Greetings from Arizona!

As of this morning, I'm now an owner of a 1983 Long Bed 5-speed Pickup in addition to my rescued 1989 Van! I've recently started to gain interest in older Toyotas to the beauty of simplicity of their design/intended function, and as such I found an offer I absolutely could not pass up today; an immaculate Pickup. Technically, I believe I'm the 2nd owner (Depending on how you look at it) since the previous owner had it for a couple weeks under an open title, and the original owner had it since new within the valley (backed up with original paperwork and marks from the dealer back in the day!) I'm in love with this truck, and it being in Excellent condition makes me really want to preserve it as I'm doing to my other cars in addition to learning how to maintain it/driving a manual as a daily for the first time in my life. I don't plan on doing any strenuous working like in construction but rather lighter stuff moving so everything will be pampered of course.

Of course, not everything is perfect even when it seems like it. As I'm practicing driving with it and some tips from the previous owner, the A/C system will need some retrofitting as R12/whatever refrigerant these little trucks used back then will need to be converted to R134a. Unfortunately, some goober stripped the tensioner adjuster bolt which meant the A/C pulley had to be sacrificed to keep a tensioned belt so that will need to be set straight, in addition to new belts since they're pretty cracked. Other than this little dilemma, everything else on this truck works as it should (aside some squeaky brakes but somewhere someone mentioned lubricating something with the brakes so I'll check that again or maybe someone here can enlighten me on that) including the factory AM/FM and Cassette system; It is quite touchy for some reason as the speakers are temperamental when adjusting the volume on the Radio and Cassette system but it still works so it's not my main concern.

Body is excellent aside the front right corner of the front bumper getting a slight love tap and the rear left of the rear bumper also having a small love tap but everything is still alright!
Another hopefully small thing is the bottom shroud of the steering column was entirely obliterated somehow; Don't like dangling wires and bits so that will be my first fix to do on this truck!

Other than that, it's perfect! Will need to do an oil change since it looks quite black and runny and probably address an occasional clunk sometimes when I shift into Reverse from the shifter.

Anyways, hopefully I'll learn a thing or two from here a nd keep my little truck in splendid shape!

 

Welcome aboard, clean truck

 

Thank you! It is quite an honor to own a truck of this age in such great stock condition!

 

Quick Update on my understanding of the A/C Situation: It is not any stripped bolt of any kind that has led to no A/C but rather the fact it simply needs to be converted from R12 to R13a/R134a (Whichever is correct I can't remember which it is) and a recharge and it should be working. The compressor does kick in and the RPMs do jump up so it should be smooth sailing for this conversion.

However, I was reading through some posts about the A/C system and conversions and one user said to run a fan to the compressor because the lines could blow from the difference of refrigerant. Is this true or maybe I read it wrong and I'm overthinking... R12 to R13a conversion on my Van works fine but makes it notably slower accelerating (Probably because they slapped a forklift engine on a 2 1/2 ton box on wheels ) but man do I need A/C in this Arizona sunshine and from a heatwave bringing it to the highest it's been in a while; 115 F degrees!!!

If anyone could enlighten me, I'll make a proper thread for it dedicated in the 1976-1983 section. Thanks in advance!

 

I changed mine out a while ago, what you must do:
1) change the drier
2) flush out the compressor, you should remove it & do on the work bench
3) add the new oil to the compress ( you can find on line the correct amount)
4) now you must vacuum the whole system,( I bought a vacuum pump at Harbor Freight)
5) Now you add the refrigerant, using a AC gauge set, ( I ordered on line),put a fan in front of the radiator & engine running

I'll add, a year later I had to do all again as needed a new compressor

This is why cost is high into a shop

 

This'll be my last reply here as to not get too off-track for the thread category, but do you have any detailed instructions on doing that? Never done any A/C system servicing in my life as I only know the bare basics + some loose knowledge gained from some youTube videos; I also have a 1983 FSM (Factory Service Manual) i could use as a reference if needed. Will also post a separate thread in the 1979-1983 discussion to keep up with the topic linked here. Thanks in advance TRUCK ACTION Now all I need is some time to kill!