1985 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck 4x4 Lifted 85k Original Miles

THE FIND:Sold by a long time Verified Seller with over 12,000 feedbacks at 100% since Y2K, this is a rare super clean rust free classic 1985 Toyota Hilux 4x4 regular cab pickup truck that runs & drives as good as it looks with only 85,880 original miles from an original owner family in Southern California. It's basically a 1 owner So Cal barn find. There's not another like it on the planet except maybe in a museum or hidden in a fancy private collection.
HISTORY:This amazing truck was born in 1984 in a factory in Hamura, Japan by some of the finest and most dedicated automotive workers in the World. I say that as an experienced Toyota technician coming from a UAW family raised in Chicago in the 70's and 80's whose parents worked in Detroit for GM and NJ for Mercury as far back as the 50's.
This rare gem was transported from Japan on a huge freighter to Long Beach, California in 1985 and then delivered to a So Cal dealership and then bought by an older gentleman from Santa Anna who drove it sparingly and wound up deeding it to his son when he passed with about 85k miles.
It should be noted that this was the very last year that Toyota offered a live front straight axle mini truck in the USA.
Unfortunately the plastic single timing chain guide that Toyota started installing in 22R engines in 1984 (to get better EPA gas mileage) wore out prematurely (but typical) at 85k so the son who inherited it set out to restore the truck. He had the engine removed and sent it to a machine shop who replaced the timing chain and guides, as well as the timing chain cover, then refurbished the valve train as well as replaced the front crank seal, the oil pump & water pump, plus removed the oil pan and replaced the engine rod and main bearings. While the engine was out the rear main crank seal, the clutch disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing & pilot bearing were replaced while the flywheel was machined to a new surface.
When I acquired this barn find last year the engine was stabbed but all of the belt driven accessories were in boxes along with the stock carburetor. It was obvious the engine had been rebuilt from all the new gasket edges protruding but we had to re-assemble everything to hear it run. Once we accomplished that it fired right up and sounded quite healthy but a couple problems were immediately obvious. The original 4 cylinder brass radiator was leaky and couldn't be restored plus the original Aisin carburetor had a severe leak at the main shaft bushing that couldn't be repaired.
We immediately replaced the stock 4 cylinder brass radiator with a modern V6 Denso aluminum radiator which fits like a glove (since this body style started installing the V6 motor in 1988) and runs 50% cooler because it's 1 inch taller and twice as thick.
Next we ordered a genuine (made in Spain) Weber carb for the 22R knowing in advance that the stock Aisin carbs are hopelessly unrebuildable, never mind that the Weber delivers more tuneable power and always passes emissions in all 50 States. Once we installed the Weber carb it immediately ran better and idled normal so we left it at that with no further adjustments.
Since it was clear we had a fresh 22R engine rebuild with newtiming chain & guides (because there was obviously new head gasket material protruding plus no chain slap noise and a new timing chain cover) we installed new water pump, new genuine Weber carburetor with air filter, new Denso V6 aluminum radiator, new fan shroud,new distributor cap, new distributor o-ring, new rotor, new Denso plugs, new plug wires, new fuel filter, new crank case breather, new power steering pump, all new Dayco belts, new hoses, and new fluids in every case and orifice from stem to stern.
DRIVETRAINThis legendarily reliable numbers matching 22R (2.4L) runs like a sewing machine. Oil pressure gauge shows 35% at idle (see pics) which is considerably higher than normal (since usually a healthy 22R only shows real low oil pressure at idle which is normal). These carbureted 22R engines are particularly desirable for Preppers worldwide because they are immune to the electro magnetic pulses of nuclear war.
Fact is this 22R starts every time with a click of key. New $90 battery with new terminals doesn't hurt since it's a smooth quiet and powerful 22R. No smoke, no knocks, and absolutely no fluid leaks makes a new owner happy.
Runs so cool the temp gauge never climbs past 40% even on hot Arizona summer days. All the fluids and virtually all the parts that bolt onto the motor are new. Like aircraft engines these blocks are famous for being hardened with more nickle content than old American muscle cars.
5 Speed manual transmission shifts tight and smooth. We have no way to verify original owner's claim that clutch system is new but from our experience it definitely feels like it.
4x4 STRAIGHT AXLE SUSPENSION:5 inch suspension lift. No Blocks. All Spring. Newer 35x12.5x15 BFG Mud Terrain Radials mounted on 15x10 aluminum rims. Manual Aisin lockout hubs. 4 new Long Travel Pro Comp shocks. Dual Pro Comp steering stabilizers. Fresh brakes and shocks on all 4 corners. Truck is tight with no rattles. Big nobby mud tire noise/vibe does transmit through cab. BFG Mudders are also loud on the highway. Stock Aisin manual lockout hubs work perfect as designed. These Aisin hubs are literally twice as strong as anything Americans have every designed. Any Google search will prove it.
INTERIOR:Clean interior. Everything works. SR5 gauge cluster with tachometer, oil pressure gauge, temp gauge and volts. Only the factory radio deck is missing. Factory rear view mirror in tact but missing the brittle lens cover for dome light. Has the factory radio wiring. This is a factory power steering and power brake truck but did not come with air conditioning. The factory side view mirrors work fine but have some clouding on lens due to age.
BODY & FRAME:Original rust free Southern California truck was nicely repainted once some years ago by original owner. No bondo. Zero rust. Underside is as spotless as the exterior. There's several reasons that Toyota trucks are so legendary worldwide so listen up.
It's no accident that no matter what part of the world you look at whenever you see news footage of a guerrilla fighter soldier with an AK47 in the back of a pickup it's always a Toyota without exception. That's because the Toyota truck reliability is 2nd to none. It's what soldiers count on. But here's what they're counting on.
Unlike American, French, British or Korean vehicles, every Toyota truck comes with a fully boxed steel frame. Not only is the frame boxed, meaning super strong, but also every nut, bolt and fastener is fine machine threaded. So while virtually every American vehicle has coarse threads throughout and a junk C-channel frame with only the engine and transmissions having fine machine threads - bottom line is except for some exceptional rare American vehicles, like Early Ford Broncos and some Jeeps with fully boxed frames, nobody in the USA constructed 4x4's with as much engineering integrity as the Japanese back in the day, and no wonder since after being bombed into submission by Uncle Sam after WW2 they had things to prove as a National mission. Bottom line is the Japanese envisioned building their Toyota trucks with an integrity 2nd to none.
PAPERWORK:Clean California original title (from Santa Anna) is all ready to go. To soothe any buyer concerns I will pay to express mail or FedX overnight the title. Buyer can also overnight a cashiers check so long as it has notes with a phone number on who my banker can call during business to verify funds.
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