Toyota Pickup Project

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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Staff member
My plate if full of projects I inherited from Jeff but this one is jumping to the head of the line. Last weekend I picked up Jeff's 85 Toyota SR5 pickup. It's the only year Toyota made a solid front axle (held to be superior by many due to its simplicity and ruggedness) truck with fuel injection. Jeff was the only owner and pretty much kept it original. No rock climbing redneck toy here, just a good truck for work and hunting.

Back in 2014 Jeff had the timing chain break and the engine trashed itself. He bought a new 22RE motor and stored it at my shop until the day came he could get it running. That day never came for Jeff but I am so excited to say I am moving forward with the project. The truck is now at a local repair shop and hopefully it will have the new motor in and be running by the end of the month. After that it still needs a lot of work. I'm going to replace the sagging suspension, upgrade the interior, and have a body shop repair/replace the rusty bed and refresh the paint, possibly applying line-x inside and out in lieu of paint. The truck will be come a weekend driver and my full time hunting truck.

You know, when I was in high school (85 grad) the truck I wanted the most was a Toyota 4WD. When I graduated college I bought a Nissan instead and kind of regretted it. Now, 33 years later, I'll be driving what I started out wanting, and smiling like a giddy teen.

Eric


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Eric Patterson said:
You know, when I was in high school (85 grad) the truck I wanted the most was a Toyota 4WD. When I graduated college I bought a Nissan instead and kind of regretted it. Now, 33 years later, I'll be driving what I started out wanting, and smiling like a giddy teen.

Eric
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Ya well, don't expect those giddy teenage girls to be flagging you down,,,,,,,,,,, and if they do, keep right on trucking. [whistle]

I could have sworn that you were driving a Toyota when I came for a visit way back when.
 
Those are cool trucks. My buddies first truck was a hilux. Id love to buy one as a toy, they are all over the west coast.

They make a kit to put a 1.9 L VW diesel in them, if if you were wanting something really cool cummins has a 2.8 crate motor that would be sweet in it.

Have fun with it!
 
Dave

My everyday vehicle, since 2008, is a Tacoma. No teens will flag down this truck. Funny thing is when we were teens crew cabs were for the old. Kids these days want crew cabs and think two seater trucks are for municipality workers.

Eric
 
Sweet truck, that TOY is a great hunting and fishing platform. Jealous!
I have an 05 Tundra and a 74 CJ. Your toy is kinda combination of both worlds.
 
Yep dreamt of having one of those back in the day! I’m sure the restoration will be great keep us posted.
 
Sweet, back in the day I had a 79. It had the 20R engine with the steel heads. I put some tall skinny 38" swampers on it, and that truck would just about go anywhere you pointed it. Looks like a fun project......
 
Jode

I love the older body style of an 05 Tundra. A little bit more compact than today's model. Both Tacoma and Tundra increased in size over the years. Happens to us all. :)
 
Jeffrey Nelson said:
Sweet, back in the day I had a 79. It had the 20R engine with the steel heads. I put some tall skinny 38" swampers on it, and that truck would just about go anywhere you pointed it. Looks like a fun project......
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38's? must have needed a rope ladder to get in. I assume you had to regear the diffs.

Eric
 
My first new truck was an 85Toyota truck. I paid about 6 grand with air conditioning for it as I recall. I drove it for 25 years and it needed a clutch replacement, a water pump and the batteries replaced when they wore out. It was an awesome truck that I ended up giving to my son. I also bought a second-hand 4runner that was an 87 model. Still running good with 300,000 miles but it is rusty. But it was the best 500 bucks I ever spent when I bought it.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Jode

I love the older body style of an 05 Tundra. A little bit more compact than today's model. Both Tacoma and Tundra increased in size over the years. Happens to us all. :)
Click to expand...

Exactly why I will drive it until it dies. Enough room for gear, but still compact enough to get down wooded trails.
 
It came with 4-11 gears in it stock. It would turn the tires pretty good, but I did go through several clutches. It didn't have a suspension lift or a body lift. I cut the fenders in the front to make the tires fit, and It had a flat bed on the rear. It was pretty tall, but I was still young and had a lot of spring in my step. It wasn't really a daily driver, more of a toy. Good luck getting her back going again.
 
OOOH, I still miss an 86 Toyota truck I had. Maybe the best vehicle I ever had. Bought it used, drove it for 10 years until the bed literally rusted off it and I couldn't pass inspection any more. I wish someone still made a decent 4WD truck that size.
 
Toyota had 4:11 on those trucks and the v8 Tundras, which were great trucks, both as tow vehicles and quality of ride. I could pop my 21' Boston Whaler Outrage out of the water with ease with my 1994 Tundra. I switched to a Tundra 2010 for dog room and towing my BW Conquest 24'. Karen has a 1994 4 Runner that is still going strong. She just had the timing chain checked this fall...
 
NICE!!!!! I mean NOY-ICE!

All I have been driving since 1994 is a Toy...My first 1994 called a Pickup at that time was the last year that was made in Japan. The 22RE engines are almost indestructible. Have 407K on that pickup and currently is being used on my uncle's farm in Tennessee. My second is the 2004 Tacoma with a V6. 285K and still takes me everywhere I want to go. Both trucks I own have been to all three coast, Canada, and Mexico stacked full of gear. Never had any problems; except climbing mountains at speed with the 4 cylinder 22RE, but it made. I have opted out at buying 4 wheelers or UTVs because I can just drive the truck anywhere I want to go; literally, anywhere.

I consider those trucks the 870 of the shotgun world. Nice Project!

Regards,
Kristan
 
Eric -

After all is said and done. You will have one helluva very good, go almost anywhere Truck. A Outdoorsmans Truck, first class. Well worth your investment.

I had a 1988 Toyota 4-Runner (my Space Ship cuz it took me all the places I wanted to go.) Fiberglass removable top, rollbar, lockouts, etc.

In August, 2005, after 297,900 miles on the original engine and drive train, a cylinder opened up and that was it.

At that time I was recovering from a MI and did not have the $$$$, for replacement of the engine and body work.

I could not bear to see it towed away. My best gunning partner took care of the dirty work for me. I'm sure it's been reborn as a off road vehicle somewhere in Pa.

Not a day passes that I do not miss that vehicle!

From Mantioba, Long Point, Chincoteague and hundreds of places in between it hauled my sneakbox, Appleton duckboat, gear, decoys, game, my buddies and my behind with no problem.

I'm going to have to dig out some photo's and post them.

Please keep us updated on the progress.
 
In 1988, the pickups were shipped to Baltimore, MD, and then converted into 4-Runners. All the info was included with the vehicle.

At that time I worked for a steel mill, as a remote control RR engineer moving moulds and ingots of hot steel, from the furnaces to the stripper, blooming mill and back.

After work one day. I found the drivers door of my 4 Runner was smashed in. As it was not a USA vehicle, and we made American Steel. HHmmmm

I notified the CEO, as he drove a Mercedes Benz, and many of the steel slabs we rolled were from Russia (full of pipe) aka scrap.

Until the mill closed, I never had another problem.

The Toyota trucks from that time are 4 wheel drive icons, and American Steel is BYE-BYE.

We teach others..Then they beat the hell out of us with our own technology.
 
Those original 4 runners were nearly indestructible. I bought an 1989 with no rear seat and no carpet, just rubberized vinyl on the floor and bed. I used it as a truck camper, canoe and kayak hauler to fish remote walk-in trout lakes, trapping vehicle, and decoy hauler. Hopping out into the mud was a pure pain to reach-down and lock the hubs in. Dragged my first TDB north from Tom Kondrk's with it into a spring snowstorm that required me to pullover in a Rest Area and spend the night in it. I had "whitetail madness" pretty bad in that era, consequently, that truck logged a few thousand grouse hunting/scouting miles and pulled a number of nice bucks out of the woods for us. It ended its life running bear dogs for a guide over in Shingleton, not a pretty sight for the eyes, but still slogging around on the muddy two-tracks in pursuit of game.
 
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