This ’95 Yota Pickup Looks Stock... Until You See What’s Hiding Inside

The ‘95 Toy Pickup sitting in the rugged landscape of Nuevo León, Mexico isn’t your typical beater truck. Luis has built something special here - a sleeper rig that looks stock from 50 feet but packs serious capability underneath. When you dig into the details, this thing becomes a masterclass in thoughtful modifications that prioritize function over flash.

Luis flew from Houston to San Diego to snag this truck for $4,500, and it wasn’t even close to what you see today. The original bed was trashed, so he bought a second truck just to swap beds. That’s commitment right there. He had specific requirements that would make any Toy enthusiast nod in approval - single cab short bed, blue interior, those little triangle windows, locking hubs, the bulletproof 22RE engine, and it had to be a ‘94 or ‘95 for the taillights. Most importantly, it needed three pedals.

The blue interior was non-negotiable for Luis. He wanted something different from the sea of gray interiors you see everywhere. It’s nostalgic in a way that’ll hit different 10-15 years from now. Finding good condition SR5 4Runner seats in blue proved impossible, so he kept the bench seat and had it reupholstered to accommodate the dual transfer case setup. That’s where things get interesting.

Luis lowers low range with a reduction box off a mid-2000s Sequoia. The factory transfer case multiplies torque by 2.28 in low range, and adding the second reduction box multiplies it again by 2.28, giving you a final ratio of 5.19 to 1. That’s crawling gear that’ll pull tree stumps. The beauty is how clean the installation looks with OEM knobs for both units.

The suspension tells another story of careful planning. Luis went full Old Man Emu but learned some lessons along the way. He didn’t really need to replace the torsion bars, and now he’s dealing with a slightly stiffer ride up front. To compensate, he added a 1" ball joint spacer and backed off the torsion bars as much as possible. Out back, he pulled one leaf to soften things up and lower the stance as the springs settled over time.

Gearing got attention too. The truck came with 4.10s, but Luis stepped up to 4.88 gears when he was running smaller tires. Now with the 285/75R16s, it’s closer to stock ratio but still overgeared for better off-road performance. Those BFG KO2s are about as big as you can go and still fit a full-size spare underneath - something Luis verified the hard way.

The electronic lockers front and rear are Eaton units controlled through a clean V-switch setup. Luis originally wanted to run everything through OEM-style switches to keep that stock appearance, but cable routing became a nightmare. The front locker required some modification to fit properly, which seems to be a common theme with these applications.

One of the coolest mods has to be the removable rear window from Breezer Windows. Luis actually had to send dimensions because they didn’t make one for single cab trucks at the time. Now he’s got the perfect setup for talking to friends riding in the bed during those river runs in Mexico.

The attention to detail extends everywhere. All the locks match - doors, ignition, gas tank, and even the blue 4Runner glove box that actually has a lock unlike the factory setup. The front grille is from a ‘89-‘91 truck because Luis preferred that TRD-style look with the Toy lettering instead of the emblem. Those beefy recovery hooks came from a second-generation Tundra and got painted to match.

Under the hood, the 22RE remains mostly stock. The one addition that makes those long desert hauls bearable is a thumb throttle setup that acts as makeshift cruise control. Set it at 2,500 rpm and cruise at 55 mph through 14 hours of Mexican desert without your ankle cramping up.

The audio system got the full treatment with Alpine CarPlay head unit, 6x9 speakers, and custom MDF boxes to house tweeters in the factory 4" locations. An 8" subwoofer in a custom box replaced the original 10" setup for better low-end response in the smaller enclosure.

Luis learned the hard way about using both transfer cases on steep downhills. The combination of low range and the reduction box means you’re using the axles to slow the truck instead of brakes. Hit a slide-and-grab situation with all that torque multiplication, and something’s going to break. He cracked a CV axle that way!

This build represents about six months of COVID project time, taking a 240,000-mile truck and making it better than new. Luis admits it’s bad for your health doing everything at once because one modification leads to another. Replace the door panel, might as well do the audio. Do the audio, might as well do the carpet. Do the carpet, might as well add sound deadening. You know how it goes.

The result is a truck that looks stock until you start digging into the details. It’s capable enough to handle serious terrain but refined enough for those long highway stretches to get there. Luis has put 30,000 miles on it since the rebuild, including plenty of 110 degree desert crossings, with minimal issues. That’s the Toy reliability we all know and love, enhanced with thoughtful modifications that actually improve the experience instead of just looking cool.

You can follow Luis and his sweet Toy Pickup on Instagram @95YotaPickup to see more of this build in action.