Price and Compare Vehicles:  This month I am proud to announce the beginning of a new project truck. Right now it's all stock with 153,000 original miles on the clock. Over the next several months it will be built into rock crawling trail truck using parts available from after market vendors including DOA Racing Engines, Marlin Crawler, All Pro Off Road and others.
I thought I would take a few measurements and stats before starting the project to have something to compare to in a few months. The over all length of the truck is 14' 5". It's height is 5' 9" to the top of the roof. It's width is 5' 8". Ground clearance is 8.5" under the front diff and 12" under the t/case crossmember. It currently has P235 tires on it. The stock 4WD system is in good working order but the engine barely runs due to a bad head gasket and other problems. On a 20 degree ramp it is able to drive up 61" and with it's stock 102" wheel base scored a 598 on the RTI with full tire pressure.
My last project was my 1993 4Runner. I have enjoyed wheeling this truck over the years but now feel that it was a bit heavy and large for some of the trails I have been running. Not only was this my trail truck but also my daily driver taking me to work each day. I find I rarely used the extra room the 4Runner offers especially on the trail. Weight is also an important issue on the trial. Project Rock Runner weighs 4800 pounds not including passengers, or camping supplies. With the bed removed the truck weighs only 2640 lbs. I expect that once the project is complete the truck will weigh in at around 3600 labs. While this new project truck will be mostly street legal it will not be my daily transportation and will be used primarily off road. Later I plan to purchase a full size truck for daily use and to serve as tow truck when traveling to far away events. Let The Project Begin!
Looking over the truck it is fairly good condition with very little rust. A broken window regulator and parking brake cable seem to be the only problems other than the tired motor. One of the previous owners had noticed the window problem and had tossed a good used window regulator into the bed. It took only a few minutes to install and the window was again working. A new parking brake cable was purchased and installed.
The worn-out carburetor equipped motor has been removed to make room for a new DOA fuel injected 22RE motor. This new motor will require an EFI style fuel tank. The EFI style tanks have the needed high pressure fuel pump inside the tank. They also have a small baffle around the fuel pickup that better allows the pump to find fuel when truck is driven at an angle with low fuel.
Stock tanks are mounted on the right side frame rail under the bed and hang down below the frame rails. It's not uncommon to see these tanks dented from trail use. To prevent damage to the new tank I choose to mount the tank higher on the frame. After removing the bed I mounted the tank between the frame rails using two stock Toyota tank mounts. With a little scrap steel I welded these mounts directly onto the frame rails. With the tank above and slightly ahead of the rear differential trail damage is now very unlikely. Later on in the project I will build a heavy duty flat bed that will cover the tank. The fuel filler hose will be mounted to the bottom of the bed.
The original tank was about 12 gallons. The donor EFI tank came out of an 86 4Runner and is a bit larger. I believe the tank is 17 gallons. Assuming the completed truck gets 21 MPG on the freeway this will give a range of over 350 miles. When used on the trail rock crawling the tank will hold enough fuel for three to four days woth of wheeling. Check back next month for more build-up info! Project Outline:
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Posted Apr 28 2009 09:47PM
