1988 Pickup SR5 in Washington

RumRunnerS2k

New member
Hey Guys!

Glad I found this site. I’m very new to the 4×4/overlanding scene, as I have been a car guy most of my life. After my S2000 turned into my track car and snow left me stuck at home this winter, I decided to purchase an 1988 Toyota pickup SR5. All I’ve really done to it is change almost every fluid, replace leaking gaskets, new clutch, add a leaf to the rear sagging/flat leaves, canopy, rear bumper with recovery point, 265/75r16 Cooper Discoverer AT3 on the way, and truck-lite headlights (game changer from the OEM dim candles that were in there). Working on some rust spots and then going to rattle can or roll on some paint. Basically, I don’t want to mod it until I go out to see if it needs anything else. I’m hoping to keep this rig under $7k total because its just not worth it to keep spending on an old rig like this.

Anyway, hope to meet a few members on here and find some cool 4×4 spots.

– Devin





 

RumRunnerS2k

New member
Cool pickup! Would you say the led headlights are worth the money?

Absolutely yes. Here is a crappy cell phone image, but you get the idea. Didn't need to upgrade any wiring either as I was still getting over 12v to the plug. Don't mind the ugly blue house, my land lord let their 6 year old pick the color :(
 

RumRunnerS2k

New member
Quick Update.

Just got my Method NV and Discoverer AT3 combo installed. So far I haven't noticed a difference in how the truck reacts going from 265/70r16 to 265/75r16. It's a small change, and visually you can see the difference in tire height but luckily there is no difference in how the truck goes uphill/from a stop.

I chose the Method NV wheels because they were a lighter cast wheel and figured if I ended up going to 33" tires in the future, I could save some unsprung weight by using a lighter wheel. I will also see if I have a net gain in fuel economy. I'm getting about 19-20MPG (mixed highway/city) right now

 

RumRunnerS2k

New member


It is amazing how bad an alignment can get after 30 years and a t-bar crank lol. Replaced the pitman arm as well and it improved steering input.

All thats left is to patch a rust hole and paint this old bugger.
 

RumRunnerS2k

New member
Set out to find some back roads on the first sunny day in Washington in about 4 months. Drove East on i90 up to exit 38. Kept driving up the hills until I found snow. The drove some more until I found some people stuck in the snow. They had recovery gear and I didn't so I headed back down in search of roads without snow.



Went to Middle Fork road and continued on that until the pavement ended and drove some more. Kept driving until I found some snow again... and what do you know... more stuck people in a stock Mazda B2200 (or something). This time they didn't have recovery gear and neither did I. We spent about 1 hour trying to dig him out. Finally I just got on the rear bumper and started jumping up and down while he was spinning the tires until he finally bumped out of the rut he was in.


Then I continued and found some cool water falls and some mild trails. I think I'm going to at least pick up some MaxTrax and a shovel to bring with me for the next few months until it dries out in July. I aired the Discoverer AT3 down to 20PSI and they chugged right along in rutted out snowy trails. Gravel/wet was great. I'm sure I will find the limit of this tire between April-June when all the snow turns to mud :)
 
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I hooked a nice little 5-6" rainbow right at that spot there in the Middle Fork summer before last, water level was a little lower though :)
 

RumRunnerS2k

New member
I have no idea. Maybe since all the bushings are so old, the machine was just reading changes in toe/camber from beginning to end of front alignment. No adjustment, just slop lol.

The wheel specs I have are 16x8 +0 offset
 
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