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My new toy truck


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Here are some updates on the Hilux. I'm hoping to have to have it registered and driving in the next couple of months. My son is hoping to be picked up from school in it so I guess I have until the end of May :D

 

Raised the rear crossmember and now I can get the pumpkin to hit the bed. I wanted to get it as low as I could without cutting into the bed. I will add strategically cut bumpstops so I don't have to worry about dents in the bed.

 

Added bags over the springs and got the bed and gas tank back in. The previous owner sprayed black spray paint over the body lines and although it adds a lot of charm, I found I can get it off without damaging the blue. Should make a nice patina when done. I'm looking for fender mirrors now and am planning to move the turn signals to the upper grille in the fenders. I'll try to update more frequently...here are the pics:

 

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dang! this truck is awesome! i love old toyotas!

 

i like that rear setup you got there too! simple, yet effective!

 

keep up the good work man!

 

Thanks Farmer Joe. My theory is that i can do a mono leaf and that the bag behind the axle will increase the spring rate so the axle should stay where it needs to be and not wrap too much. What do you think? ...although, i guess you need power to worry about axle wrap. :D

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yeah i dont think youll have alot of problems with axle wrap. the pnly thing i might see happening is the thrid member twisting up a little on acceleration and maybe tapping the crossmember that you modded. from what it looks like, when you have the back down i could see that happening, but i wouldnt worry about it.

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Thanks for the input. I had one of my leafs de arched but i like it better with only the one leaf. Don't you have mono leafs on your 620? BTW the pumpkin hits the bed floor long before the crossmember and I'm hoping to strategically place bumpstops too.

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yeah im almost monoleafed. i did just have the main with the stock flat overload, but it made stress points on the main leaf and it broke. now i re did the monoleaf and kept one leaf from the pack and flipped it to get a little bit of spring action, and then ive got a bent thick overload that keeps the axle wrap to a minimum. heres a pic...

 

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thats was the day that i put the new leafs in. since then its settled alot more. my front leaf hangers are like 2in off the ground at all times. ive alot got a full step notch.

 

oh yeah, ive got a hole in the bed too. im pretty much bottomed out on the shocks in the back now. i could prolly put some short airshocks on the back and make this thing drag, but id rather save the money on airshocks for metal to just bag it. ive already got the bags.

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  • 4 weeks later...

More update pictures. Its coming along, slowly. I'm concentrating on state safety items now so I can get it registered and start driving it more than just in my neighborhood. I'll run the Mercedes hubcaps for a while.

 

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I even found a set of mint, vintage '71 Utah plates to register it with and I replaced the cracked tailgate reflectors with orange 510 marker lenses!

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Thanks, Mark! I would like to have electric valves eventually but for now, just a tank and manual air chuck.

 

My Garage is about 19' wide but its 27' deep. If I plan it right, I can back the wagon in with just a few turns. Its actually easier with the other car parked there as i can guage my turn better. I tell everyone we bought a garage with a house attached to it :lol:

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Yeah, Greengoon would be willing to help me bag my truck but I am starting to learn from a certain phrase I have been trying to make stick in my headover the years. It goes something like this... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I am just apprehensive of what it will do to my suspension over time. I don't what to prematurely wear everything out.

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  • 8 months later...

I am sorry to say that I have not worked on this truck for an awful long time. After the holidays, I hope to get it back into the garage and start working out the bugs so I can drive it this summer.

 

Right now its a snow holder:

 

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I have several excuses though. I found a low mileage (77,000) 94 Toyota to use as my daily so of course I had to lower it:

 

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Then I spent the rest of the summer dialing in my goon for its trip to JCCS, which was well worth the effort I might add. When the weather is decent, I fire the Hilux up and take it for a spin around the neighborhood. I have to diagnose a leak in one of the bags, diagnose some lighting problems and other little issues that I need to concentrate on.

 

Here are some shots from the summer with the '94 hubcaps:

 

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The last thing I did on it was get the exhaust hooked up. A Pep Boys Thrush muffler, some tubing and a chrome tip. It is still nice and loud, though. Oh, I decided to put the old black plates on the goon. They look much better on it. I will probably go find some beat up plates for this as it will fit the rattyness better.

 

Notice the Datsun orange turn signals on the tailgate replacing the trashed originals :D

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, I finally got it back into the garage and started to assess all the items that need to be done to make it roadworthy. I've decided to go a different direction with the truck. Regrettably, I should have done this from the very beginning but those are life's lessons... live and learn. I have always wanted to bag a vehicle so that was my main focus at the beginning of this project when I should have just cut the coils, blocked the rear and started to have fun with it. Since there are not a lot of these trucks out there, I did a lot of experimental fabrication that turned out unnecessary. I don't regret the fabrication practice, what I regret is the lost time with other aspects of the truck and all the time it sat that I was not "in" to it.

 

So the new plan for the new year is to get it low with a static drop, fix the aging suspension components such as ball joints and find the "right" wheels for it. I've been removing the black spray paint that the PO had sprayed over all the body lines and get it back to the blue. I plan the keep it in its original patina for the time being and may accent the original white poking through under the blue in places. I have items like the wiper switch and the leaking heater hoses, rusty floor board repair, etc. to fix along the way. The engine still starts well and runs strong but needs adjusting and a tune up.

 

After lots of thinking and measuring this week, I grabbed the stock coils, cut 2.5 turns out of them and ended up with this:

 

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Again, wish I would have done it sooner. I plan to go back and strengthen some of the metal that I removed for the bags and I still need some stiff shocks but now it is going in the right direction, I think. Since I had C notched the rear frame, I have plenty of axle travel. The above pictures have about 25psi in the rear bags. I do plan to keep the rear air bags as they come in handy for loads and are just basically helping the leafs.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the rusty area in the driver's side floor board fixed. This was the worst section. Not going for perfect, just going for strong as it will be hidden under the rubber or carpet. Another part of the Datsun going into the Toyota: the roof section from the goon sunroof has really come in handy. :lol: One more thing checked off the to do list.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

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