In 1995 I bought my truck; it was a 1985 Toyota xtra-cab 2 WHEEL DRIVE pickup that had a salvaged title. I didn’t care about the title, because I had big (expensive) plans for it and didn’t care about the resale value. 

 I immediately installed a 2” body lift and modified the suspension with Downey torsion bars, custom upper a-arms, and double shocks in the front, and Downey 2” springs in the rear. I then put a set of tires on it and started BEATING on it. I called it my “stress reliever” and it worked out quite well. I even entered it in a local “Tuff Truck” competition and came in first. After a couple of years I found myself bored with it, so instead of selling it I decided to modify it more.

 I pulled it into the garage and tore it all apart. I have been a Diesel mechanic for 15 years and welding/fabricating has become a hobby of mine, so I would do all of the modifications myself. I started by fabricating an inside roll cage that would extend through the rear of the cab and tie into the rear roll bar and shock mounts. I then made up front and rear “Pre Runner” bumpers. I decided to go all out and extend the shocks through the hood in the front and through the bed in the rear. I finished up by installing an “Ivan Stewart” edition, fiberglass front end and fiberglass bedsides. A new paint job and interior (complete with Baerd racing seats) and it was like driving a new truck.

 This lasted me another couple of years and again, I grew bored with it, so back into the garage it went. I had been into and around 4 wheeling all of my life. At the time, I had just gotten married and was looking for a sport that would include my new family, so I decided instead of selling my Toy and buying a 4x4, I would just “convert” it.

  After researching the details of my conversion on the web, I bought a rolled 1985 Toy for parts and a visual reference. I found this project was quickly snowballing on me because I not only wanted to make my truck into a 4-wheel drive, but I wanted to make it into a “rock crawler”.

 After resealing the “donor” front axle and installing 4.88 gears and a Detroit “no spin” locker, I started on the front suspension. It took me a few tries to get it right. I ended up using 1 ¼” square tubing to space down the front spring mounts and moving them foreword approx. 1”. For the rear shackle mount, I measured carefully my donor frame and made my frame the same as stock (except 1” foreword). I installed Rancho 2” springs and bolted up the front axle.

I decided on x-over steering but the kits were too expensive. I spent hours researching on the web and talking to people, and came up with a cross over steering arm using the stock right hand steering arm with a drag link mount welded to it. I Tig welded it together for strength and used stainless filler rod to bridge the dissimilar metals.

I bought a complete rear end out of a 1986 Toyota because the newer ones were 3” wider than the 1985. I also installed a Detroit “no spin” locker and the same gears in the rear along with disc brakes.
For the disc brake conversion, I used calipers off of a 1983 Cadillac Eldorado and rotors off of a 1996 Chevy 4x4 pickup. I made up my own mounts out of 3/8” steel plate and bolted them on.

  I made up a custom ¾ elliptic suspension for the rear out of stock Toyota rear main leafs and fabricated a rear torque arm to keep everything straight. 

 Since I couldn’t fit the fuel tank back in after making the torque arms, I decided to go to a 22 gal. Fuel cell. I took the fuel pump and fuel level sending unit out of the stock Toyota tank and with the help of a hole saw, installed them into the top of the fuel cell. I then mounted the new fuel cell through the floor of the bed.
 The transmission/transfer case went in pretty easy, but I had to make a X-member to hold it all up since the 2wd x-member would no longer work.

 I fabricated bumpers and rock guards and I was all set. I took it on the High Desert Round Up in 1999 for the first “shake down run”, and it did quite well. The only problem I could see was the wheelbase was a little on the long side (RTI 802) and the bed needed to be bobbed. 

 By this time, I was a regular on Off-road.com’s Toyota page, and had spent a lot of time on the Toyota Bulletin Board asking questions (as desertoy), so back into the garage I went for one last (yea right) modification.

 I removed the bed and cut a 10” section out of the frame, shortening the wheelbase to approx. 102”. I then cut 10” out of the front of the bed to get it to fit, and went ahead and bobbed the back of the bed 10” also.
 I fabbed new rock guards and fine-tuned the suspension and shock mounts, and now I am really happy with it. The newest modifications were installing Marlin Crawler’s dual transfer cases and Marfields, along with a custom exhaust system and a rear “Bed Rack” to hold my spare tire, High-lift jack, Co2 bottle, ice chest etc. My truck is now “finally” a rock crawler.

 I haven’t been back on the ramp yet to see how much it has improved, but it made a big difference on the trail, and it looks cool.

  I have finally come to terms with the fact that I love to fabricate things on my truck as much as I love to 4 wheel it, so I am trying to start a small business on the side “Performance Fabrication”. Maybe I can make a little money to finance my next “good idea”. 

 Future modifications include an outside roll cage, a roof/tire rack, front mounted winch, and “rock doors”.

John James 
Apple Valley Ca.
Jrme@gte.net

More Pictures of John's Truck Here

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