist steering.

Buy it! Try to stay away from the Toyota forum at Pirate4x4 and you should be fine.

[Trike Kid]

Yeah, I'm only a member on the Marlin Crawler board (think of it as a kinder, gentler, more sane Pirate). I'm going to do cross over steering for sure, since this one is manual steering anyway. Right now my drive train plans are to just to warm up the 22R with a cam, header and 2 1/2" exhaust, gears, some kind of lunch box locker (probably aussie) in the rear and a marlin twin stick setup.

[Unimoger]

Originally Posted by CSR

The Sh!ttybuilt nerf bars and rear bumper got hacked off the first day I had the truck!

My plan was to build the '85 fairly conservative...... gears, rear locker and enough lift to clear 33's or maybe 35's. I sold my bass boat and big block Nova that you can see there in the background, so I had plenty of money burning up my pockets. Then TSL introduced the IROK Radial. Loved Them! 36" was the only size available when they were first released....... so to hell with conservative, I built the truck around a set of 36" tires.

I swapped in longer All-Pro 4" leaves in the front, dropped hanger moved forward, All-Pro HiSteer with IFS box. Chevy 63" springs in the rear. Inchworm dual cases, Budbuilt 1" rise x-member, 4.88's with Detroits front and rear. All-Pro 4340 chromoly inners with POS Profields (broke 3 of 'em).

It was kinda slow out on the highway with the big heavy tires, but still very streetable. I drove the truck every day. I even made a 300+ mile trip to Tellico in the 'yota one night, aired down and hit the trails the next day, aired back up and drove it home that night.;)

The truck should be bomb-proof now. Joey swapped in Longfield 30-spline axles and birfields and hydro-assist steering.

Buy it! Try to stay away from the Toyota forum at Pirate4x4 and you should be fine.

Nice to see that green monster, hopefully mine will look like that someday. I havea 93' x-cab v6 basically stock. Wanna do all the same stuff, bob flat bed, cage, sas, lift, shackles etc....... almost rather buy one done, buy hey, that would be too easy.

[Over-Rev]

Not too Bad,Personaly I would buy It.Look for a wrecked 86+ yota with Good 22re and tranny and rear axle swap in drivetrain.
I did this to my 83,Scored a rolled 88'4x4 shortbed EFI. I used everything I used 88 dash in 83,cause I didnt wanna chop plugs to fit too 83 dash and plus 88 gave more leg room. The whole upgrade cost me 600.00 and only 1 trip to auto parts store for Exhaust ghasket and coolant.Wish I still had pic's.
You would be better off doing the swap on your rig since its a 2nd gen and everything would bolt/Plug right in.Ive been Working/Abusing these rigs since 92.
Have Fun!

[toyofast]

Are the tags still good? I'd tell the guy to put it back together so you can drive it home and you'd more happier to drop the $2000 into his pocket. It sounds like it'll need some work but overall after a bit of work it should keep you happy.


I paid $1800 for my '90 extra cab Toyota a couple years ago. It's loaded with everything but A/C. It was like new inside and outside. I searched for about 4 months before it rolled into my life

[Trike Kid]

Originally Posted by Over-Rev

Not too Bad,Personaly I would buy It.Look for a wrecked 86+ yota with Good 22re and tranny and rear axle swap in drivetrain.
I did this to my 83,Scored a rolled 88'4x4 shortbed EFI. I used everything I used 88 dash in 83,cause I didnt wanna chop plugs to fit too 83 dash and plus 88 gave more leg room. The whole upgrade cost me 600.00 and only 1 trip to auto parts store for Exhaust ghasket and coolant.Wish I still had pic's.
You would be better off doing the swap on your rig since its a 2nd gen and everything would bolt/Plug right in.Ive been Working/Abusing these rigs since 92.
Have Fun!

The EFI isn't worth all the work for me, it's a 10hp diffrence stock to stock, and I'm not going to rock crawl so I won't be helped by the ability to run at an angle. I didn't look real close at the tabs but I can get a trip permit to get it home if I have to, I have till September before I have my actual license so I got time. I might make a trailer to haul motorcycles out of the bed when I flat bed it.

[AdamF]

Go over the frame real good. Toy frames like to rust from the inside out. Get a screw driver and poke at it. Check the rear half of the frame, near the crossmember and shackle mounts.

[Trike Kid]

My dad and I both went over the rails, they're fine. I'll wait till I can see how it runs before I make a final verdict, but it's looking real promising. Gonna be LOUD missing the exhaust and all (there's about a foot of exhaust tubing after the cat, it broke there and was removed).

[Cole82]

You should buy that. Around here that's a little high, but they are a lot more rusty. I haven't seen a yota that clean in a long time.
I really liked my 86 yota.
Roll cage is your friend

[toyofast]

Don't pay attention to those guys that live in the Salt-Zone of USA. They have to worry about rust and beater rigs. Here in the West we don't tend to see rust like those folks way over yonder. Only rigs in the PNW that rust out are those that live on the coastal shores.

[Trike Kid]

^^^ That is very true, the only real bad non salt water related cases of rust I know are the fire wall in the 78 Magnum I "inherited" from my dad (got a bunch of ash from Mt St Helens in the cowl vents, that collected water and rusted big holes in it, and the tri-five chevy truck cab sitting in the swamp up the road from my house. Up here in the PNW, we just have to worry about chemical de-icer ruining our wiring, and even that isn't really an issue unless you make constant runs over the mountains. Cole, that looks like one well loved yota you had there.

[CSR]

Originally Posted by Unimoger

Wanna do all the same stuff, bob flat bed, cage, sas, lift, shackles etc.......

Careful building beds.... weight adds up FAST! I used .250 wall for the two pieces of tube that bolted to the truck frame, everything else was .120. Ended up weighing almost as much as the original full bed.

Other than being heavier than expected, my flat bed turned out decent. The Samurai taillights worked out great. I welded chain links around the floor for ratchet strapping down my gear, also used expanded steel for the floor so I'd have an infinite number of places to hook bungie straps. My cooler fit snugly between the ammo boxes, which held my winching accessories, tools and extra fluids. Topped it off with a prerunner-style spare tire mount ;)

I miss my Toyota. :-( I hope RXCrawler takes good care of it....... I'll buy it back from him someday.

[clodbrett]

I have to agree with Cummins, 22RE is the way to go. Its not so much about the horsepower, but EFI gives you quicker power, more instantaneous torque..

And I would say its important to get a pre '86 truck, but not pre 84' because Toyota put the reinforced axles on their trucks in 84 and 85. The 22RE only came in 85 and up, and in 86 they went to a IFS setup. So if you want to spend the time and money on getting a SAS kit, and Live front axle from a junkyard, get whatever year you want...

Me personally, I'm getting an '85 4Runner. Solid axles all around, 22RE, Manual trans, Removable top.

_bR3T7

Oh incidentally, only about 1/10 Yota's released in america during the 1980's is an automatic so even if this truck isn't exactly what you want, its fairly easy to come across other toyotas just have to look hard

[Trike Kid]

I know what came with EFI and IFS etc... I'd rather find a truck that was solid front original than hack up the frame of something I'm going to be driving every day. I also believe a well tuned carb is just as good for throttle response as an EFI engine. There is an 85 I'd really like to buy from a friend of my dad's but he won't give it up till it blows up, he's had it since it was new in 85. If it is a true plug and play swap I may look into it, but I've seen people have connectors not match up from one RE to another RE truck (an 87 and 88 runner)

[4u2nv]

I would get it just because it has solid axles already. I have a 91 I went through all the trouble of lifting it with the IFS now I'm kicking myself for not doing a SAS. The only thing with these Yota's is once you start putting money into them its tough to stop. Here's a pic of mine so far.........

[RXcrawler]

Here are somewheeling pic of the green monstor that CSR built and I bought. $2000 I'd buy it.