Nothing butch, nothing superfluous, nothing tacky. It’s a mean, lightweight bantam with a hankerin’ to do some spankerin’. And that was the original plan.
We’ve been witnesses to plenty of dedicated rockcrawling vehicles that go for the “bigger is better” approach. The ones that really stick out usually sport somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 horses and 40-plus-inch tires and weigh around 6,000-7,000 pounds.
Of course, they need enormous axles with monster axleshafts and low-slung centersections in order to keep things together…not to mention bombproof iron drivetrains and heavy-duty skidplating. Unfortunately, the combo of big weight, big power, and big rubber usually means that something somewhere is going to give.
So why not go in the other direction and build the ultimate Toyota rockcrawler? If you’re primarily rockcrawling you really don’t need gobs of power as long as you’ve got low gearing. And if you keep things lightweight, you can get away with smaller axles and drivetrain components. Smaller axles mean you can run a proportionally smaller—and hence lighter—tire size. So, small weight, small power, and smaller rubber mean big performance off road.
When you’re talking Toyota rockcrawling you’re talking All Pro Off Road. They come out with a new and useful Toyota widget as often as Joan Rivers gets a facelift, so we gave owner Jon Bundrant a call. As it turns out, Bundrant was about to embark upon a project eerily similar to what we had envisioned, so we made sure our cameras were there to cover the magic. We’re talking a slinky four-link rear and trick three-link front suspension all supported by coilover shocks. As if that weren’t enough, how about 109:1 gearing, a super-trick twin-stick transfer case, tube work that would make NASCAR jealous, and a fiberglass body that’s cleaner than Martha Stewart’s underwear? And it all rides on some of the coolest rolling stock on the planet. Follow along as we cover the initial stages of the rear suspension, rollcage fabrication, and drivetrain installation. We’ll tease you next month with the interior, axles, steering, and front suspension.