Jay Kopycinski

At first glance, this white Toyota truck looks like a super clean thirteen year old truck with some nice trail mods. However, anyone but the most casual observer soon realizes that this truck is not so ordinary. Monte Hall is the builder and driver of this meticulously fabricated '84 standard bed truck and his custom license plate (1GOIN84) gives some hint to this trucks capability. Monte went right to work pumping up the power by removing the stock 4 banger and installing a '91 vintage 4.3L Chevy V6. The engine is fed by GM throttle body injection and drives a Turbo 350 tranny. The stock axles each hold a Detroit locker and gearing is 4.37:1. Monte also added custom rear disc brakes to help slow the 33" BFG Mud Terrains mounted on Boyd wheels. The truck sits on a 4 inch Trailmaster lift combined with a 1 1/2" body lift. Upgrades to the front axle include a solid stainless steel tie rod, draglink, and torque rod with rod ends (heims). Each of these..

At first glance, this white Toyota truck looks like a super clean thirteen year old truck with some nice trail mods. However, anyone but the most casual observer soon realizes that this truck is not so ordinary.

Over the years I've owned my '85 Xtra Cab, I have run several different rear spring configurations: the stock springs, Rancho add-a-leafs, and Downey 3" lift springs. The latter also being supplemented with small blocks and/or longer shackles.

A lot of Toyota truck and 4Runner owners are swapping from Rancho RS 5000 to RS9000 adjustable shocks. As such, the mounting method detailed h ere may be useful when mounting the new shocks to stock Toyota mounts on '84 up trucks and 4Runners where the shock mount tubes are parallel to the axle.

It was finally time to upgrade the suspension on my friend's (Sam Katzdorn) truck. His '80 standard bed Toy had a few mods to it, but we were ready to start working on a lift and increased travel.

To figure the compressed dimension, take an eye-to-eye (stud-to-stud) measurement with the truck at rest. From this dimension, subtract the distance between the bump stops.

Over the years, as I increased tire sizes, I found my stopping distance growing longer and longer. Also, swapping engines and converting to an automatic tranny greatly reduced my effective compression braking. As such, I decided to try installing rear disc brakes on my '85 Toyota 4WD truck.