Hello everyone! I just bought this truck yesterday and wanted to join the forum since it was helpful beforehand and also researching some issues. It’s a 1982 2WD manual transmission. Currently it runs really poorly so I’m trying to figure out what it needs. I want to make it a good reliable daily driver. It has a poor quality repaint that I may replace with some Monstaliner down the road. I’m in northern Colorado if any of you are nearby.
Also I’ll need new tires soon. Any suggested stock 14” replacements? Bonus for classic looking white letters and also for kinda inexpensive.
Welcome to the forum. most tires for 14s aint to expensive, might run you $200. do you have emissions testing in Colorado?
Thanks! We do have emissions testing. I doubt it will pass now as is. I’m missing a muffler and tailpipe too which is required (still have the catalytic converter). I’ll have to get a temp tag on Monday.
Damn i was going to say just desmog it and itl simplify the engine but with emissions in the mix idk how much you can do away with
Welcome! I'm glad you found this '82 Toyota. I'm the original owner of my truck and it currently has 301K miles. Once you get things dialed in, it will be a extremely dependable vehicle. My truck is still very fun to drive and I enjoy the ocassional "thumbs-up" on the road. Two months before I graduated from HS in June, 1983, I saved enough money for my 1st set of BF Goodrich Radial TA's, so when it comes to raised white lettering, I'm in favor of BFG's. They are quite pricey these days, so I just found a Galaxy R1 by Vitour. Toyota gave us 195-78/14 and the tire option would have been a 205-70/14 raised white lettered Bridgestone. This might meet your price range. Check it out here:https://www.performanceplustire.com...r-tires/galaxy-r1-5/ty:Tire/so:prpop:ty:Tire/
205/70 is a big ass tire. 195/65 or a 185 tire will look better especially if you lower it a little i have 175/70's on my 14s and they look huge
You are correct! 70 series tires are quite tall. Toyota offered a tire package upgrade using the 205-70/14 Bridgestone Steel Belted Radial as referenced in the sales brochure. Let's wait to hear back from "1982" - newbie on what direction he wants to go with tire size. Luckily for me, I'm running 55 series tires and they are perfect in the wheel well as well as for quick acceleration.
I've got a post waiting for moderator approval (maybe since I'm new and quoted the post with the website link?), but I was curious for more info about the tire sizes. Are you running 55 series on 14" wheels, or are those 15s? The quick acceleration is definitely a pro. I know this isn't going to be fast, but no need to overly slow it down with big heavy tires. I'm planning to keep stock height--I have a Suburban 4x4 for camping and such, but I'd like to maintain the ability to drive Forest Service roads and get to trailheads. And hopefully be close-ish to the speedometer reading. I'd debated getting some used 15" wheels if it opened up more tire options, but if I find good tires I will likely just clean up the stock steelies. Thanks for all the good info everyone! I'll do some searching around the site also. And I'll probably start a build/project thread soon to organize and document what I'm doing and get advice as I go.
My 55 series tires are on 15X7 aluminum wheels as pictured above. The 14X6 steelies are not bad and they look classy, but they are just heavy. If you are going to drive some forest service roads, then I would use a 60 series 14" tire. It's not a low profile tire, but yet it's not a too tall of a tire. Depending on your budget, you can find some 15" wheels. In my opinion, clean up the steelies. Btw, what tire size are on your truck now?
Right now it has 205/75r14 so a bit big. If I replace wheels I’ll probably get something from a parts yard or part-out so pretty cheap. But I’m planning to take some steel wool to these wheels to get them cleaned up and probably use them.
Got new tires finally. After debating a bunch of options, I ended up buying Barum Brillantis 2 from Discount Tire. It was their cheapest tire in the sizes I was looking at, but has pretty good reviews and should meet my needs fine. 195/70/14 so slightly under stock. Wheel wells look a little empty after the 205/75s that were on it (date code from 2009 on the old ones!). Here’s the truck doing some work today:
