81 Trekker Build

[4x4yota]

good looking shoes... did you stick with 35s or got bigger?

[dropzone]

C

good looking shoes... did you stick with 35s or got bigger?

I wanted 37's but it was a bit cost prohibitive, I would have had to spend some more $$ getting 17's .

To Dan at America's Tire.  Thanks.  Sorry thought i was hitting multi-quote but accidentally hit remove..didn't mean to do that...

was emailed a few more pics

hogsbacks is pretty easy

[dropzone]

turned it back into a convertible for the next few months:


picked up a Jeep Metal security console..the other one I had extended into the rear seat leg room a bit too much

a lot more storage

tight between the seats but should hold up to my kids putting their foot on it when they climb into the back

[dropzone]

Had some problems with my MTR's.  America's tire rebalanced them a couple of times and I still had some bad wobbles/shimmy above 35 or so.
They swapped them out for another set, 200 miles on this set with out any issue.  Great service!


Finally finished putting in my cargo tie down rails.  I think I did the first section 2 years ago:dunno:



I used 1.25" flat stock on the inside of the bed to add some strength. Can't crank too hard on it since the bed is fiberglass but it will keep a cargo net and camping gear in place

[garlicgabe]

Totally diggin this build  .  Just getting back to working on mine.  Love that color. 

[garlicgabe]

What did you do with the old windows for your top?

[dropzone]

What did you do with the old windows for your top?

Sold or Traded them..they went fast

Totally diggin this build  .  Just getting back to working on mine.  Love that color. 

Thanks! 

[Wainiha]

Great build.  Oregon is great.  I went to OSU and Western Culinary.  I only wheeled logging roads though.  In the Alsea area and outside Philometh.  And my first time snow wheeling on Mary's peak. 

How did the LED bar turn out?  I have a 6 LED bar at 3 watts each.  The shroud needs improvement.  It is mounted inside on the passenger side at the visor.  The reflection is irritating and needs to be fixed.  I thought about moving it to the grill...

[dropzone]

Great build.  Oregon is great.  I went to OSU and Western Culinary.  I only wheeled logging roads though.  In the Alsea area and outside Philometh.  And my first time snow wheeling on Mary's peak. 

How did the LED bar turn out?  I have a 6 LED bar at 3 watts each.  The shroud needs improvement.  It is mounted inside on the passenger side at the visor.  The reflection is irritating and needs to be fixed.  I thought about moving it to the grill...

i ended up selling the LED light bar, never got a mount to work well with it.
I had roof mounted lights from my Baja bug days and the glare sucked...

[dropzone]

Sunday night I hop in the truck and no headlights..WTH..everything else works..but no lights
Fuses and fusible links good..
Thanks to

I track it down to some hacked in wiring on the headlight circuit done by a previous owner.
I should have taken a pic..what is the point of soldering a connection and using heat shrink tubing if you aren't gonna fully solder the connection and melt the heat shrink??? Oh well I can drive after dark now

[Saved-wheeler]

  great looking rig, I'm fairly impressed with the rattle can paint job an good color... Noob question but I don't know a ton about older yotas...what's a trekker?

[dropzone]

great looking rig, I'm fairly impressed with the rattle can paint job an good color... Noob question but I don't know a ton about older yotas...what's a trekker?

Thanks!  A Trekker is the result of a joint venture by Toyota and Winnebago. Winnebago converted about 1200 trucks in 81-83 to test the early SUV market.
Kind of a 4Runner prototype.

[Saved-wheeler]

Oh that's very cool!  I never knew any of that, is the camper the only way to tell if its a trekker? Or are there any performance types of differences?

[dropzone]

Oh that's very cool!  I never knew any of that, is the camper the only way to tell if its a trekker? Or are there any performance types of differences?

You can kind of tell from the back. It does not have a tailgate. Also there is only about a 1/2-3/4" gap  between the bed and cab.  The bed and canopy are all fiberglass.
No performance differences from a standard truck..still a gutless 22r with a 5 speed. The big advantage was the seating for four

Having bobbed bed and a 35" spare isn't exactly the greatest combination when it comes to space.
I needed a more secure way of keeping that thing in place. The clamps I found on ebay and used for other mounts came through again.  They are threaded on both sides for 1/2" threaded so some eye bolts did the trick

[garlicgabe]

Toyota came out with 3 versions.  TREKKER, WOLVERINE, and TRAILBLAZER.  I have seen all three versions.  Very cool trucks. 

[dropzone]

Toyota came out with 3 versions.  TREKKER, WOLVERINE, and TRAILBLAZER.  I have seen all three versions.  Very cool trucks. 

From what I have seen the wolverine was a pre 78 4 wd  conversion
The Trailblazer (about 400) was done by Griffith (griffin?) Who also did a Celica conversion called a SunChaser

Another little known conversion was the Breaker Breaker.

[Wainiha]

 I like that blue one.  Put it on some 60s. 

And that shell makes it look like I could fit in it to sleep.

[garlicgabe]

Very cool! 

[dropzone]

a little more info on the  breaker breaker..

interior would be a little too 80's vannish for me.
a friend of mine has an 84 or 85 that I would love get a hold of to build as an expedition rig

[dropzone]

Saw one of these shift knobs that had been donated by Low Range Off Road to help raise money for the  Rubicon Trail Foundation and thought that is pretty dang cool

[Wainiha]

To bad they can't actually lock your hubs.

[dropzone]

To bad they can't actually lock your hubs.

That would be pretty cool

[dropzone]

Did my rear brakes yesterday.
I hadn't needed to pull the right rear drum off in the 6 years I have had the truck
Found this

Why take the time to drive in a pivot pin when a wobbly bolt will do

Gotta love previous owners

[dropzone]

I have tried a couple of different LED light bars but never found one that had the light output I wanted and would work with my bumper (didn't want to mount it on top)
Picked up some round ones off ebay:

Looks like I need to tweek the lights slightly to even them up

bumper needed some touch up paint, went ahead and painted it and the grill desert tan.
Not so sure I like it or not...

Cleaned up the Samurai back seat I got a couple of years ago so my kids can wheel with me this summer.  The seat back is ripped so Zip ties to the rescue...Half ass I know...also padded the rear portion of the cage and added some grab straps in the back

[dropzone]

decided the tan bumper/grill combo was a bad idea:







filling up tires should be a little faster now:

[megaphoneman]

Xan i see more of the rear seat setup.. currently lookibg for an alternative for mine..

blahhhhhhhhhhh

[garlicgabe]

X2 on the seat.  How do you have it mounted up.  Does it still fold? 

[dropzone]

Xan i see more of the rear seat setup.. currently lookibg for an alternative for mine..

blahhhhhhhhhhh

X2 on the seat.  How do you have it mounted up.  Does it still fold? 

I will try to get some pics for you guys.  The Samurai seat fits right in the seat tray.
- There is a center mount of the back of the seat that lined up with the center seat belt mount.
- To get the seat to line up with that I cut the rear corner risers off the seat, this dropped it about 1.25".  It looks like there is a piece of square tube fiberglassed into the seat tray.  The seat is pretty dang secure using the center mount.
-on the front of the sami seat there are two more hinged risers, the passenger side riser I cut about 2" off and rewelded the hinge.  This was done because of the rise in the floor for the gas tank.  I will need to drop the tank to get this mount secured, though the mount will probably be need to be offset towards the center of the truck due to the gas lines.
-D/S mount I sandwiched some plate steel.
Ideally I would like to mount the subaru brat seats I have but samurai seat allows it to fold flat.
I also plan on adding a bar towards the rear of the cage so I can have full harness for the back seat.

[dropzone]

OK only have a couple of pics that uploaded fromm my phone. Dropped it and now it is stuck in a weird reboot loop...urrrr
anyway
Shortened the passenger side mount to account for the gas tank floor rise

Center mount tied into the center seat belt mount

[dropzone]

Spent a little time in the sand. Was able to climb the bowls with a good run at them.   Sure could use a few more ponies under the hood.  But over all had a great time.   The missus tried to get a few pics from the back but was holding on with both hands most of the time :hillbill:


.
Towed a couple of busted quads back



After hitting some of the whoopdidoos my back is telling me it is time to scrap the junk yard seats and pick up some PRP or Corbeau suspension seats