Ive been daily driving my 83 for a few months now and im not happy with it I need to make it more practical, heres what I dont like.

- 35's and 4:10's, the Krawlers are too wide, its Open/Open right now
- Suspension rides extremely rough(procomp) and sits un even
- Front bumper is stock, and dead
- No carpet, or sound deadener.
- Exhaust Leaks at the manifold, dumps at the back of the cab
- Flatdeck is useless and ugly
- Power steering cavitates when the engine is cold
- Rear brakes lock up before the fronts kick in
- Paint is fading


Heres the fun part, the frame is rusty, I patched it but its really starting to let go right around the motor mounts. I have another frame but the amount of work to put it under the truck is bothering me. Do you guys think its worth making into a decent daily driver or should I quit wasting my time and pick up a 3rd gen and part this thing out?


Realistically id need,

5.29's and atleast weld the rear
TG 3" Springs, Bilstiens, TG Hanger kit
35x12.5 MT/R's
A full new exhaust
Dynomat and foam deadener, New carpets
A manual brake proportioning valve
Fiberglass sides for my box and some paint.

replace/bleed all of the fluids and such in the truck and to swap all of this to the new frame.

 

I know you have more then 6 grand...you know what you need to do, Get to work son ...

 

Agreed…
If you can dream it you can do it!!! lol..

 

Or get the 3rd gen for the DD

 

you can buy my 83 and have to do less work.....i have some info posted about it in this forum...

 

For me...it's worth it. For you? Only you know of course. I had to do a LOT, and put a lot of money into my truck. Not sure if the debt was worth it, but I'm very happy with it now. Mine's a dd and I don't have power steering, but I'm running 30x9.50's. That is a lot of work. I'd hope if you did get a 3rd gen you'd keep this one..

 

it's all about the "love " ..... ya either love it , or you dont .. this will guide you in your decision young patawa


.

 

power steering: possibly you have got some air in the line.
frame swap: that is the tough one.
paint: easy, find a nice color of flat black, OD green or something you like that comes in an economical portable spray system
Crawlers were never intended for daily use...

seems like up in canada you have a unique truck, a 1st gen. if you can hang on to it...but it comes down to what you need to do. Coin toss?

 

If your that kinda guy that has to have it now, go find a 83 that for sale thats already been modified with what you want. The price shouldn't be out of your range.

Now if your the kinda guy that has the patience of Job, take the time to make it right yourself. My truck still has the same 4:10 gears and runs on 33's. I just haven't gotten around to switching over. The nice thing about these old truck is they are for the most part very easy to work on and the parts are still plentiful. This site has some wonderful information on do-it yourself mods, so give it some thought when doing your suspension. I went with a after-market system and wish I had gone with a jeep leaf spring mod, much more flex.

What ever your decision good luck, and if it's getting another 83's, I'm sure there is someone out there that would love to have your old 83. Use the money on the sale to find your dream rig.

 

Why not sell it and get a better 1st gen? I know they are hard to find around here but Ive seen them. I saw a black/brown long box SR5 in mint condition for sale here for 3500 and I wanted it soooo bad but I dont have the money. I guess it depends on what you want and how much you are looking to spend. All I know is 3rd gens can get pretty expensive around here. People ask way to much for them. but they are easier to find w/o rust and other problems.

 

Im not sure what I want to do. Just today the brand new windshield seal I put in 6 months ago and the repair I did on the window frame is leaking, cant tell if its the firewall seam or the windshield frame yet but its dripping right onto the fuse box.

Ive looked at tons of first gens forsale out here and nothings been any better than what I have to work with.

 

Yeah sometimes things snowball...I alternately go from thinking "why the hell did I buy and put all this money into a 26 year old vehicle things keep going wrong" to "ok I can handle this, everything (mostly) is repairable" etc.

It can build up & get frustrating. You've got to do what you've got to do, but in the end, if finances don't demand that you sell it...you know that you'll someday kick yourself for letting it go. I couldn't dd something with the size tires your working with, plus I need the bed, but if I had a spot behind the garage to park it and throw a tarp over it for a while so I could figure things out and get another dd..
Wish I had done that with my '86 when the headgasked blew, but I rent, so...I still really miss that truck.
The only thing that would make me ever sell my '83 is a complete life change where I decide to hippi-fy myself and come to realization that I can do so much more with my life without a vehicle or other expensive worldy possension sapping my finances and go super simple and instead travel and not have to be tied down to crappy jobs to support expensive hobbies.

That or serious financial troubles.

 

Hmm, tough decision. Thats alot of work to put into the truck but to have a nice 1st gen around here it will always take alot of work. I think it depends on things like... do you care about putting in money and not getting it back, do you just want a good DD truck or do you specifically want a 1st gen, and by the time u finish all that u said needs to be done will the other areas of the truck need fixing too? Personally i dont want to be the guy who tells someone to get rid of their yota hah. But to fix up that truck sounds like it will be a few thou wereas u could just go by that nice 2-tone 1st gen in nanaimo and not have to do anything. But thats not really as fun heh. Ill keep my eye open for any decent pickups and let u know if i see anything but I dunno what you should do. Hope you find an easy way to make the decision!

 

Go for the rebuild, First generation trucks are getting tougher to find. I've been over 10 years in a total rebuild and rerebuild as I have changed my mind on how I want it to be, but it looks like it will all come together this summer. I will never sell it. I have had several other cars and trucks that I have put a lot of time and money into and now regret selling them. Just my 2 cents worth good luck, Pete

 

This is exactly what I want, I could sell my truck and car, leave this thing stock and not care. Ive been looking at 3rd gens for quite a long time and up here, any good ones go for just a little less than this Tacoma. I see lots of single cabs like this on Washington state craigslist though so there's always that option, I would wait till I have the cash though, loans suck.

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/ctd/1004605275.html


I dont mind daily driving 35's, even with the 4:10's its not that bad, I can get 100km's out of $10 of gas usually, $30 fills it. You guys might not believe this but the Krawlers are actually quiet on the road, no louder than a M/T and they are balanced perfectly aswell, they are just too wide for my truck. I cant stand not having a box on it, I do have a stock shortbox but its rusty and the wrong color. One thing that really bothers me is I was building this truck for 4wheeling but I cant even touch a gravel road right now because the suspension is seriously that rough, slow speed its horrible, high speed its horrible... its easily the roughest vehicle ive ridden in ever.

Right now I have no other daily driver because my Supra just blew the heater core, not that id drive it in the winter any way but im sort of stuck driving the truck around till about late March. I just finished school so the time to do something is now before I start work full time again.

 

that looks to be a pretty clean taco.
I guess I should have clarified my krawler tire dd comment, seems like the soft rubber compound would wear out quickly on pavement...
best of luck with what ever decision you make...

 

Take her out to dinner, maybe a movie, see if she wants to go back to your place and don't be afraid open your wallet. Decide after breakfast. Nothing wrong with a test drive if its gonna be a DD kind of thing.

 

Im going to attempt to fix it up I think, if all else fails il part it out.

 

surprisingly not nearly as bad as my old Interco LTB Bias ply's. Ive put 3000km on them and they have no noticable wear, they are the "blue" compound though, the "red" compound is the competition tire that wear fast.

 

Fixing the battery tray..

I took out the plastic inner fender covers and wow, lots of dirt in there, there was little plants growing beside the fire wall