1984 Toyota Tercel as a Toad?
My mom purchased this car brand new and it has stayed in the family ever since. The engine/transmission were rebuilt about 100,000 miles ago, but it has basically been just a second car for about the last 10 years now, and it typically only gets used when the roads get really bad in the winter, or for trips to Home Depot when we don't really need to take the truck.
Since it only weighs about 2500#, which is about 1500# lighter than my other option, I figured it would make an easy to pull toad. It seats four with room in the back for hiking gear and/or the dogs which would be perfect for our needs. Besides that, I won't have to worry about rock chips on the 30-year old paint.
It has a selectable true 4-wheel drive (not to be confused with all-wheel drive on newer cars) and a 5-speed manual plus an additional "extra-low" forward gear that only works in 4-wheel drive. There is no neutral transfer case position, and no manual or autiomatic hubs.
Both Roadmaster and Blue Ox make towbar baseplates for this model, which led me to believe that this is a 4-down towable vehicle. The owner's manual says nothing about long distance towing, although it does warn that emergency towing is only allowed if no damage occured to any of the running gear and that the brakes won't have the stopping power with the engine off. So I talked to a Toyota dealer, and they would not recomend it. I also asked a transmission repair shop, and they said doing so could damage one of the gears. Because of the vehicle's age and rarity, I seriously have my doubts whether either of them really know for sure--they are probably just covering their backsides. I was looking through the repair manual, and noticed that this model transmission has an oil pump on the output shaft inside the rear extension housing, not sure what all it pumps oil to, but it looks like it pumps as long as the driveshaft is spinning.
--Has anyone seen or used these as toads before?
--Is there a listing that goes back into the 80's of towable vehicles?
--Anyone know of a good transmission shop that would know for sure?
Thanks for your help,
Kris
Since it only weighs about 2500#, which is about 1500# lighter than my other option, I figured it would make an easy to pull toad. It seats four with room in the back for hiking gear and/or the dogs which would be perfect for our needs. Besides that, I won't have to worry about rock chips on the 30-year old paint.
It has a selectable true 4-wheel drive (not to be confused with all-wheel drive on newer cars) and a 5-speed manual plus an additional "extra-low" forward gear that only works in 4-wheel drive. There is no neutral transfer case position, and no manual or autiomatic hubs.
Both Roadmaster and Blue Ox make towbar baseplates for this model, which led me to believe that this is a 4-down towable vehicle. The owner's manual says nothing about long distance towing, although it does warn that emergency towing is only allowed if no damage occured to any of the running gear and that the brakes won't have the stopping power with the engine off. So I talked to a Toyota dealer, and they would not recomend it. I also asked a transmission repair shop, and they said doing so could damage one of the gears. Because of the vehicle's age and rarity, I seriously have my doubts whether either of them really know for sure--they are probably just covering their backsides. I was looking through the repair manual, and noticed that this model transmission has an oil pump on the output shaft inside the rear extension housing, not sure what all it pumps oil to, but it looks like it pumps as long as the driveshaft is spinning.
--Has anyone seen or used these as toads before?
--Is there a listing that goes back into the 80's of towable vehicles?
--Anyone know of a good transmission shop that would know for sure?
Thanks for your help,
Kris
