Those trucks are great to tinker with (and definitely a lot cheaper than the Dmax). Sucks about the motor ordeal though but you win some and lose some. The bouncing speedometer can be easily repaired. Its been a while since I fixed mine on my '77 but I believe there are two little fingers than run close to a magnet that spins. My fingers were starting to hit the magnet/rotor causing it to bounce. Just bent them slightly and fixed :thumb:
If your going for a good cheap trail rig I would definitely suggest doing the 52" spring swap like whats mentioned above. Can be done for basically free and it flexes WAY more than any lift springs out there:
This was taken before I put in the rear 64" springs which is still in process.