What year project truck for my son?

[wscotterwin]

Hi guys,
I am new to this forum and I look forward to spending some time here.

I am looking to buy my son an old pickup truck so that we can rebuild it and put it back into service. My Dad did this for me when I was 14 and it was the best thing he ever did for me. I rebuilt a 1971 Datsun pickup and that knowledge helped me get through an engineering degree in college as well as saving me a ton of money in life.

Anyway, My boys are 14 an 10 and I have been a Jeep man for the last 15 years. I know little about Toyotas. I would like to start them out in trucks and Toyota seems like the perfect fit. What I need from you is your knowledge in what year/model of Toyotas are the best for this project. There seem to be many for sale in my area

Considerations:
Which year trucks are the most basic and the easiest to work on?
Which motor is the most common and longest lasting?
Which vehicles/motors are there more parts for?

Most importantly: WHICH ONES ARE TO BE AVOIDED.

Thanks in advance guys for your help. I look forward to many enjoyable afternoons with my boys under/over/driving/discussing a Toyota truck.

Cheers, Scott

 

[tbplus10]

Toyota is a great choice for a project truck, next to Jeeps their one of the most popular vehicles to modify.
Oddly enough I was using Toyota trucks as a daily driver for years to parts hunt to keep my fleet of Jeeps on the trails.
Toyota really made a lot of great trucks over the years and there isnt one model or year thats better than the others, it really comes down to price, availability, and prefered body style.
If your building a 4x4 1979 through 1984 is the best IMHO.
79 thru 83 was the more rounded body style, a little hard to find parts for but not impossible.
84 has always been an odd duck 4x4, it was the one year that had the square body style and a leaf sprung front axle.
These trucks are easy to lift and to freshen up a set of sagging springs (as you know from Jeeps).
85 thru 88 is IFS, a good off road truck but not the easiest to lift.
84 to 88 trucks suffer from serious corrosion issues on the beds, this problem only shows in the SR5 or 4x4 styled beds (sportier style had smooth sides to the top of the bed) these beds were built in Japan, the truck may have been assembled in Fremont Ca. (the only Toyota truck plant at that time) but the beds came to the U.S. as an assembly, some have attributed the ocean voyage as the cause of the corrosion issue.
The basic truck style bed for these years isnt as flashy but also doesnt suffer from corrosion issues.
89 to 94 was back to a somewhat rounded body, great trucks.
88 introduced a new engine to all the trucks, the V-6 3.0, or refered to as the 3.slow, never a powerhouse and later a source of one of Toyota's bigger recalls, bad head gaskets, even a change of head gaskets and materials for the gaskets didnt make this engine a good choice. I say if possible avoid any year Toyota truck with the 3.0. The 22R, 22RE, and 22RTE were great engines, the RTE is a rare engine and parts or replacement Turbo's can be hard to find, if the Turbo is in good shape it's not hard to rebuild with common hand tools and a bench vice, if it's badly worn you could spend a lot of $$ trying to find a new housing.
Toyota did have a limited amount of Diesel engines in the U.S. for those years, theres about 4 different engines out there and info on size and spare parts is sketchy. The Diesel engines were work horses and didnt break a lot and if you know someone in a third world country they can probably get you all the parts you need cause thats where most of them went to.
1996 brought the Tacoma and the 3.4, 4 Runners were still previous body style and running the 3.0 they didnt change until 1997.
The Tacoma has very few issues, either the 2.7 or the 3.4 is a great choice and the trans and transfer case were very reliable.
Std cab Tacomas were available with the 3.4 for 96/97 so this is a rare truck, if you find Std cab with a 3.4 and 5spd it's even more rare.
1998 brought a small body change to the Tacoma but no real engineering changes.
2001 brought the double cab and again no engineering changes.
Double cab trucks are rare with the 2.7, and none were ever produced for the U.S. with a 5spd.
1998 also brought TRD with the 4x4, locking r/r and progressive front coils are the biggest changes (unless you count the stickers).
And the PreRunner 2wd trucks, progressive coils and some but not all had the locking rear.
The PreRunners although they are 2wd share nothing on the suspension with the basic 2wd trucks.
PreRunners with the addition of the front diff, T-case, and replacing the front spindle assemblies be built into a 4x4, all the bolt holes are present and the entire transformation can be done over a weekend.
2wd Toyota trucks are all great candidates (they make event better candidates than a 4x4 for a SAS, the frame is a little stronger at the front frame rise).
2005 and up Tacomas are great trucks but I suspect price would keep these from being a good project truck.

 

[1 bad tacoma]

any one with a straight axle is good but if you find one with it its going to need some body work since they rusted so bad. i had a 91 toyota pickup with a 5 speed manual 4x4 with manual locking hubs with the 3.0 v6 it was a very tough truck i had 245,000 miles with nothing done but regular maintance too it

 

[MD_Weems]

I absolutely loved the 93 T100 I had, it was actually the first truck I've ever had. I got my license in 93 (should tell you my age... lol), and my dad insisted that I get something that I could learn to work on for the smaller things (oil changes, hoses, etc) because he didn't want his girls being stuck somewhere and not know how to fix some of the things that go wrong with a pick up. I went through two cars that were pains in the neck to try and fix and I hated them. I got the 93 in 97, and I instantly loved it. It was super easy to read through a manual or book and find out how to fix something small. I grew up a Chevy girl, but I have to say after that first Toyota pick up, I won't own another type of truck. So, I have to agree with the other posts on this thread that really any Toyota with a straight body and axle is an awesome idea. Even if it's a bit older, it will be easy for them to work on and learn things about the pickup and they still look good.

We are actually planning to do the same thing with our boys (12, 12, and 11). We are looking to buy them older cars that are easier for them to work on, that need work so they can put the time and effort into helping with it - under the hopes that they'll take care of them better when they are driving them. Two of the boys want muscle cars but the other wants a pick up that he can take 4wheeling... I'm pushing to find a T100 for him.

 

[toyotafan]

I'd love to know if you got a project truck or not.

 

[MD_Weems]

And some pictures!!!

 

[toyotafan]

And some pictures!!!

Yeah, can't forget the pictures of it either. Post them to your own Album in the Gallery (see the top menu) or in the Toyota Truck Photo Gallery inside the forum itself. (You can blog about it too!)

 

[MD_Weems]

I just love to see what other people have done to their Toyotas, gives me good ideas!!!

 

[Dadstruck]

did you find one yet?

 

[SurferBoy]

Yeah, I'd like to know if you found one and what year you went with.

 

[TruckRider]

Hi guys,
I am new to this forum and I look forward to spending some time here.

I am looking to buy my son an old pickup truck so that we can rebuild it and put it back into service. My Dad did this for me when I was 14 and it was the best thing he ever did for me. I rebuilt a 1971 Datsun pickup and that knowledge helped me get through an engineering degree in college as well as saving me a ton of money in life.

Anyway, My boys are 14 an 10 and I have been a Jeep man for the last 15 years. I know little about Toyotas. I would like to start them out in trucks and Toyota seems like the perfect fit. What I need from you is your knowledge in what year/model of Toyotas are the best for this project. There seem to be many for sale in my area

Considerations:
Which year trucks are the most basic and the easiest to work on?
Which motor is the most common and longest lasting?
Which vehicles/motors are there more parts for?

Most importantly: WHICH ONES ARE TO BE AVOIDED.

Thanks in advance guys for your help. I look forward to many enjoyable afternoons with my boys under/over/driving/discussing a Toyota truck.

Cheers, Scott

Hi, How are you any updates? Did you get this figured out?