Poor Mans Taco

jlandon

Get Dirty.
*Not the kind you buy out of a cook truck*

First, let me officially introduce myself.

My name is J. Landon, I am a 3rd year student at the University of Arkansas. My major is in Recreation with an emphasis on Natural Resources.

I have lived on my familys farm for 20 years (or my whole life). I am a certified Wilderness First Responder, expired cert'd arc welder, and an avid adventurer.

I bought my truck in West Palm Beach, FL. and drove it back to the university over Halloween weekend of 2010.
It had 265/75R16s on it.
It had 147k when I bought it, and i have driven it to a little over 164k.

That majority of those miles have been to do various things (wilderness first responder cert, camp, hike, bike) and visit family. A few thousand of them are backroads, and a few hundred are overland journeys.

Heres what it looked like when I bought her.
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It was well outfitted for overland travel already. Winch, bull bar, cb, rear bumper, etc.
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So, i drove her for a while. I fixed a bad bearing in the front diff, a rear main, and changed the plug wires. I also change the oil every 2k with the last 15 miles (from parts store home) using a 'cleaning' additive because she is a bit sludgey.

Getting my WFR Cert, sleeping at a house rented by a guy i met about 7 months earlier and talked to about an 80 series for 5 minutes with.
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At this point I had a topper, built a shelf that folded up. First attempt wasn't good so no photos i-)

Then i got home to this;
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32" tire
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Then i drove home from the University of Arkansas, to my Farm in Missouri like this
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Normally an hour, it took me 5 hours. And almost a full tank of gas (filled up at the half way mark, was at halfway when i pulled in the driveway.)

After the snow passed, my exploring continued.
Welded up a metal tech cage for my uncles 40 series, and then drove home on FS Roads.
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Put lots of miles on her. The tires were getting past my point of comfort, so i re-shoe'd her with some Maxxis Bighorn 255/85R16's

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The bumper came off a Prado 120 (atleast thats what the Previous Owner had told me) so it was about 3" too wide on each side. I fixed that.
Before
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After
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(messy garage is a side effect of farm life.)

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I hit up the Razorback Ramble and had some fun.

Then the spotter (a very pretty one, and not the guys in the background) didnt tell me my wheel had slipped off into a crack,
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That was at superlift park in hot springs.

A few weeks passed by and i installed a snorkel
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It gots so hot, i decided i enjoyed dehydration. I built a swing out tire carrier.

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My first yota
(i bought at 16 completely stock)

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I DD'd it for 3 years, the last 4 months i did 120 miles a day with the 37s. That was awesome.
 
Last edited:

jlandon

Get Dirty.
Alright, at this point I had almost finished my tire carrier. to go was - jerry can/water can holder on driver side.

If you look closely the main tube warped a little upwards. I sleeved the first 1.5' with a random tube that (by chance) fit into the main tube, so the thickness is 5/16th at that point, and it warped when the sleeved tube ended. took a notch out of the main support and cut a brace, heated/straigtened/re welded (but no pics...) it is straight now.

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Bought another shell (original one got cracked from being rear ended), but didn't like the rise in it.
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More pictures
stop for the swing out, its a left over spring bushing from a 63 conversion on my mini truck.
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pin to prevent opening on washboard
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isolator
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Alt upgrade
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Then I got a sweet tire cover
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Snorkel taking some hell
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Downhill mtn biking in eureka springs, ar
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IMAG0628.jpg


Then over X-mas break 11/12

I replaced:
Timing Belt and all related parts
Valve Cover Seal's
False Water Pump bracket
Water Pump
Belts

I built...
This sweet bed rack
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Only snow we had last winter :(
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Then i had a rear axle seal go out... (It was day light when I started!)
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jlandon

Get Dirty.
Last spring for my travels...


I drove through deep water!
Pulled out a jeep,
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Had lots of fun!
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My adventures continued;

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Alternator went kapoot.
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Some upgrades that have happened over the summer!

Had to overhaul the rear axle this summer. 170k and still within Toyota specs to come off the line :D BUT was miss-diagnosed as the 'howling' noise. Ended up being rear-wheel bearings. It was an odd an expensive mistake, but now the diff should be good for another 170k.

Went ahead and replaced the rear leaf springs with F150- 4 leaf off of a 96 4x4 extended cab model.
Gave a huge increase in lift. Photo with the overload removed
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Flex with overload removed
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It rode a bit rough with all the overland gear + 150lbs in it SO i reinstalled the overloads and here is how she set (Overland gear+150 lbs+two bikes+all worldly possessions minus garage tools.) Also installed some sweet steelies.
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jlandon

Get Dirty.
And the most current update...

Welding these on her Saturday
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I'm back at school and out of big spending. Shes been riding a bit rough, so I did a visual check. My passenger side Sway-away is leaking. I did install some new timbrens in the front today that I ordered a few weeks ago. Hope that helps out a bit.
 

jlandon

Get Dirty.
Mounted the sliders

Mock Up
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Finished Weld/Rattle Can
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Mounted
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Interesting fact - Same width between frame and slider on both sides, but from cab to outside slider has a 1/4" difference between passenger/drive side.
Guess I've gotta bump something with the cab on the passenger side to offset the last driverside bump...

Yes... I'm that much of a perfectionist.
 

jlandon

Get Dirty.
Taco steelies from the 98-04 generation. I had a random assortment of rims that where all the same in function (16x7 with 4.5" BS) but none matched so i offered random people 10$ and a trade. I got four people in one day that swapped it out for me. Sadly, it hasn't been cool with the last few people so I'm still looking for number 5.
 

Gaucho919

Adventurer
Really nice Toyota man, I'm on the same boat as you. Building on a budget. Check out my Comanche sometime, it has similar mods to your truck.
 

m3bassman

Observer
Very nice. Do you have more info on the f150 springs? mine are in need of replacement and yours looked like the flex out amazingly.
 

jlandon

Get Dirty.
Very nice. Do you have more info on the f150 springs? mine are in need of replacement and yours looked like the flex out amazingly.

This is the writeup i followed

It was pretty straight forward

couple of differences to note -

I used a 4 leaf minus overload originally. It set perfectly level with my front set at 2.5" unloaded. This was great until I put some weight in the back.

Loaded was a different story. Set about 1" lower than the front. I re-installed the overload and it rides better, handles the load better, and corners better.

Doesn't flex as much.

heres a pic from the weekend with it totally loaded down - full tank, 10 gals aux fuel, 10 gals aux water, saw, + spare parts and all that good stuff.

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