Hey all, being a newbie and all, I figured this was the best place to post my question.

I'm only 18, and regularly go 4wd'ing in my dad's pajero and most of my mates own Hilux's.

I was recently offered a 4Runner (89 model) off my uncle for $500. He is loaded so doesnt care about money and it is in good nick, well maintained.

The only problem with it is that I was aiming for a Trayback/ute when I bought my first 4x4. I already own a Subaru forester which set me back $13,000, so i'm not looking to pay much more than $2000.

So, my question after all that is, is it possible to CHEAPLY convert a 4runner into a trayback/ute? A mate told me it was possible but i'd need an engineers ceretificate to make it roadworthy and it'd be a bit costly. Even if it wasn't full time, because I have noticed that there is a canopy on the back of most older models that looks somewhat removable. The main reason is that I hunt alot, and here in Australia a Ute is the way to go.

Anyways, any help would be appreciated, and apologies in advance if I wasn't meant to post here/mention other cars, haha.

Is a trayback a pickup truck (cab and chassis with a separate bed)?
If so, I can't see any easy or cheap way to tear it apart and make it a separate cab with some sort of bed and still have it roadworthy.
But since the canopy is removeble on the 84-89 4Runners, you could remove it and build a partition behind the front seats to create a "cab". Then remove the rear seat and build up the floor to be even with the cargo area floor. Toyota actually had an insert that bolted in place of the rear seat to do just that. The rear seat was sort of an option at first.

Yeah, we call "pickups" traybacks in Aussieland.

Thanks heaps for the info, still undecided as to what I am going to do though, SO many choices :/