Do you remember the Mickey Thompson stadium off road racing series that travelled across the nation bringing short course off road racing to thousands of fans? The late 80′s and early 90′s brought us new technology in suspension design that shocked the world. Take a look at the former Ivan Stewart driven Toyota off road race truck built by Cal Wells and the crew at PPI.



The truck is lovingly being restored by Allen Russell, aka RaceHacker. The truck was built before bypass shocks were invented. It was also built in a time period when rising rate suspension was first being used on dirt bikes. Toyota (PPI) use “A LOT” of rising rate suspension design on this truck. Front suspension uses triple rate torsion bars on the lower arms & a single “bump stop” torsion bar on the top arm. All stages are adjustable and many different diameter (rate) torsion bars are available. The Bilstein shocks are mounted in a lay down, cross over fashion. The front suspension is capable of 18+” of wheel travel, but is limited to 16″.



If you thought the lay down, crossover shock mounting on the front was interesting, check out the rear suspension! Cantilever arms on rollers, bump control on shock extension, dual torsion bars..strange, but it worked! The rear suspension is also “limited” to around 16″, but can get much more. Toyota had limited the suspension on the truck to get it to fly through the air level. Rear suspension uses a cantilever front arm that extends (pulls) the shocks on wheel up travel & compresses the shocks on wheel drop (normal rebound). Complete opposite of how most suspensions function. The cantilever arm also uses a torsion bar for the spring. The rear arms also use torsion bars for an additional spring. As the axle cycles forward, the spring rate is increased at a rising rate as the axle pulls on the arm/linkage forward. The cantilever arms rest on top of the axle between a set of rollers. As the wheels compress, the roller roll up the arm changing the rate (rising) of the shocks and torsion spring). Confused yet? Perhaps the photos below will help you out!



We hope to keep everyone updated on the restoration of this famous Toyota off road race truck. Follow along for future updates! Via Race Dezert

Bring A Trailer has been featuring some awesome 4×4′s for sale lately, like the 1969 Ford Bronco that we featured yesterday. Today, they brought us this mint 1988 Toyota SR5 Extra Cab pickup with only 8289 original miles! The original owners son is selling it for his father for health reasons. While you may have some sticker shock after hearing the $12,500 asking price, it seems very reasonable when you consider that most 1988 Toyota trucks have a rusted out frame and body or have been modifed and pounded on. This even has the original dash mat! There is more information on the Yotatech site and the owner has a ton more photos here.

Do you remember the Cal Wells prepared Toyota factory off road race trucks in the Mickey Thompson MTEG stadium races? We are looking for more photos of the trucks. Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon, Butch Acerio and others. Can you help us?

While the PPI prepared factory Toyota race trucks are often associated with Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, this one is driven by Frank “Butch” Arciero Jr. Any idea on what the light on the passengers windshield frame is for? I assume it is a light?