1986 Toyota Sunrader Turbo 2wd to 4wd Conversion/Tiny Home Build

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Down2Mob

Rank IV

Traveler I

954
Chandler, Arizona
Member #

4418

Hello everyone! I am very excited to share my new build and soon to be home on wheels, "Cali" the Sunrader. She is a 1986 Turbo with 76k Original miles. The rig is currently 2wd and the plan is to convert it to 4wd using my 1988 Toyota Pickup tcase and trans, and doing a solid axle swap. I plan to get a local shop to do the conversion work, while I tear apart and rebuild the inside into a nice tiny home so that I can travel the country and live in it later this year. I am excited to share this build, and also be sure to check out my YouTube videos to really follow the story. Starting with Episode 1...


 

Down2Mob

Rank IV

Traveler I

954
Chandler, Arizona
Member #

4418

So much to update you all on! I am going to do so more often. I have made tons of videos and done a lot of work to the Sunrader so far. One reason that I first bought this Sunrader was that it was complete, and looked decent inside. The water ran, the stove worked, the toilet flushed. I thought maybe I would just paint some things and refresh it. I found a board I needed to replace, then behind that there was something that wasn’t quite right, and after that was gone I saw another thing to fix, and so on. Before I knew it I had completely gutted the inside and was in full rebuild mode.
After the teardown, the first thing that was staring me in the face was all these empty holes from the old fridge and heater vents. I got a quote for $3500 to fill in like 6 or 7 holes that I did in a day for about $200 in materials. I dove into fiberglass research and I have learned a ton about it so far. It really is amazing stuff. You can check out how I did that below:
After doing that I took on the front windows. These wrap around front windows on the Sunraders are notorious for cracking and being hard to seal, and they do not make replacements (because Sunrader isn't in business). So the only option would be forming my own windows out of plexi glass. I didn't want to go that route, so I just fiberglassed them in! I'm still not done finishing it, but it turned out great - check that out below:
 
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