Overlander Build-Up Part 1: Getting Started
In the Previous Article I talked about my reasons for choosing the Toyota as the platfom to build my overland travel vehicle off of. Now I’ll go into detail about the things I’ve done to the rig to make it more capable of getting me where I want to go. In this article I will go over the things that the truck came with when I bought it, and what I did right off with the things I already had laying around.
This 1979 Toyota Hi-Lux 4×4 was purchased from the original owner, with 160 thousand miles on it. It had a couple of problems, but for the most part was really straight for being a 30 year old truck. It was all orginal with even the factory hub caps and 215/70 R 15 tires. At the time I had some fairly worn 33″ Goodyear MT/R tires laying around, so I bolted them up. They fit a little tight, but for a stock truck with no lift they seemed to be just right. The truck also recieved a camper shell that I had laying around, so I could hall gear around without it getting wet.
The first thing that I did was drain every fluid out of the vehicle and replace it, as well as change every filter. This way I could start from scratch and know exactly what was going on with leaks. When I bought the truck, I had to replace the clutch master cylinder right away. It was one of the reasons the truck was such a great deal. The other reason was a very typical Toyota problem. It was missing a stud in the exhaust manifold. For what ever reason, all 20R and 22R engines have this problem, and there is a good way to fix it. Several companies sell high quality studs, so you just have to (carefully) pull out all the old ones, then replace them with the good ones and put a dab of high temp lock-tite on them. After that, its as simple as going back every oil change and checking the torque on the nuts to make sure they are still snug. I also noticed that the water pump was weeping a tiny bit, so broke down and spent the 40 dollars to replace it. These engines are a cake walk to work on, that’s why they are so great.
Other mechanical issues the truck has are typical front axle wiper seal leak and a carburator rebuild. The front axle will be taken care of when I rebuild the front axle at a later date. As for the carburetor, I am still trying to decide what to do about that, and will go into that with more detail at a later date as well.
As far as modifications right from the get go, I had a couple of radios and antennas from a previous vehicle laying around so I installed those right away. I installed the Midland CB radio with SSB capabilities and a Mag Mount antenna, as well as an Icom IC-V8000 2 meter ham radio with antenna. This would give me the ability to talk to other 4 wheelers and truckers on the CB, and also give me long range communication on the ham radio for when I am out alone in the wilderness. It’s a good security net to be able to communicate.
On my previous rig I had installed a power inverter to run my laptop during outings. I actually had another one ready to install, so in it went. It’s a great thing to be able to use mapping software on the Laptop to get around with, and that combined with the Garmin GPS means I will never get lost.
In the next installment I will continue to modify the truck into a trail capable overland vehicle.
