I bought this Trekker back in 1998. At the time, I was in school at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, OK. I drove my 47’ Willy’s down from Northern California (that was not an ideal road trip rig) and I found this Trekker on a lot just down the road from school. I decided to sell the Willys and buy the Trekker. In 2001, I moved to Idaho for a job, and in 2003 I sold the Trekker to buy a new (to me) Jeep TJ, ‘97. It was fine, but I regretted having sold the Trekker. For years, periodically I would look online for Trekkers - either total trash, or very built, and expensive.
My wife and I moved a couple times and found ourselves back in Idaho. In 2016, I was at work, and my wife sent me a text with pics of impound fees for a blue Toyota truck. This was the furthest thing from my mind. I assured my wife I didn’t buy something without her knowing. While I called the Police dept., my wife went to the impound yard only to find my Trekker, still with my University parking sticker in the window! The person I sold it to, had abandoned it.
I went to the DMV to find I was still the registered owner. So, the Trekker came back to me and I’m currently trying to rebuild it. To say the least, I am super excited about this build, but still a rookie mechanic. I decided to swap in the fuel injected version of my 22R (22RE with only 65K miles on it) out of a Toyota Dolphin for $500, as the original 22R motor was bad. At this point, I realized I also needed a transmission and Transfer case. I was able to source a L50 or 52, for $100, plus the original core (hopefully to be Marlin Build). I found “Stealth Custom F5s” (in white) and some BFG MT’s to wrap them in. The truck still needs seats (the original driver seat is trashed), replacement floorboards, and of course there are many more wishes for the Trekker Build.
