It's a Tacoma, but it also folds up like a Taco... Bought it last summer. You may notice the bed is resting on the cab. Frame is broken, badly. 2020-07-01_11-29-42 by Numbchux, on Flickr BUT, being a 3.4, 5speed, TRD Off Road, it has a 4.10 electric locking rear axle, which will bolt into my 4Runner. Plan is, swap axles between the 2. Weld the diff from the 4runner that goes into this. Then patch this thing up enough for a yard truck. It's been very low on my list, and I haven't really touched it, except to sell the brush guard and headlights. Well, offroad/farm/etc. bachelor party weekend in a week and a half. So I'm going to try to patch this together enough that I can beat the hell out of it for the weekend. Last Thursday: 2021-08-26_10-52-47 by Numbchux, on Flickr Friday: Snapchat-543409052 by Numbchux, on Flickr Frame caps showed up last night, got the RH one welded in: Snapchat-1348479405 by Numbchux, on Flickr Planning to weld the LH one in tonight. Which leaves me 4 or 5 evenings (I get 2-3 hours in the garage at night after the kids go to bed before I run out of steam) to patch the brake lines, plumb in an inline fuel pump to a marine tank. Wire and mount an LED light bar in place of headlights, swap wheels/tires from the 4runner (and likely cut/pound the bodywork on the Tacoma until they fit), and hopefully free up the locker motor (or, just lock it, and put it back together seized in the locked position). I'm crazy.... Oh yea, and fix the lights on my trailer....
Got the LH side welded in last night. Much more sturdy, still flexes a bit, I'll probably have to do the section under the cab, at least on the LH side. But should be strong enough for a weekend. Helping a friend rewire his Saab Sonnet race car tonight so he can leave next week for the Put-in-bay vintage races. But hopefully I can start on fuel/brake lines tomorrow night. And I ordered a pair of 5" LED flood lights on Amazon. I'll mount those in place of the headlights.
Fuel system basically plumbed. I plan to use a marine fuel tank in the bed with a quick disconnect so it can easily be removed. These only have a supply line. So, low pressure filter as a pre-filter, A cheap inline pump (fits many '80s Fords...), and some fittings from the plumbing aisle at Menards.... 2021-09-09_08-50-54 by Numbchux, on Flickr The return T's into the supply line between the filter and pump. This is not ideal, as the only way for air to escape is through the injectors/engine and fuel temperatures are a concern. But being that this won't likely be driven much, I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to bring the cooler that I plan to use as a power steering cooler for the 4Runner along this weekend, just in case, as that could easily be added in the return to help dissipate heat. Load Sensing Proportioning Valve is bypassed, and a couple feet of new brake line run. Brakes bled nicely, and don't appear to leak anymore. I got one front leaf spring bushing replaced. I need to buy bolts for those, and install the other, and swap tires. And, if I plan to take it to Gilbert, I need some exhaust.
I did it! I literally drove it out of the garage, and onto the trailer. My son was so kind to help me while I wired in new trailer lights: 20210911_124816 by Numbchux, on Flickr 20210911_170502 by Numbchux, on Flickr But it worked. Big 33" tires rubbed like crap if I turned more than a little bit, so 3- and 5- point turns were my MO. I did not get any exhaust on it, so I did not go to Gilbert (although, as it turned out, they didn't do any sound check...even on the 2 stroke dirt bikes in the group that were questionable. Trails were very dry, so traction wasn't an issue (didn't really notice that the locker wasn't working). 20210912_101605 by Numbchux, on Flickr 20210912_101544 by Numbchux, on Flickr Now, to yank off the bed, clearance the front fenders, and start modifying it to do some work around here! PS, are the pictures showing up embedded for anyone else? They work fine in preview, but once I view the thread, I just get a little red X. But it's a valid link to the picture on my Flickr. I don't have issues like this on the couple other forums I still use....
I’ve just been clicking on the flicker links. They show up as little x’s. looks pretty sweet on those big tyres!
Home with sick kids, but got a little work done during the day. Yesterday, I applied cutting and bashing tools to regain some steering angle 2021-09-15_01-21-09 by Numbchux, on Flickr And today, I got the chain, and drove out into the woods for some trail maintenance (trail was blocked by a down tree, didn't feel like cutting it up, so I just dragged it out of the way).
Been pulling stumps, hauling brush/firewood etc. with it. But it's time for the next phase. Sold the bed, and bought a scrap boat trailer. 20220714_150504 by Numbchux, on Flickr Removed all the brackets, narrowed it by 4", set the tongue inside the frame. 20220718_163144 by Numbchux, on Flickr First mockup on the back of the truck 20220721_191143 by Numbchux, on Flickr 20220721_191157 by Numbchux, on Flickr Found out the hard way that Russell Steel closes at 4. Hopefully tomorrow. And then I can build the rear uprights and winch mount. Ordered a Harbor Freight 5000 lb winch. The truck came with a bed toolbox, I'm hoping to build a headache rack and mount the box to that, above the winch and front of the boom.
Yesterday was International Taco day, so I worked on my taco. The truck came with this bed toolbox, which I wanted to mount so I still have some storage onboard (straps, chain, chainsaw, winch controller, etc.) 2x4 box tube welded to the frame, with 1x1 base sticking forward from it, with a 1x1 gusset. This hangs entirely above the boom, so it can still be removed. I also cut a notch in the bottom of the box for the center section of the boom to recess into it. 2022-10-05_08-34-47 by Numbchux, on Flickr Next is to build a headache rack from more 1x1 off that 2x4. The remove the toolbox, winch, gas tank and boom so I can apply a quart of POR15. I also have either rebuild the diff lock motor or put a freeze plug in the hole in the rear axle before winter (and probably change the gear oil, as it's been open for 2 months....oops)
Probably quite a bit less, honestly. I usually buy the 6 pack of 4oz cans, and still probably throw away more than I use. But I'm debating whether to buy a pint or a quart for this project. I think I'll shoot it with an HVLP gun, so I should probably buy extra....
I disassembled and sand blasted it this weekend. I bought a couple cans of Eastwood rust encapsulator, I was looking at getting an undercoating gun with wands to spray POR15 internally, but saw mediocre reviews. But Eastwood has a wand that replaces the nozzle on their aeresol cans, which I already have as I used their internal exhaust coating, along with their prep spray for cleaning out the wand after use. So I used the Eastwood stuff to spray inside any brackets and pockets in the frame. Then I used an HVLP gun to spray everything else with POR15. A pint was pretty much perfect, I still have some left over, but I haven't done the trailer hitch, yet. 2022-10-12_02-49-42 by Numbchux, on Flickr Turns out, the rust on the rear axle was holding the gear oil in, as it's leaking right through the housing now that I sand blasted it. There will be some epoxy in it's near future, and I'll have to cut out and replace the bad sections before I swap it into my 4Runner.
Making a panel for the notch in the toolbox. My daughter helped me with the cardboard template: 20221020_155000 by Numbchux, on Flickr Cut from 20g steel, bent, painted, riveted and glued/sealed in place: 20221024_134313 by Numbchux, on Flickr Put the boom back on, and set the toolbox in place: 20221024_155103 by Numbchux, on Flickr Plenty of room for chainsaw, straps, tools, etc., and doesn't block the back window. Welded up a few pinholes in the axle "cover" (not removable). Began rebuilding the elocker actuator (gutted it and sandblasted the cases). Once that's done I can put gear oil in the axle and see if it still leaks.
Checks out... Some foam tape and rivnuts, and the toolbox is bolted in place: 2022-11-02_04-48-20 by Numbchux, on Flickr JB Weld applied to the cracks in the elocker case.
Elocker actuator rebuilt. 20221106_160407 by Numbchux, on Flickr It turns when out of the axle housing, but once installed, it doesn't seem to unlock the diff. Might be indexed wrong (there are internal limit switches in the motor, so if things aren't lined up correctly, it won't travel far enough). But, the diff is locked, and the gear oil stays in the diff, which were my main objectives. So, I'll worry about the rest some other time. With that done, and the toolbox mounted, I improved the hanger for the pulley on the end of the boom, and set off into the woods. We bought our property (about 23 mostly-wooded acres), it was August, and the woods were pretty dense. Over the course of the first winter, we discovered 3 engines pretty deep out in the woods. With this truck functional, I was able to blaze trail out there, and haul them out. Here's a complete Mercruiser 6-cylinder (I suspect Iron Duke 3.0). I got the scale out and lifted it again, and it was 502lbs 20221108_140248 by Numbchux, on Flickr Then a SBC short block, and some sort of GM transverse V6 short block. Got those all out and loaded on the trailer, hopefully I can make a scrap run this week.
Now you have all of the motors for swapping that you could need! Interesting that you ended up buying a “motor forest”.
That is a fricken sweet mobile engine hoist. Does it have enough horizontal reach you think to use it to install engines in cars?
Not right now, but I will be adding another set of holes in the uprights to allow a shallower angle, and another tube inside to allow the main boom to telescope (like the boom on an engine hoist) for that reason.
Yep. The boom will come off again for some more modification in the spring, and then it'll get blasted and painted, too. Might topcoat it with something brighter....I dunno.
