'Little Blue' '79 Build

[Seth_PDX]

Building my 1979 Toyota Deluxe for the PNW trails.

Big thanks to lagunaMS and IowaOffRoad for suggesting this thread.

Dlsclaimer: I'm new to posting in forums

TLDR:
Bought the stock truck as is 3 years ago, finally getting to it now

Installed High Steer with '94 IFS box
Marlin Front Axle rebuild kit with Extended Brake lines
OME RUF springs
TG Power Flow PS upgrade
Bilstein shock absorbers
Marlin Ubolt flip kit
Spartan Locker (lunchbox) in the rear axle w/ stock gears (4.38?)

Lots of rust through-out. Not sure what I want to do with the truck. I love this body style, but it's definitely a used and abuse truck from the previous owners.

Currenlty installed 4.7 and in the process of swapping it with the stock 2.28 Tcase. Saving up for duals and much much more.

 

[lagunaMS]

Glad you started one. Do you have any pics of the high steer install? My bump steer is god awful and I'm lucky it doesn't snow in Mississippi because it would be too dangerous to drive jerking all over the place. Crossover steering is high on the list for mine

 

[Seth_PDX]

I do.
I'll pull those up and post them here soon. I bought the TG IFS steering box mount separately from the high steer kit. I think I got the HiSteer kit off of amazon. Found a steering box off of craigslist.
If you haven't already rebuilt the front axle, you might look into getting a kit. Once I pulled the stock knuckles I was leaving soup from the felt/seals.
That and placing the IFS box was a big job for a beginner like me.

 

[Seth_PDX]

I removed all the stock steering components along with the sway bar. Had to cut the torque rod mount. The IFS bracket will go in this place. I had to email trail gear for instructions on the bracket, they didn't have it on the website. I ended up butchering the fender for easy access while position the IFS box. Ran into some trouble placing the bracket and box on the frame, TG's instructions say to but the box an inch from the body mount. But with the '79's bumper mount, I had trouble getting that close. At the time, I didn't was to make too much cuts to the truck. I've kinda giving up on keeping it stock as possible. Ended up cutting stock bumper bracket, but left that mount that rises up from the frame.

 

[Seth_PDX]

For me, finding the right placement for the box was a big worry. I did some searches through the old forum and other forums. Looked at different hi-steer setups to mimic the right spot. Once I had slightly satisfied, I did what I could with my floor jack, articulating the front axle for clearance of the pitman arm. Haven't testing it my set up too vigorously, but have taken it out to a moderate trail and didn't notice any binding.

Drilled through the frame for the bracket bolts. I did find that the TG bolts were too large for the '94 IFS box I picked up off of craigslist. I ended up buying bolts from the hardware store instead of messing with the box. Also, one of the TG bolts was too short to fit through the box, bracket and frame.
Used the stock steering shaft U-joint instead of the U-joint that came with the '94 box.

Probably common sense but, make sure you thoroughly clean that part of the frame before welding. I had my neighbor with his 220 weld up the bracket and there was too much dirt and grime for a clean weld. My bad.

 

[Shitboxtoyota]

What are you gonna run for rear springs?

 

[Seth_PDX]

What are you gonna run for rear springs?

Haven't thought that far a head, still have the stock leafs on. I know that Chevy 63's are common and fairly cheap. I've also read some prefer the ford 56's. Either of those would need some fab work. I guess I'll need to research more into rear springs.
Any suggestions?

 

[J.Cole]

I'd suggest Chevy 63's. They are cheap, easy to find, and pretty simple to set up.

 

[Seth_PDX]

Nice. I was looking up some swap kits (RuffStuff and Sky's) last night. Just in time for Christmas.

Currently in need of bending my stick shift. It's hitting my t-case stick when I try to shift into 2nd.

 

[Seth_PDX]

Stock power steering pump blew the main seal while driving back from a failed smog test from DEQ. I bought a seal kit from RockAuto, but dropped the pump. Bought a 1980's pump from PartsGeek (didn't have the money to upgrade) but found my stock pulley didn't match the 80's pump. So I convinced my wife I needed the Trail Gear power flow kit.
Everything bolted up great, minor issues below:
-I needed to widen the hole in the middle of the new bracket to line up with the engine block.
-Haven't made the space for the new reservoir, still using the stock reservoir.
-Also, the belt that came with the kit wouldn't fit, kept the old belt.

 

[Shitboxtoyota]

Haven't thought that far a head, still have the stock leafs on. I know that Chevy 63's are common and fairly cheap. I've also read some prefer the ford 56's. Either of those would need some fab work. I guess I'll need to research more into rear springs

honestly 63 work really well and are simple I have a few buddy’s who run the Ford ranger/explorer springs flipped around to push the rear axle back and they seem to like them too

 

[Shitboxtoyota]

Nice. I was looking up some swap kits (RuffStuff and Sky's) last night. Just in time for Christmas.

Currently in need of bending my stick shift. It's hitting my t-case stick when I try to shift into 2nd.

stupid question but is your tcase shifter in backwards that can cause that to hit too

 

[J.Cole]

Nice. I was looking up some swap kits (RuffStuff and Sky's) last night. Just in time for Christmas.

Currently in need of bending my stick shift. It's hitting my t-case stick when I try to shift into 2nd.

I really like both the Ruffstuff kit and Sky's kit. I've also had a few friends with first gens that had the same shifting problem. A little bending of the stick and the problem was fixed.

 

[Seth_PDX]

honestly 63 work really well and are simple I have a few buddy’s who run the Ford ranger/explorer springs flipped around to push the rear axle back and they seem to like them too

Rad! Thanks for the feedback Shitboxtoyota, looks like that's the route I'll be going.

Not a dumb question (as far as I know), I thought that might be the issue, but when I flipped the stick around, I couldn't cycle through the 2/4-H/L gears. I don't know why it wouldn't work flipping it around. In my mind the J-pattern is created by the shift rails, so the stick should be able to function either way?

thanks J.Cole, I have a neighbor with an FJ-40 who suggested the same. He mentioned just getting a yellow butane torch to heat it up. I checked what clearance I need between the tease shifter and dash. Looks like I don’t need much bend to make it work.

 

[Seth_PDX]

Started a new job and haven’t had time to update. Had a great Saturday a few weeks back. Ended with a clicking noise in the front end while in 4H/4L, especially when applying the throttle. Haven’t pinpointed that noise yet.
Made it as far as I could with the open front diff.

 

[Seth_PDX]

Glad you started one. Do you have any pics of the high steer install? My bump steer is god awful and I'm lucky it doesn't snow in Mississippi because it would be too dangerous to drive jerking all over the place. Crossover steering is high on the list for mine

I’m happy with the install, but I also had no idea what I was doing. Did some internet research, used TG’s instructions and looked at other pictures of installed IFS boxes to compare. I wish I cleaned the area more thoroughly. Would have resulted in cleaner welds.
I did a lot of double checking, making sure the box lined up with the steering shaft. Then trying to get the bracket lined up properly before I drilled through the frame.
Once I was satisfied with the placement, I jacked up the front axle as much as I could to make sure the nothing would bind.

 

[Seth_PDX]

 

[Shitboxtoyota]

Did you ever figure out what rear spring you are gonna run?

 

[Seth_PDX]

Think I’ll eventually upgrade to the Chevy 63s. But I’ll need to pay off some debt before I make that move. Looks like Sky’s off-road will be the kit I get.

Bought chromoly for the front axle from Front Range, also an air locker and 5.29s from Marlin. 3-4 weeks is what I heard 🤞

 

[Seth_PDX]

Update.

I purchased an 82 flatbed w/exo cage that has '84 4Runner 22RE and running gear. Since that will be my wheeler, my thoughts are to restore the '79. ie, fixing the rust holes and slow pulling dents. Nothing exciting, but a project none the less.

I'll pull some pics of the Lunchbox I threw in the rear axle. I got some sliders that I purchased prior to the '82, I guess I'll still throw those on?

 

[Seth_PDX]

Sorry for falling off. 1 year into a new job and it’s way more time consuming than the last gig.
Got a bench seat from my buddy out of his’94 pickup. Fits like a glove.

 

[Seth_PDX]

Focused a lot more attention to the 82 truggy. Took it up last September and broke the hub gear. Found some missing teeth in the R&P and finally got it all back together.