Purchased six years ago as a lowered two-wheel-drive sport truck, John James’ ’85 Toyota Xtracab now plays on boulders rather than living in fear of speed bumps. John quickly tired of riding around an inch off the street, and developed an interest in high-speed desert racing. The plan was to build the little Toyota as a two-wheel-drive prerunner, hence the Ivan Stewart–like front fenders. As time went on and John slowed down, the truck evolved into the four-wheel-drive rockcrawler you see here.
Give a man a tube bender, a welder, and enough time and he can build anything. John was ahead of the game when it came to working with steel as he is the owner of Performance Fabrication, which specializes in tubular creations. Nearly every piece of metal on this Toyota has been massaged. The frame was shortened 10 inches and the bed 20 inches, and the bedsides were replaced with fiberglass. The rollcage inside the cab ties into the rear exo-cage at the bed to strengthen the chassis and protect the body. It also provides a convenient place to mount tool-boxes and spare parts.
It’s guys like John that make converting two-wheel drives to 4x4s look simple, and he claims that it was in fact the easiest part of building this Toy. We must assume that sales of Miller MIG welders increase every time people see this truck. The mumble of “I could build that if I had a welder” can often be heard from onlookers. We are all for custom creations and modifications that build in function and utility. Things that work well just have a way of looking cool to us. And every time we see a truck that left the factory with only half a drivetrain come out of the garage with a front axle, it makes up for 10 all-wheel-drive trucks that car manufacturers build now.