The Original Tuffy

                                                 This is the truck that started it all, the first Tuffy.

    Pretty basic in 1988! I had just installed a  3" JT Body lift. Tough Country add-a-leafs were already on in the rear. The stock front torsion bars are tensioned, raising the front (and making a very stiff ride), but higher! I was running 31" BFG All-Terrains with 15" chrome modular wheels.

 I bought this 1986 5-spd., carburaeted, Deluxe model 4wd Xtra-Cab, brand new in 1986.

I had it 15 years and put 280,000 miles on the odometer.

In that time I had installed 4:88's front and rear with Detroit locker in the rear. SAW torsion bars up front and Downey springs for the rear. I added a 3" JT body lift, Mountain Lips, (to cover the gap created at the frame because of the body lift) Persson dis-connects, and Ranchos shocks all around. Rolling on 33x15 BFG MT's, protected by a Smittybilt interior cage, A Lecarra steering wheel, Tommy Two Tone after market horns, Optima battery, LCE performance head w/ big valves and high lift cam, headers, performance exhaust and a Black Magic electric fan. Hey, I did have it 15 years.

This was my daily driver. I had it loaded with tools during the week, and on the weekends I'd pull the tools and load the camping gear. We did everything as a family in the Toyota. Whenever we'd go somewhere, we took the truck. When we went to Grandma's, went camping, went wheeling, or went to work.

The truck was very durable. A solid performer, reliable and rugged.

Our daughter named him Tuffy.

I really miss this truck.

I wanted to buy a new F-150 in 2000, so I sold Tuffy to some kid who couldn't even drive a stick.

It didn't take me long to realize I couldn't wheel my new F-150. I needed something I could wheel with.

Under the pretense of finding cheap transportation for my teenage daughter, I brought home the little gray truck.

And so began the build up of Tuffy II.

By 1998, old Tuffy was well equipped and ready for any adventure.

Big Bear in the San Bernadino Mountains of California.

This is Los Coyotes.

This had to be late 90's, around the last century sometime.

This looks to be Dangerous Road. Warner Springs, Ca., Los Coyotes Indian Reservation.

This shot is from a day on the Deep Creek Trail out of Arrowhead Lake, Ca. You can't get that kind of ground clearance with a straight axle.

           Check out more from Tuffy on the Red Mountain Trial Run.

                                                                  back to build ups