LUVTruck.com

Just noticed the grill on your truck in the pics showing the width differance, I love the look of it but cant find one for sale for the life of me.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Yea, it was on the truck when I bought it,, it was a little on the rusty side,, but I was able to clean it up pretty good with steel wool, and wax.. this one is the chrome square tube style,, I used to have the round tube style back in the early 80's on my 1st Toyota,, back than everyone had them,, but your right, they are now hard to find,!

o.k., got alot done today, (for a change )
I had a custom pressure side power steering line built ,and fabb'ed up a return line with a inline tube cooler, got all that installed,along with a new power steering pump and belt, fired it up,, and no leaks, !!
I ended up building my own pitman arm ,the stock Trooper arm is only aprox 4 3/4" long, I needed something in the 6" long range to match the Parts Mike steering arm on the axle,, soo, I had my friend bend a piece of 1/2 thick steel, and than cut and key'ed the trooper arm ends and welded them in the new arm, after some trimming it worked fine,!
I also got the tie rod/drag links installed, along with the front steel braided brake lines,, I built some upper/lower shock mounts,, and will make a couple of shock hoops later this week.....

is welding a suspention or steering part legal in cali ? its a big safty no no in oregon .

not sure,
I guess it depends on who you talk to,
I know a few people in Oregon, and other states,
who have done similar mods to their trucks ?

this arm is twice the arm of the stock Trooper,

lol, thats one way to build a drop pitman arm! As far as i know the only thing thats iffy when it comes to home built stuff is linked style suspensions, really only because any highway patrol can deem it unsafe for the highway and impound your truck. (Ive worked at a offroad shop in california)

I know years ago (early 1980's) a friend had a 77' LUV on 38" tires with a v-8 and rear steering,, he got pop'ed by CHP going down the freeway, the cop said it was a little obvious when he saw this huge mini truck doing 70 mph in the fast lane, but going sideways down the lane was the give away, (his rear hydrolic line sprung a leak and he didnt have any kind of lock down)......

front shock hoops bent up and assembled

It's alive,!!
I drove the LUV around the ppty today,, still needs some items, like the rear e-locker hooked up, found a small anti freeze leak at the t-stat housing, needs the exhaust redone had to cut a 12" piece out just past the engine for the rear of the front shackle relocation (sound like a Kabota tractor,!! ) and a new left side motor mount,,,, but it steers awesome now with power steering,, and stops very well with the bigger brakes,!!.....

Lets see some Daylight shots from every directions ....



I need these pics to show the wife why ive been buying $pendy of parts for my luv lol.

getting the 40 series Flow Master installed this coming Wednesday,, I drove it around a little more this evening, locked the hubs and played on a hill, everything is working great, (love the power steering !),
here are a few poser shots :

going to be picking up some stock (uncut) front fenders this week, and start the stepside bed install soon,!

Its so purty, When i get my luv together and wheelable maybe we should head down to the rubicon . Where did you get that grille?

Thanks !,
Sounds good, (I only live about 50 minutes from the Rubicon, ) we are heading up there at the end of the month, (only the LUV wont be making that trip, ) I still need to hook up the rear e-locker, and get a few more bugs worked out..
the grill was on it when I bought it,, not sure where it came from?

I'm at a loss for words. That is awesome!!!!

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1974 Mikado 4x4 50,000 orig. miles

Thanks,!!
I actually think I have more fun building and fabb'ing now a days than actually hitting the trail,, we have already started another Toyota 4Runner project we call the "Craigslist Crawler" LOL!..

and I have kept all the Dana 30 front axle stuff,I took off the LUV, to some day build another (pre smog) mini

Total cost to date:
$900.00 for the truck (already straight axled and V-6/auto installed

$1685.00 for all the parts I added so far

Total = $2585.00( but I'm sure this # will go higher,,

HANDOVER THE GRILL AND NO ONE GETS HURT

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.