83 Toyota ranch truck restoration- The SOB

[garzanium]

Well, Im not really asking much from this rig, as long as it will run smooth and steady, I will be happy. Plan is to clear out as much rust as possible(maybe spray the frame w/anti-rust coat after sanding and welding reinforcement), remove bed(rusted to shit) and make a metal one and eventually lift

-SOB is currently running well- bit of white smoke.
- Front lights work- high and low
- 4LO and front diff easily engage
-Shifting is smooth
-Turning is hell( this thing doesnt have power steering right?)
- Surface rust on the truck body itself, no real deep rust-plan on doing body work and painting it





As i got it.

Finally home after a whole day trip- Central TX to Texarkana.

Interior is pretty bad

Ripped out the seats today and cleaned up the interior

Cut out the rust and welded 11g sheet metal..need to work on passenger side next.

First thing i need to fix-

Yes, I know you are thinking "Is it Kalashikov platform friendly?"

The worse of it- front passenger side door-

wish I could restore the bed- but its pretty beat to shit- this is the top inside of the bed..

This has to go

-Immediate priority is change all fluids and work on rear diff leak.



Inspiration- Cleanest 82 I have seen- one of my neighbors owns it. Great lookin truck, simple but bad ass...wish I could jock the paint pattern/graphics.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Wow... what a beautiful mess.

 

[Boomtacoma01]

Looks like a little diamond in the rough.

 

[drew02a]

A great project man!

 

[blackwatertaco]

Sweet!

 

[Silverback]

This is gonna be a project!

 

[taco4x4rar]

That is a lot of rust, have fun, get a tetanus booster

 

[TacoXpo]

That is a lot of rust, have fun, get a tetanus booster

l

 

[TacoXpo]

 

[Boomtacoma01]

bump on the rust removal

 

[garzanium]

bump on the rust removal

Did a bit of that this weekend- frame is next-

Sanded it down first- took all damn day basically- 6in sanding disc- 180 grit or so-

This is as good as it gets-not all bare metal,but I dont feel like messing with it further-

cleaned and but as much rust off of the side-not the ground point I used.

sheetmetal-cleaned it with the grinder then used filler, then sanded filler down.will be OK after paint-

Also- drained front diff- filler bolt was stripped and welded to diff- so took Yotarobs advice and filled it through the breather- was actually simple as I use a siphon pump- pumped it a few times and left it all night while it did its thing..

Fresh transmission and transfer case oil is a must(drove it around the neighborhood this weekend and man, one of them sounded pretty damn rough- hope its just missing oil)- will probably do it this week sometime.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

You need to invest in flap discs. Would have saved some time stripping that sucker...

 

[garzanium]

Got around to getting the bed off last week- Soon starting on a tube bed build

It was a PITA-- some bolts had double nuts- my extension broke(got a Craftsman now bitches!) and this asshole of a bolt along with the opposite side needed to be locked in place to remove the nuts from the bottom of the truck, thus, had to cut into the bed

Loaded up in the Taco-

the rear of the truck is actually really clean, this is the shot right after removing the box-- no joke, had about 10lbs of dirt stuck on the frame. Looks really good after a washing. 90% of what appears to look like rust is actually that fine red sand and dirt. going to paint back- with marine black paint perhaps?

prep for primer

primed

a few color coats later after sanding once- $50 paint job-

One more coat and fine sanding then it will be good to go.

Next comes the tube bed build..

 

[AlienXtx]

Looking good man, can't wait to see that tube bed.

 

[fsbrain03]

The trucks looking good. Keep it up

 

[drew02a]

Yeah, that paint looks pretty good man

 

[taco4x4rar]

Looks good, you get the frame rot sorted out?

 

[garzanium]

Looks good, you get the frame rot sorted out?

Not yet. Thinking best time would be when I install 63s since the work needs to be done right where the hanger mounts

 

[DemonSpeedn]

Nice job, hope to have aproject soon of my own

 

[garzanium]

Worked on the rust on the frame today. Really tight space to work in, so I had to do small sections at a time.still a few sections to go. Not the best method, but better than removing the cab.....had to make the cut with my dremel as the angle grinder didn't fit in the tight space.temporary ground clamp tack weld point well be removed.cranked the 220 welder to 10, heat is there for sure. Got too dark out, so couldn't see anymore and had to stop