Millertime's No ifs ands or buts

[Damil]

At what point does an older vehicle become a Sunday driver and a newer one become an everyday necessity? That old truck use to be someones everyday, pride and joy 30 years ago! So what has changed? I realize mileage and time ad wear on a vehicle, but isn't this just maintenance and replaceable parts? Or is it just our growing need for more luxuries and technology, lifting the standard of what we believe is needed to be 'drivable' in our everyday world.


I won't bite....



Vehicle of choice is a 1982 Toyota truck. Cheap tax and insurance, safety check inspections only, and one of the most reliable/simple vehicles out there, this truck checks all of the boxes for me, most importantly being a Toyota. This is my everyday driver currently sitting at 240k.





Overlanding Goals:

- Travel cross country with a good group of dudes.. anywhere from 2 days to 2 week excursions

Vehicle Goals:

- That's a whole 'nother post that I will add shortly.



As it sits:

Power and Drivetrain:
- 3RZ swap from 2000 Tacoma
- W59 transmission
- 4 cylinder topshift Tcase twin stick with 4.7:1 gears
- AllPRO Tcase hand brake
- TG HD case mount
- Budbuilt belly and crossmember
- 8" front, 5.29, spartan locker
- 8" rear, 5.29, open (was recently Yukon locked but had horrible street manners)
- Chromo axle shafts

Tires and suspenion:
- 35" MTR Kevs on steels
- 63" rear leaf conversion
- Rear Billies

Steering:
- High steer
- RC dampener
- IFS gearbox conversion

Body, armor, accessories:
- Bobbed bed 8" short
- Half doors and full doors with quick pins
- Shortened nissan softopper 8"
- Sliders and front bumper
- Warn M8000 synthetic


Hope to meet some of you guys, thanks for watching

 

[Mojavewanderer]

Nice rig! I daily drive a first gen Toyota too, but mine’ still stock. They are great trucks.

 

[jim lee]

The big troubles start when the pool of spare parts and whatever black art to keep that level of tech disappears. Then, everywhere you go is like a intergalactic voyage. You are forced to be completely self reliant because you are completely on your own.

Believe me, I know. :)

-jim lee

 

[Correus]

My daily driver was, and will be again soon, a Land Rover 1963 SIIa 88 Station Wagon. It's not all that difficult to get parts nor maintain. Many of the primary parts can actually be sourced from very unlikely sources, such as old Ford tractors. Don't even really need a battery - it can be started with a hand crank.

 

[Damil]

I am not exactly at hand crank level by any means, but like most of the older toyotas, there is very little complexity to them, and as long as the rock crawling scene continues on with solid axle toyota's, parts will be fairly plentiful. I may be naive, but I think I should be okay for the next two decades as far as part sourcing is concerned....

The power plant is of course a 3RZ, but even at that, it is still very a basic motor, and one thing I will not give up is fuel injection. That is just a must for me.

I cannot take credit for the majority of this build at this point. The swap and suspension was done by the previous owner for a road worthy vehicle whose main goal was to take on the rocks. My goal is to push it a little farther towards road manners and long distant highway cruising. Thankfully, this is one of the best driving off road vehicles I have driven, plenty of power, 70 mph no problem, drives straight as an arrow, and has some of the best braking capabilities on a vehicle I have owned to date... just another reason why I stand behind well built/maintained toyotas.




What I have done in the past few months -

- Maintenance out the wazoo as far as grease, oil, etc....
- Transfer case disk hand brake
- O.D. Clamp and larger steering damper
- Rotated the pinion angle to help correct driveshaft vibrations (still need to purchase a new CV shaft)
- Removed rear third Yukon locker (will be replacing with an ARB selectable locker)
- Had a softopper shortened down 8" and redid frame to fit on to the bobbed bed
- Removed ripped tcase mount and put in a new trail gear case mount in
- Replaced a lot of bulbs

 

[Damil]

2019 Year Vehicle Build Goals


Simple
- Repair original horn
- Add Front turn signals
- Replace side markers
- Licences plate light
- Replace rear driveshaft with a Tom woods CV driveshaft


Moderate
- 60" rear bed sliders with full length pull out bed (Already have sliders)
- Ruffstuff rear axle rear cross brace (ordered)
- Rebuild front axle


Complex
- Fab rear tire carrier (purchased second hand PS carrier)
- Begin 3 link front and rear parts collection and design (already have all links and limiting straps)

 

[Motohead1]

Hard to beat a yota for a daily. I had a 82 2wd that I finally got the goodie out of it a few years ago. it had over 800k miles on it.

How thirsty is that 3rz? Selectable lockers on both ends and that thing will go anywhere.

 

[ZRex]

My newest is the '95 T4R, oldest is the '83 Celica Supra. Littered with Toyotas all in between. Wifey has an '05 Tundra and an '18 Crosstrek. I prefer the older stuff for cheaper repairs, insurance, and less concern when something catastrophic happens. My '01 and '18 Kawasaki bikes are a little different.

Gotta love the old Toyotas, though!

Mike

 

[Damil]

Hard to beat a yota for a daily. I had a 82 2wd that I finally got the goodie out of it a few years ago. it had over 800k miles on it.

How thirsty is that 3rz? Selectable lockers on both ends and that thing will go anywhere.

My speedo is dead on, so after running a full tank of fuel, I took my mileage vs gallons and calculated an average of 18.9 mpg. My drive is 60% highway and 40% back roads and stop lights.

I definitely need to replace the rear locker that I had taken out. The front locker is nice and all, but you have to get out and lock the hubs and throw it 4 wheel to use it. For a minor obstacle, being able to lock the rear with a push of a button, then carry on in 2wd would be ideal.

My newest is the '95 T4R, oldest is the '83 Celica Supra. Littered with Toyotas all in between. Wifey has an '05 Tundra and an '18 Crosstrek. I prefer the older stuff for cheaper repairs, insurance, and less concern when something catastrophic happens. My '01 and '18 Kawasaki bikes are a little different.

Gotta love the old Toyotas, though!

Mike

Agreed! My liability insurance only costs me around $100 a year (it is bundled with house and fience's new lease), My inspection is $30 and only has to pass a safety (emissions can become a huge headache on high mileage vehicles), and my taxes are $70 a year. Just making a pre '95 a daily is saving me roughly $1800 a year extra with just Tax, Insurance, and inspection...

If we include monthly lease payments, say, a 2018 Tacoma @ $500 a month, I am also saving $6000 dollars a year...

After 3 years (typical lease) I will have saved over $23,400. If I were to put even a 1/3 of that saved money into this truck ($7,800) I could build a really well built truck.

Right now, my yearly goal is to spend no more than $2000 a year on the truck, this includes maintenance, repair, and upgrades...

 

[Overland_Mitsu]

Love it!

 

[Damil]

So currently in the process of a few different things...

First thing I am doing is preparing for the link suspension front and rear. For this, I wanted to get a corner weight just to see where I am sitting at right now. I will still have to do unsprung and all that jazz later when I go to get the coilovers, but I needed a ball park figure... plus I was curious to begin with!

This is with empty bed and half a tank.... (5 gallons).

Front corners are 1020 lb, 1040 lbs, and rear corners are 650 lbs, and 690lbs. Total weight is 3,400 lbs. Not too shabby, love these light weights!







The second project I am doing is the rear tire carrier. Found this cheap second hand poison spyder TJ carrier fold down (I wanted a fold down over a swing out for a few different reasons; I will comment on if someone is interested). But to make it fit how I like, there will be some cutting and refab work going into it. Getting rid of the tall pecker bar, and the tire will be sitting up right.







And due to having a fold down tire carrier that would be a bit in my way of accessing the rear of the bed.. I started building the 60" slide out bed for the rear. These are two heavy duty slides that have a capacity of 250 lbs at max length. I built a 1" x1" aluminum square frame with 3/4" finished marine grade ply resting on top of it. 3 heavy duty airline tracks at 60" will mount through the wood and into the frame. Honestly, the longest process will probably be the staining and sealing of the wood. But so far so good....

 

[Smileyshaun]

i had a 80 with a good ol 20r and a 4 speed ( for most of it's life ) that I rolled the odometer over twice and the previous owner had done the same , from his memory the truck had made 15 trips from Oregon to New York. It was the vehicle I had kept the longest and the vehicle I regret getting rid of the most . Some day when the kids are gone I want another .

 

[Damil]

That's great to hear! I keep hearing stories about how these trucks run and run and run...

So far I am loving this vehicle. It is honestly, to date, my favorite vehicle I have ever owned. Okay, maybe 2nd to my old stocker samurai, that was just a really fun little vehicle, but not very practical. Personally, the lighter and the smaller the rig, the more I enjoy it... I think this is the best of both worlds, and still has a 5' bed to bring the gear.

Love your old '80, looks clean!

 

[Motohead1]

Its amazing how light the older yotas are even with armored solid axles and heavy shoes. Great build!

 

[Smileyshaun]

That's great to hear! I keep hearing stories about how these trucks run and run and run...

So far I am loving this vehicle. It is honestly, to date, my favorite vehicle I have ever owned. Okay, maybe 2nd to my old stocker samurai, that was just a really fun little vehicle, but not very practical. Personally, the lighter and the smaller the rig, the more I enjoy it... I think this is the best of both worlds, and still has a 5' bed to bring the gear.

Love your old '80, looks clean!

welllll mechanicly it was very clean , it definitely had it's bumps and bruises and some mistakes made along the way ( check mud depth b4 bombing into stuff with a stock rig ). Back then internet support was very limited and there was a lot of trial and error figuring out what worked and what diddnt . The best part of old Toyota's is thier simplicity and how ridiculously easy they are to repair, very few tools are needed to fix it . one time I smoked the clutch out wheelin so with a buddies help we swapped it out on the side of the trail with just a couple hand tools and him being a big strong SOB ....... man I miss that thing , so many awesome memories

 

[gabe]

At what point does an older vehicle become a Sunday driver and a newer one become an everyday necessity? That old truck use to be someones everyday, pride and joy 30 years ago! So what has changed? I realize mileage and time ad wear on a vehicle, but isn't this just maintenance and replaceable parts? Or is it just our growing need for more luxuries and technology, lifting the standard of what we believe is needed to be 'drivable' in our everyday world.


I won't bite....



Vehicle of choice is a 1982 Toyota truck. Cheap tax and insurance, safety check inspections only, and one of the most reliable/simple vehicles out there, this truck checks all of the boxes for me, most importantly being a Toyota. This is my everyday driver currently sitting at 240k.





Overlanding Goals:

- Travel cross country with a good group of dudes.. anywhere from 2 days to 2 week excursions

Vehicle Goals:

- That's a whole 'nother post that I will add shortly.



As it sits:

Power and Drivetrain:
- 3RZ swap from 2000 Tacoma
- W59 transmission
- 4 cylinder topshift Tcase twin stick with 4.7:1 gears
- AllPRO Tcase hand brake
- TG HD case mount
- Budbuilt belly and crossmember
- 8" front, 5.29, spartan locker
- 8" rear, 5.29, open (was recently Yukon locked but had horrible street manners)
- Chromo axle shafts

Tires and suspenion:
- 35" MTR Kevs on steels
- 63" rear leaf conversion
- Rear Billies

Steering:
- High steer
- RC dampener
- IFS gearbox conversion

Body, armor, accessories:
- Bobbed bed 8" short
- Half doors and full doors with quick pins
- Shortened nissan softopper 8"
- Sliders and front bumper
- Warn M8000 synthetic


Hope to meet some of you guys, thanks for watching

Incredible truck, I love it.

 

[Damil]

Been working my butt off the past few weeks on activations across the east coast. Ended up getting stuck in that snow storm that hit Virginia hauling about 20,000 lbs in a two wheel drive dually. Took me 13 hours to go 250 miles down 81 S / 77 S. Passed over 40 accidents and 25 tractor trailers in the median. Days I wish I had the toyota!









During this time, my Tom Woods CV driveshaft came in, so hopefully that will fix my vibration issues... or at least calm them down a bit.




And managed to stain, seal, and pour some epoxy resin on the bed slider...

 

[Damil]

Removed the rear end and welded up the RuffStuff back truss...













Also put in the new Tom woods CV driveshaft to kill some bad vibes... problem fixed, smooth as glass at any speed.

 

[Damil]

Started building my idea for the automated rear bed slider.

Uses a pulley block system and an old small 12v winch with 3/16th synthetic line.

The idea is, not because I am particularly lazy.. But, to have a slider system that will work on up/down grades with full weight. Even a slight grade in either direction will make a pulling a pushing a 200 lb loaded bed slider much more difficult. Also, it defeats the need to have a locking pin system.

If the 12v system does fail, the winch can be put into free spool mode and the slider system can go in and out manually.

 

[Overland_Mitsu]

Man that kicks ass! Killer job [emoji1598]