1981 toyota 1 ton truck

[R.I.D.E.]

Oldest brother bought this new, 36 years ago. I put the military surplus bed on the truck when his camper basically fell apart from sitting under a Magnolia tree, probably 20 years ago. He got an engine and transmission from my youngest brothers truck when it was drowned during TS Isabell.

Now oldest bro wants to give me the truck. Left frame rail has some rust through, but the right is still very nice. I have some pieces from a trailer hitch that fit perfectly over the existing frame rails. Otherwise it has just been inspected and is driveable as is.

The "bed" is an old military surplus trailer they got form a surplus auction many decades ago, of the type they haul behind a Deuce @ a quarter truck.

Found a photo of the original configuration. We welded the top rear half of a cab from the rear floor to the windshield pillars.

[R.I.D.E.]

Added photo of original camper configuration.

[BlueRover]

RIDE

One of these days we should all post the various list of cars we have driven and I am sure I may have driven almost every brand but you have the most eclectic.

[R.I.D.E.]

LOL, I can't remember many of the cars I bought. Used to do salvage auctions, over a period of 5 years I fixed 12 93-97 Nissan Altimas. Rebuilt over 150 since 1973 and that's just repaired wrecks. I fixed a 1987 300ZX, just because I had all the parts (water in the floor). One of my customers bought it and was still driving it 10 years later. First car I ever owned that had onboard factory MPG gauge.

Some of them:
1939 Ford woody station wagon
1967 383 Formula S Barracuda coupe
1972 BMW 2002
1959 Corvette
1976 280Z
1991 Nissan NX2000
1982 280ZX turbo
1972 Datsun 510 2dr with hopped up L20B truck engine

Plus a dozen or so motorcycles beginning with a 1973 Kawasaki 900.

My brother's Harley is sitting in my garage, just take care of it and ride it enough to keep it running nice. He pays tags and insurance, just insists I run only Amoco white premium gas in it.

[BlueRover]

I'm assuming the Woody was bought new LOL

My first was a 1954 Pontiac 6 cyl with a 6 volt battery. Car started one morning at -49F and mild wind while parked outside.

[R.I.D.E.]

It was given to me, probably 40 came to me that way. Fixed a customers 240Z that had serious rust in the passengers floor and strut rod mount, $400 later it was good for another 5 years, when he drove it in, gave it to me and bought my NX2000 (wrecked rebuilt). He drove that at least another 10 years, might still be driving it today for all I know.

Customers regularly got astounding (for the time) mileage out of their Nissan-Datsuns especially those who took decent care of their cars.

[ChewChewTrain]

Hmmm. With the rust, that 1 ton is probably down to a 0.99 ton.

[BlueRover]

After bonding with the oxygen to form the rust should the truck not be heavier??? Unless parts have fallen off LOL

[R.I.D.E.]

Those Toyota frames are rust factories. I checked it with an Estwig hammer, the claw portion works nice. You can tell by the sound when the metal is solid. The passengers side is fine, seems like the shape of the fuel tank directs rain water into the frame flushing it out good enough so I only have to fix the drivers side.

Drivers seat not torn, dash not cracked, even the original rubber floor covering is fine. It does need a thorough cleaning Oldest bro is not one to keep vehicles really clean like I keep mine. One good pressure washing and it will look much better. I'll keep an eye out for some cheap paint in case I get really inspired.

[R.I.D.E.]

We did an emergency repair to get the structural integrity from about 35% to around 75%, using a section of an old trailer hitch. Enough to make it safe to drive the 25 miles from his house to mine.

I pulled out the interior, seats, floor covering, down to the metal floor. There are 4 spots that will require attention to make the cab waterproof in rainy weather.

I plan on cutting away the remains until I get to clean metal, then fabricating up the repair panels, larger than the hole and mount the panels 10mm (6x1.0) screws and speed nuts, then apply sealer and bolt the panels in. The repair panels will have the edges doubled over for additional strength.

Normally on unibody cars I would weld the panels in for structural integrity, but right now I just want to get the cab water tight, then finish the frame repair and do some other things like a valve adjustment, oil change and finish removing the radio and AC systems as I have no need for either. I pulled the evaporator out of the heater box along with a pile of magnolia leaves and other debris.

I'll try to get some pictures when the weather allows. The truck runs and drives fine, brakes, clutch, gears and engine all work properly. If they had not then I probably would not have messed with fixing this truck. I love the military bed conversion and it's awfully hard to ignore when you see it on the road. I just hope no returning GI with PTSD thinks I am here from Afghanistan and decides to take me out!!!!!