Howdy all,
Let me introduce Roland, a gift from a great friend, and an adventurer extraordinaire.

Steve here from central Alaska, and my friend Roland.
Meet Roland, an 85 Toyota pickup (HiLux?) North American in origin. Roland is a long wheelbase-7 foot bed 4x4 with a 22R- 2.4L?, 5 speed manual transmission and about 189K miles on the clock. When I got Roland he was resting in a barn in Montana, waiting for the next call to the road.

Here is Roland arriving in Ak, hauled by his big brother- the Great White Bison. I trailered him up north due to some(likely unfounded concerns over his condition, and due to shear lack of cargo space for the trip) better to be safe that stuck in the Yukon- I really like the Yukon, it’s very beautiful up there. It’s just not the best place to break down.



More on Roland later.

 

Haha, howdy Steve nice p/u! Welcome to the site bud, you guys still got 80's toyotas up there!? Oh, barns..nice ^_^

Yeah, why they didn't call it the 24R I'll never understand; keep us updated on this great adventure!!

-Aa

 

Thanks, there are still a few around around up here. For quite awhile we had an infestation of grey extra cab 86-88 s. You waved at everyone you saw, all my friends had them. I had a 74 HiLux at the time. Roland I actually picked up in Montana.

Here’s the build thread I started on Tacomaworld:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-85-roland.650906/#post-27909998

I’ll work on getting this fleshed out here on this site sometime during the upcoming winter in my ‘free’ time

 

It will take awhile before I get enough time to set up the pics chronologically. But I will add a few pics now to get some posts built up.
Roland mainly prowls around south central Ak, not too far from home due to some mechanical concerns but they are slowly being resolved over the last few years, replaced the engine this year, next up will be front brakes- rotors are terribly warped, which makes braking an interesting event with 4 substantial passes on the windy road (that is the weekly commute), to negotiate. I think I will opt for a kit to swap in vented Tacoma rotors and spindles etc, while rebuilding the knuckles. This will help with a future upgrade to 16” wheels. Bigger vented brakes and load range E tires for the win! Which will likely lead to re-gearing sometime in the future.

Mostly Roland was/is my commuter rig while I worked out at the end of the road in Denali NP. Currently the road out west is closed due to a climate change related landslide, with any luck they should get a bridge built to crops the affected area in the next few years.


Roland on the morning drive out to work- 2hrs down, 1 more to go about 0530-ish:


Roland doing a job he dislikes(another reason for lower gears)- pulling the trailer out for the first shift of the summer:


Roland getting some suspension work:


Roland post rattle can paint job 1.0 at a friend’s spa:


Roland chillin with the big boys at the rest stop:

 

A few shots of Roland roaming the local area:


Heading out to work passing the eagles’ nest corner, the scene of a big landslide 2-3 weeks prior to this photo. From 2019 I think


Chillin out in front of the Ranger station after some touch up priming on the cab.


post priming and spring rehab- built up the rear springs with some add a leafs from a 79’ 3/4 ton( or so it said on the title).


rehabbed springs prior to installing.


adding some switches for some road lights.


Roland going in for open heart surgery in the tarp shop.
Yep no garage so tarp shop it was.


getting the long block ready to install.


22R wrestling 101


Pretty close now, just some plumbing and wiring to sort out


now for a few adjustments….

 

Nice update! What's the setup Arctic?

**Lookin good fs; this was a rebuilt motor you put in, weber and headers? Lookin fresh def!! **

 

Just tweaking the timing and carb adjustments at this stage, and of course there is everyone’s favorite bleed the damn clutch slave cylinder. Had to get down to the states to finish up a remodel, and start the winter move, after selling the farmhouse, so Roland is hibernating now

 

The engine is a base 22R with a stage ll cam and a 32 Weber with an Offenhauser manifold, desmogged, and a Trail Gear Rock Ripper header with an LCE Pro Flow catback SS exhaust.

I think I need a 2” lift shackle for the rear springs as the clearance between the last hanger and the stock shackle is pretty tight about <1\4”:


After I save up some cash, I’ll tackle the front rotor swap, which paves the way for upgrading to 16” wheels- it’s getting harder to find a good light truck tire in 15”.
Next would be upgrade to a GM alternator and address the rear suspension maybe with a progressive Icon AAL pack or go with an OME CS010R spring pack with the OME AAL. It would be nice to soften up the ride some, it takes about 6-8 5 gal water jugs in addition to the tool box and extra can of gas to keep it from bouncing your teeth out, I guess I must get getting old. It rides rougher than the F450 I drive at work.
After that replace the dash cluster with one from an SR5, and replace the driver’s side window regulator. Then go fishing, maybe?

 

Welcome aboard

 

Thanks, great to be among some old school Toyota enthusiasts.

,

Roland is a fine rig, tailor made for roaming the interior. A great working platform.

 

Oof, that is tight; could you maybe loosen and slide the hanger clamp? Or even worse, take the last hanger off bend it just slightly it'll keep everything where it wants to be but give you more clearance on that shackle!!

It should just install with some wiggle room, no?

Nice p/u, thx for the nice content of ur sweet setup! Fine rig keep it coming

 

Yeah, I might try bending it a little. I did try to slide the clamp but that is as far as I can get it, while it is pretty solid, I would definitely like some more clearance.
The SS exhaust is a kit so, it’s somewhat adjustable. One could try to take the last section to a muffler shop and get them to bend it some more. The closest shop is 140 miles away so that would take some serious scheduling.
The muffler already has the outlet offset to the driver’s side. I also need to take into account spare tire clearance, especially with a planned upgrade to 235/85 R16 tires=32”. At least until I can get a flatbed designed and built with a rack over the cab (where the spare and some other stuff will ride. Then maybe an aux fuel tank in the spare area…

It kinda sketches me out having the tailpipe between the spring and frame, not that much of an issue with the stock exhaust but the 2-1/4” is bit chubby. Going with the lift shackle looks to do a couple things-
1) provide some more vertical clearance
2) also give a bit of lift in the timeframe prior to upgrading to new springs. We get raped on freight up north, so I might even try Alaska Spring - they make their own. Might do a price comparison even if it is the same as ARB springs(which I really like how they ride on my Tacoma) I’d rather spend the coin locally then give anything extra to the crooks at UPS.
3) kind of eliminates the Toyota draggy butt syndrome.

It does seem to hold pretty solid as it is now even with a decent amount of weight-600# or so and hauling a small trailer with the atv on it. So I am not concerned about immediate damage.

I have to go through my pictures on the PC for some when I was hauling gravel up to the gunnels with the truck, definitely squatted there and of course wasn’t very happy with that load at all.

 

Tracked down a few more photos of Roland in the first couple years he came up to Ak.
Roland getting the rattle can makeover:


Semi final product, masked :


Brought it inside as it was a bit cold for painting-



It came out pretty good, unfortunately we should have painted it all inside and let it warm up first. as the next pics will demonstrate:


A bit of a drag forcing me to try to sand it and re-primer it for another go. That's a tale for another post, sans photos

 

All this kinda stuff happened during Roland's first summer, the molting happened after the winter. Due to a few other things that happened over the winter, I decided to not leave the truck topless for a couple reasons.
1) a goofy tiaga chicken (spruce grouse) flew into the back window and broke the slider
2) it's a pain in the neck (and back) to have to dig the ice and snow out of the bed to get ready to go to work when you are in a very tight time crunch to go to work.

 

Roland's stock suspension test
Well after the painting event and a few trips around the interior, it was time to get some domestic chores done, gravel on the foot path out to the cabin:


a little bit of a squat....


It didn't look that bad from the back. I think Roland prefers gravel to be hauled with a dump truck..



A bit of fall snow after unloading the previous evening...


Since the horn didn't work... new euro air horn and some road lights, since i had to dismantle the front grill area...



Behold a good off week of chores done..

 

Getting ready for a week at the old Kantishna mining district’s west end outdoor spring shop:


Loading up for the work shift, ready for the topper



Jacked up and blocked up springs removed and dismantled


Hopefully I will need a couple 4x4s to slide it back on




Waiting for the springs



Ready to install



Looks good empty



I wonder how stiff the ride will be



Liking the look so far

Turned out to be real stiff, replaced the shocks with some Skyjackers and that helped but it still needs weight to smooth it out some. Good for now, onto some other items

 

A few pre AlCan loading pics are next up, had to use the laptop, it has the resized pics on it.

Last grade in Montana for Roland




First stage of loading...



Taking it all in, and trying to figure out where to put it....



Like any rig that has sat for a few years there were a few minor issues-seriously warped brake rotors and fuel pump immediately noticeable at this time. The local parts store didn't have one, but they did have an electric one, good enough for loading and to use as a back up



View towards the west



Strapped down heading for town



Stopped at the farm supply for some extra chains and binders, the AlCan is like a paved motocross track up in the Yukon, straps won't do unless you have the ones for the tires, even then the body needs to be secured, I slightly bent a trailer deck on my first haul up the AlCan earning that little pearl of wisdom.


This combo worked fairly well

 

Roland waking from a long winter’s nap:
Roland on the prowl for some Thai food:

 

Well this summer most of the vehicle work was on the Tacoma, rear brakes, axle swap, replaced the POS Chumpian radiator, among other minor things.
Overall Roland held up well, I had to schedule the rear springs for next summer along with a nagging electrical issue.

It’s a random charging light issue, sometimes it would drive to work ok and then not start or even click(no idiot lights either) but by the end of the day it was fine. Other times it would work good- 14.4A then system amps would drop to 12.7 and stay that way for a few minutes,( it’s a short commute- 12 miles) then back up to 14.4

I installed a usb charging plug with amp readout(switchable) while I was installing some 4” HID moose lights. So I could monitor the situation. It got progressively worse near the end of the summer when I would need headlights to drive to work in the morning of course.

I replaced the ground cable to the block-motor mount, and alternator that helped a bit- no intermittent charge light activity- then it just plain crapped out(no dash lights, charge lights, or even idiot lights) over in Healy on the way to get some more lumber and Roland got to spend the night in the hardware parking lot.

So I’m thinking refresh all of the ground wires/cables, and look into the key switch and see if there’s something broken in there. Might go for an old school starter solenoid and upgrade the wiring a bit, not sure at this point. Looks like lots of research to do this winter.

Any advice is gratefully welcomed. I drove the Tacoma outside to america, took my time now I’m waist deep moving, downsizing and new barn construction here in southern Mt. I’ll post some pictures when I get some quality time with the iPad- you know ‘free time’
Happy Holidays to all.