The Long Rocky Road To FRANKEN-RUNNER

[NACHO-YOTA]

This is a tale of two trucks, An '87 Toyota X-cab dlx, Mortaly damaged in the battle of the red rocks EJS 2010, and the self-less '85 4-Runner that donated it's body to save the rock ravaged veteran 4-by soldier. The '87 started life as any other toyota truck but was soon modified with lockers and a little armor by it previous owner. I picked it up with a broken heart in '94 for cheep, preformed a quick transplant, and she was once again battling mother nature. In 2008 I decided it was time for a change and this is were our story begins.

First let me start by sayin I'm not to good with instuctions, sure I read them, but useually only to see how someone else would do it. After that I do it my way...
A list of the goodies installed in the first phase,
things to make her go Verooom?' Bone stock 22 REFI with a gasket match port and polished intake manifold, stock 148cc flow mached injectors,and a 2.5" exit pipe.
A 3" TG IFS eliminator was purchased W/ 14" 5150 bilstiens(triing to keep it modest and street legal.) 14" Bilstiens and a 3" lift??? looks like I'm gonna have to vent the inner fender.
An 85 toyota axle was located dismantled then completly rebuilt w/ 529's and a lock right. (did it a budget i'll add more later) Rear was allready locked w/529's and a detroit.

 

[turbohaulic]

Looks like a sweet rig And welcome to the site!

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

long road to FRANKIN-RUNNER

Thanks ,but there's soo much more to come!! gotta go git-it-done. the body is off the frame and the new one (body) should be ready by the first of the month. It needs to be done for the Montrose Rock Fest on Memorial day.

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

Ok, Motor ,Done. Front suspension, Done.Did I mention It was OFF WITH IT'S BED !!
Yeh, two good bumps it would have fallen off any hoo. The othe thing I thought it was better to collect the $1.295 I got for scrap metal than to be sued by some clown with a toyota emblem ebossed on his/her grill, Allright,TIME TO TUBE IT UP !!, I was thinkin I'd throgh a full exo on but, a freind of mine said "you shouldn"t hide the body behind an exo," I won't name any names but, thanks Paul. Tell the truth I like-em w/out the extra weight up high too. However the oridginal line scetch shows a full exo, I bent all of tube in the driveway at the house but, finish welded every thing at a friends shop. All my junk was is a storage shed.

 

[toyota rockhead]

Sweet rig! The bed looks like its going to turn out sick!
keep us posted on your progress. I'm looking forward to seeing
it all finished up

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

Once all the tube was bent, It was time to finish weld it all. Just about the end of May '08 , Some Shop space came available,at the right price,location. Yippie!! Time to go get brother E.S.A.B, and brother Lincoln,plus all their smoke -maken, spark-thowing buddies. this means I gotta move all my junk. (slows the building process)
In the mean time,I got tires!!!. 35x12.50x15 MT Baja's Do these make my feet look BIG?? Nahh,,,

As you can see the rear is just a bit low, but before i did the rear I needed some weight back there. Ilke diamond plate!!

Tubbed for the spare tire mount, gives the tire a lower center of "G" and will match the rake on the dove tail. Also give me a nice 2" over the frame shock mount hoop.

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

During testing I realized that the drag link was coming into contact with the tie rod under full left compression. Like I said I'm not real good with insrtuctions, apparently when they say to leave the front hanger flush with the frame there is some reason!!(I moved mine 1/4 forward) Thats OK I'll just tthow in a flat pitman arm.

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

With the front end working properly it was time to address the rear. After loading the rear with all the weight it would be carrying, I chose a 4" lift spring (TG) and started to shave all the rear spring hangers as well as the bed mounts. The bed mounts were replaced with tubing directly over the frame.

I like to suff ten pounds of $h!## in a one pound bag, So i decided add a crawler box w/ 2.28 in the front and 4.70 in the rear, do a drivetrain lift, to loose some belly fat, and add some armor on the rear axel housing. Allong with shaving the frame.

The new tunnel, Used a little honda hood, so much for keeping it all toyota!

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

The k member was cut then formed from a sheet of 3/8's plate and painted a perty black

The axle housing was trussed and padded for close contact.

\

 

[Taco4life]

Nice truss on that axle, did you fab it yourself or is it a kit?

 

[NACHO-YOTA]

Thanks, It's my design I just used a peice of 2"x4" tube and some scap from the k-member for the bottom pads and a chunk of tube to extend the filler.