Howdy!

Stock '88 Xtra Cab

You're probably asking yourself what this project truck is all about, right? Well, first, it's a Toyota......a '88 Xtra Cab to be exact. It is owned by my friend, Sam Katzdorn. It was recently purchased used, in about as bone stock condition as you could get. We live in the Southwestern desert, Phoenix area, to be exact. As such, we'll be building this truck up to be a hard core rock-crawler. However, we still want it to be highway worthy and comfortable as it will remain a daily driver for Sam.

Now, a little philosophy. Many of the mods to be done to this truck will be custom one-off parts. Some may be stock or modified parts from other vehicles, and some will be proven aftermarket parts. Myself and Sam personally feel that the best way we have found to modify our trucks is to use a combination of such parts.

Only in the last few years has there been a vigorous effort by aftermarket companies to provide a wide array of hard core parts for Toyota truck and 4Runner owners. There are now many excellent products available for our Toys.

A clean slate

Building up a 4x4 is expensive, so we'll be buying some parts and building some as well. If you're handy with tools and willing to jump into a few projects, this series of articles may interest you. We'll show you how to build up some of your own mods and save a few bucks doing 'em yourself. With the money you save doing some of your own mods, you can buy other hard parts you may need.

Before I tell you what all we're hoping to do, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has helped me with my ideas along the way. I always love seeing new ideas and there's plenty out there that you've all used on improving your trucks. Let's see 'em.

PROJECT MINI - Projected mods:

Bobbed bed

Front straight axle swap using dropped front mounts, under frame shackle mounts, homebrew springs, crossover steering, flipped u-bolts, custom shock mounts with Rancho RS9012s, ARB air locker and 4.88 gears

Rear axle trussed and fitted with a track bar, Mazda spring swap, flipped u-bolts, and Rancho RS 9012s on custom mounts, ARB air locker and 4.88 gears

Marlin Crawler dual case

Gloeco front driveshaft, custom rear driveshaft

Time to get busy with mods! Bye bye stock.

High clearance transfer case crossmember

Custom nerfs, bumpers and license plate mount

35 inch mud terrain tires

Who knows what else......?

Follow along as we turn a stock Toyota into a weekend rock crawler!