Dennis Hawn: '89 Toyota Pickup

I purchased my truck in February of 1997. It was as stock as it could get; 1989 Toyota pickup, 22RE motor with no lift and small tires. When I first started building my truck I didn't know anything about four wheeling. I just wanted it to look cool. Then one of the guys I worked with took me wheeling and I was hooked .

The first thing I did was max out all of my credit cards. Since I was still in the Air Force and not making much money, I got a 4inch lift, 33 inch tires and new bumpers. I just thought I had the best truck until one day I went wheeling at Fort Hood with a guy named Morris Falk in a little 'Zuki that could drive all over my truck. He told me about lockers and gears and showed me how to drive a little and that put me in a whole new frame of mind. So, what did I do? I got another credit card and maxed that one out too.

I purchased a front and rear locker and 5.29 gears. It was great. I loved my truck. I though it was perfect. It stayed that way for about a year or so. I started to run harder trails, which opened my eyes to a lot more mods that could really help me out.

By that time I was out of the Air Force and making a little more money, so I jumped right in to more modifications. First I decided that my departure angle was really bad, so I bobbed the bed 14.25 inches with some help from some friends. It took about two days. About two months later I thought to myself that the front-end travel wasn't enough. Once again, with some help from some friends, I cut off the independent front suspension and put in a solid axle.

At the same time, I figured, I may as well do the rear-end, too. I relocated the rear shocks and added a track bar. At that point, my gears were still too high. My friend, Todd Hoffmaster and I both ordered Marlin Crawler dual transfer cases, which brought my crawl ratio to 109:1, which feels perfect to me. For now, I am done. Find out more about Dennis' Toyota here