Over the last couple of years I have been trying to locate fact based information on the Toyota Mojave edition trucks that were  released in the USA.  By fact based I mean documentation.   I had heard that there were both 2×4 and 4×4 versions were in the USA, but could not confirm this until I found the right person to contact at Toyota.  The pictures here in this post are all that Toyota USA has on the Mojave edition trucks for the USA release.   According to them there was not a Mojave 4×4 released in the USA.  The 2×4 Mojave edition trucks were a loaded SR5 truck with only a few extra SR5 options available.

A couple of months ago I found this wonderful set of dealer plates on EBay Australia.  I had never seen something like them.  Since one of my trucks is a 1981, they would be a perfect addition.  As you can see from the picture they came with the original dealer packaging.  The plates were stacked, so the one in the rear is perfect, while the one that was in front has faded slightly from sun and heat.  After they arrived I emailed the seller again asking if he had any old brochures, which he did.  He sent me the list and I was amazed.  We worked out a deal and I purchased everything he had.  All of these brochures had been in storage for close to 30 years, so they were in perfect condition.  I had been trying to find information on the 79-83 Toyota trucks in Australia for a while, so I was excited to get all of them at once.  I was also surprised that he had a Toyota Winnebago Trekker brochure in the grouping.  I know none of the Trekkers ended up in Australia, but apparently at least one of the brochures made it to a dealer. 

27 years, and today was the day. I stopped for the school bus. The Suburban did not. I looked at the school bus and wham! 27 years of rare original Mojave metal subdued the Suburban which veered off the corner of the box and ended up part way in the ditch. Sigh.

So now what? Here in Michigan there is no-fault insurance. Since I don’t have collision coverage on an “antique” truck it seems that I may have to pay for someone else’s mistake. Had it been an ordinary old pickup would have been bad enough, but this truck is “special”. Now I managed to pry out the old taillight housing and replace it with another spare I had laying around. But it looks horribly out of place. A body shop that I stopped at said they could replace the chrome Mojave taillight assembly, but I really wonder what the quality will be. They say they can bump out the crumpled metal, but I wonder how long it will last. And I wonder if I will be the one that will have to pay for all the damage, when I only stopped to make sure the kids could get on the bus safely.

As sad as this day was, I have to admit my amazement. Two tons of Suburban crashing into my old Toyota at 50-60 mph and, really, the damage was minimal. Truthfully there was more damage to the Suburban that my old truck. There is a cage that forms the housing around the taillight and it’s plain to see that held its own as the damage does not extend past it. The marker lens got scuffed up, the topper molding also got a rash, and the worst is the chrome tube bumper took a hit. I doubt there is any way to fix the bumper, but I can live with that. Looking at it in more detail it seems the thing to do would be to replace the fender skirt; that seems to be the part that is corrupted the most. Then the box panel would be bumped out to fit and refinished as new. I wonder if any of those body parts are still out there. For now I have to wait until the police report is finished and then I can see if anything else can be done to restore the Mojave back into shape. 5/18 is a dark day in SR5 history.

Looking around for some other stuff I came across this in-dash 8-track player that I bought a long time ago. It’s doubtful I will ever find a use for it, but it’s a useful reminder of the days gone by when Toyota drivers sang along to YMCA or the theme from “Rocky” while cruising the boulevard on Saturday night. This unit is quite similar to the cassette player in that it hooks up to the radio with it’s own amp and power controls. The oddball 8-tracks I got include this blank tape which still has a price sticker of $2.79. Seems like alot to spend on a tape back when minimum wage was close to that amount. Still, I can remember my first car had an 8-track player and it was a high value feature. Fortunately time have changed though- back then you had to buy albums you really liked, cause there’s no fast forward or reverse, so usually you had to listen to it from start to end.

This unit has a part number of 08690-00280, but what does the Gates Rubber Company have to do with it?

A while ago I found a frame for sale on Craigslist. Don’t know how a “rust free” frame still exists in Michigan but there it was. A diamond in the rough and the price was right. I won’t go into detail about the experience of getting the thing home.

So anyway after getting it into the garage I was able to evaluate my new purchase. The 35×14.5 Thornbirds just didn’t look like a good match to me so after posting a quick ad in Craigslist they were gone and half my money was returned. After careful consideration I had no plans to use the 4″ lift springs so another ad brought home the rest of my original investment. I now had a free frame but it was reduced to the bare necessities. Instead of being able to roll it around now I had to pick it up and carry it.

At this point I don’t know if  I was glad to have it or not. Over 12 bags or sand and 3 weeks of spare time spent blasting all the rust off the frame. Slowly it was beginning to clean up like new. The only bad part of the frame was the front crossmember which had been beat to death, rusted, and had a huge pipe welded to it. There was no way to save it, so it had to be replaced.

Not an easy task, but I had to get the job done. A suitable replacement part was extracted from another frame I had. I decided to brace the frame to make sure when the crossmember was removed that the frame didn’t spring out or bow in. Finally the crossmember was cut out and then the inside welds were cut with a die grinder. After each channel was cleaned out the new crossmember was ready to go in place. It was a tight fit and it was all I could do to beat it into the correct position.

After double checking all of the joints were securely welded. It was a bit of a job to get it done- probably took about 2 1/2 hours. But the new part is much better than the old one and now I can move forward with sanding and painting the frame. Still not sure what to do with it, but having a nice rust free frame lying around cant hurt- just in case.