LUVTruck.com

Picked up a 1977 Chevy LUV in March 2010
trailered it home from Rhonart Park Ca (near Napa)
it had already been straight axled with a Dana 30 Jeep front axle,(real hoaky steering ! ) Model 20 t-case mated to a GM 700R4 automatic trans, powered by a 1978 Buick 3.8 (231) V-6, it had the California BAR sticker, and it smogged just fine, 35" BFG tires on 15x10 wheels,, Not bad for... $900.00..

It hadnt really been driven since 1985, so there are some bugs to work out..
1st off the front brake calipers were frozen, causing serious death wobble when driven
and after my 1st trip to work (summer heat) it over heated.
soo, 1st was a front brake rebuild (Toyota 2wd calipers and custom bearing hubs with 6-lug wheel mounts)
Had the radiator cored out and removed the cheezy lil plastic manual fan for a 16" electric fan
added a cool retro Smittybilt double/single rollbar

thats where it was at, as of 11/16/10

future plans:
narrowed front D-44 (60" wide) with 4.88 gears/limited slip and crossover steering up front
Toyota p/s
Toyota rear springs up front
Toyota Tacoma e-locker rear (with 12-Volt Guy's cool wiring kit)
63" chevy rear springs
windshield visor
dual wiper blades
new shocks with color coordinated shock boots
stepside bed

** this build will be a slow one,! , as I'm also trying to fund and build my 1985 Toyota 4Runner crawler at the same time....

11/16/10
o.k. got the 96' e-locked 4Runner rear axle stripped and all the coil junk cut off, sent the 3rd over to a friend to have some 4.88's installed
got my 12-Volt Guy e-locker wiring kit and switch in the mail today
picked up a narrowed D-44 with 4.88's and a Track-Loc with CJ outers for $300.00,, stripped it down to the diff will be installing D-44 stub shafts and 6-lug outers back on it

11/25/10
acquiring more parts,!!
1), got the narrowed D-44 with 4.88s and a limited slip for the front, originally narrowed and had Jeep 5 lug outers (knuckles out) it has been narrowed to 56" wide (wms/wms),, but with adding the GM 6-lug outers and possibly a 1" wheel spacer I should be at my desired 60" wide
2), got the new axle u-joints installed on the GM stub shafts to shortened inners
3), 96' 4Runner rear e-locker housing all cleaned up and ready for spring perches
4), rightside GM flat top knuckle milled and drilled (Parts Mike)
5),picked up a 1979 Chevy LUV factory 4wd ($100.00) for the step side bed (these beds are almost impossible to find anymore!)
6), found a windshield sun visor,, just need to paint it white,,

parts truck for the bed
cool retro windshield visor,!
narrowed D-44

12/17/10
finished the RUF (rear Toyota springs up front) set
used the top 2 leafs from the rear springs off a 1986 Toyota 4wd truck, than added 3 lower leafs from an old set of front 3" lift springs from a 79-85 Toyota
I added some spring clamps made from 3/4" strap
for a 5 leaf pack

Also picked up, (Craigslist find in Reno) a 2 extra qt. cooling pan for the 700R trans along with a trans temp guage..

12/17/10
just got back my E-Locker 3rd, freshly installed the 4.88 gears .

Very cool build. I like the pics.

_________________

Coming along nicely...

_________________
If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

Nice truck. It's great it has the BAR sticker.

_________________
Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

o.k. well it's been awhile ,,but I finally got some more done ,!!
I ended up using some Ford F-150 rear springs instead of the Chevys,, the Fords are 57" long and are a 4 leaf pack, after they were installed (no blocks) they actually lifted the truck an additional 2.5"s over the old LUV flat rear springs and 4" lift blocks, also added some 6* steel shims to aim the rear diff up at the t-case
I used Ruff Stuff spring pads,hangers and 7" shackles,and 9/16" dia u-bolts and heavy duty u-bolt plates
installed the 4.88 gears in the Tacoma/4runner rear axle and was able to blend the LUV and Tacoma parking brake cable to work,
the Tacoma/4runner axle is 60" wide (the LUV axle was 53" wide),
next is to see if I have the correct t-case output spline to use a Toyota driveline flange, so I can run the rear Tacoma/4runner CV driveline

these 1st 2 pic's show the width difference from before and after

got the LUV to Toyota parking brake done, along with finishing up the dual rear shocks, next is the front Dana-30 to Dana 44 swap and power steering,!

well it;s been awhile since I have been able to get more done,!

But the LUV is finally sitting on it's own weight front/rear, I got the Dana 44 installed up front with the Toyota rear springs and now just need tierod/drag link and brake lines,
I decided to go with an Isuzu Trooper ps box, (will be alot easier to install than the Toyota IFS box I originally was going to use) I got the Trooper box on Craigslist for $50.00,, so that will be the next step,

the 35" tires look pretty small,, might have to go to 40's..

What pitman arm are you planning to use? The stock pitman arm on my LUV was too short to fully turn the wheels, I suspect the Trooper one may be also.

_________________
'78 Chevy LUV,1.9,4sp,headers,31's,SAS Dana 30,Dana 20,SOA rear w/Aussie Locker, rough body, bought new 12/4/78.
'87 Trooper,2.3,5sp,headers,31's,ball joint flip & spacer,Aussie Locker rear,Superwinch hubs,brush guard w/5.5K winch,more to come.

I havnt quite got that far yet .LOL.!
The stock Trooper one, does look a little on the short side

Thanks to the info from: "TJ White" here on the board ,I was able to fab up the steering rag joint to mate the Chevy LUV to the Toyota u-joint that slips onto the Trooper p/s box,!
next I will be building a frame plate to help strengthen the frame at the box,, and installing the Trooper box..

im jealous of your D44 and SAS lol. Im on the lookout for a narrowed D44 and Im thinking 5.38's will be alright with the stock 4cyl. Those Rear shackles and shackle mounts kinda looks like davezoffroad parts, since your from norcal thats prob true

I think 5.38's with the 4 cyl should work good, ( I have 5.29's with a 4cyl on my 4Runner and 35's and it gets around good)
Davezoffroad is pretty close to me,, But the mounts,shackles and u-bolts are from Ruff Stuff Specialties in Loomis (which is close to where I work)..

fabb'ed up some frame plates and got the Trooper p/s box installed, along with the Toyota/LUV rag joint, and modified the LUV steering shaft,, everything works great,, next is the pitman arm,, (probably going to fab one up since I cannot find anything that has the same spline count and is 6.5" eye to eye),