1977 Toyota Chinook 4x4

[tanglefoot]

Wow--great find! It sounds like it really gets along with that 22R. My '85 4wd/22RE/pop-up camper combo does 55mph on the flats and 35 mph on the hills. I have a light foot though, and yours is probably more aerodynamic (your camper not your foot).

Are you sure you want to add power steering? The '85 has manual steering and I really like the feel, simplicity and workout. It's one of the reasons I don't want to replace it--it'd be tough to find something newer without power steering.

JC Whitney probably has a cab carpet kit that would work in there.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/jcwhitney/textsearch_result.jcw?sku=Auto+Custom+Carpets&shopid=100001

What kind of transfer case is in there? Does it have a pretty decent low-range ratio?

 

[Nook]

Back prior to 79 before toyota built the 4x4 trucks, many outfits were doing 4x conversions on the minis, the Wolverine done by Tolsdorf were doing the Toyota, Low Manufacturing were mostly Datsuns, but they also sold the parts in kit form. Its been some years but I have seen the custom front diff covers before made by Low.
Can't see in the pictures well enough but it appears to have the Wolverine tag on the front fender? if so it would have had a 2 speed Dana 20 transfer case, with a custom adapter to mate it to the stock trans, a Dana 30 front axle with 4.11 ratio to match the rear.
As for your headlight issue, you might want to check the fusible links connected to the battery positive post, its a ring connector with 2 wires going to a square plug, 1 of the fuse wires is the fuse for the headlights. Happy Chinookin

 

[Beachboyy]

Thanks so much for the input. Nook - thanks for the info. that is very informative and helps a ton. This morning I went out and was able to get the truck turned around (by manually pushing) so the nose was down hill. i let it sit until this evening and the thing fired right up! My grandfather is getting quite old and was forced to sell his big motorhome this year because of health issues. So his RV garage no longer gets used which is a pretty cool opportunity for me. I moved the chinook over there today. Its a huge garage attached to a good size shop. Great place to work on the little guy. I have to take off for the week for work but will resume work on it next weekend. Again thanks for all the help.

 

[Nook]

Your more than welcome for what little I can offer, it might be that the accelerator pump is getting a bit weak and not squirting enough fuel at start up, carb bowl for some reason is siphoning back and not holding enough fuel, plus the fact that the stock fuel pump is an intank electric unit and is wired through the oil pressure switch, it doesn't turn on until the engine has oil pressure and the idiot light shuts off.
You can pull the oil sender wire off the sender on the side of the block just behind the oil filter and then when the key is turned on the pump will operate as if it had oil pressure.
Thats great to have a shop to work in. wish I could get mine in the garage just clears the carport as is darnit!!! the pitfalls of owning 4x4 Chinooks

 

[xoblaim]

Are there any updates on your Chinook? I went and looked at it when it was just posted locally and then I posted it in the classifieds section here on ExPo. By the time I finally decided to buy it you snatched it up already

 

[77blazerchalet]

...Low Manufacturing were mostly Datsuns, but they also sold the parts in kit form. Its been some years but I have seen the custom front diff covers before made by Low...

That triggered a memory of a photo in one of my old 1977 Petersen magazines, which led me to do a bit of google searching, which led me to a thread where some found a different magazine showing a '78 vintage article about the Low kits. The thread in that link is about a guy rebuilding one of Spencer Low's Datsun 4x4 race trucks.

 

[Henry_G]

Any updates on this project?