Snowy
Well-known member
Never posted much on the OG board but finally ready to make the plunge here and post a build thread.
I bought this truck in 2014 as a basket case project DD when I was a senior in college with a 1 car garage to wrench in...Not the wisest move at the time but worked out great long term.
How it looks today
It was a bit rough around the edges 350k-ish miles with a 3RZ and W59... It had the terrible front bumper, the center carrier bearing was held tight with zip ties, the dash cluster didn't work, and it had a goofy extension on the rear bumper to meet MN bumper laws. Lot's of good parts included though. Sky's driver drop Tacoma width front axle, 30 spline longs, PSC hydro assist and pump, trunion bearing eliminators, 5.29's with Detroit front and Powertrax rear lockers, and very little rust.
I was able to backtrack a bunch of the history on the truck with some old threads from when TTORA was popular...I'm the 5th owner of it since the solid axle swap so it's definitely on village whore status.
How it looked when it was just a farmer's truck that eventually hit a cow and prompted it to be turned into a wheeler
After the first owner solid axle swapped the truck in KY
Then Chris bought it and turned it school bus yellow
And then Jimmy bought it and it got a coat of snow camo
Jimmy ended up selling it to a guy up in MN that was in way over his head and was willing to trade me straight across for a rusty 3rd gen 4Runner with the usual bolt ons and 33's. Met him in Rockford and drove it straight home to Indianapolis.
I fixed the center bearing, threw a set of non dry rotted tires on, put a new cluster in it, bobbed the bed about 9 inches, and built a set of tube doors with automotive style latches right away to go wheeling. It was my first real time welding at length so I was learning as I went
I bought this truck in 2014 as a basket case project DD when I was a senior in college with a 1 car garage to wrench in...Not the wisest move at the time but worked out great long term.
How it looks today
It was a bit rough around the edges 350k-ish miles with a 3RZ and W59... It had the terrible front bumper, the center carrier bearing was held tight with zip ties, the dash cluster didn't work, and it had a goofy extension on the rear bumper to meet MN bumper laws. Lot's of good parts included though. Sky's driver drop Tacoma width front axle, 30 spline longs, PSC hydro assist and pump, trunion bearing eliminators, 5.29's with Detroit front and Powertrax rear lockers, and very little rust.
I was able to backtrack a bunch of the history on the truck with some old threads from when TTORA was popular...I'm the 5th owner of it since the solid axle swap so it's definitely on village whore status.
How it looked when it was just a farmer's truck that eventually hit a cow and prompted it to be turned into a wheeler
After the first owner solid axle swapped the truck in KY
Then Chris bought it and turned it school bus yellow
And then Jimmy bought it and it got a coat of snow camo
Jimmy ended up selling it to a guy up in MN that was in way over his head and was willing to trade me straight across for a rusty 3rd gen 4Runner with the usual bolt ons and 33's. Met him in Rockford and drove it straight home to Indianapolis.
I fixed the center bearing, threw a set of non dry rotted tires on, put a new cluster in it, bobbed the bed about 9 inches, and built a set of tube doors with automotive style latches right away to go wheeling. It was my first real time welding at length so I was learning as I went