The value of older toyotas depends on the eyes of the buyer. As mentioned, they seem to sell for more in the north, where an unrusted early truck is rare.. And in CA, where an old truck that can pass smog is rare.
Outside of that, the things that are going to determine it's value:

1) How does it look? How it looks is probably the most important resale price factor.
2) How well is it built?
a) A "performance" motor that isn't properly machined, setup correctly, and put together right is junk. The vast majority of performance rebuilds I see are crapola - people spend $150 for a cam, but don't machine the bottom end. A good rebuild should cost $400-$800 in machine work alone. No receipts for the work? Walk away.
b) Gears aren't right for the tires. This is an indication of how well the truck is setup
c) Transmission work - Early models had crappy transmissons. Their bearings are small and they'll fail relatively quickly. The same rules of engine "rebuild" apply to transmissions - hard to tell if it's done right.
d) It's easy to get a toyota to sit 6" higher. It's expensive and time consuming to get it 6" hire, have the pinion angles correct, the alignment right, and the proper amount of flex. The high steer alone should cost over $500... Watch out for a "budget" lift.

The only exterior damage i noticed was some rust on the bed, im gonna look a lot closer once the motors in and i meet him again. The transmission was swapped with an 86 yota, i guess they are stronger. The rebuild looks legit and him and his mechanic seem to know what they are doing. As far as receipts, im not sure but i would imagine there would be at least some for the parts so that i will look into. Ive been thinking about this trade 24/7 trying to make up my mind and i know if i keep the K5 it will never get driven, but on the other hand, i still dont want to lose money.

to me its not about losing money.If I was making decisions based on good financial judgement I probably never would have bought my truck to start with.I will never get anywhere close to what I have in it if I try to sell it.I firmly believe old Toyota trucks are about the best trucks ever made.I would not sell my truck for twice what its worth ,just too much blood, sweat and time in it.Asking most of these guys if they would trade a chevy for an 83 Toyota is like asking a dog if it is hungry.Its not the fastest truck, its not the strongest truck,its not the prettiest truck , but to me its the best truck on or off the road.oh yea my vote is for the Toy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

Changing gears is as easy as pulling the third members and taking them to a shop to have them swap out the gears. It should be about 1.5hrs of bench labor per differential, so somewhere around $300 for labor, and about $500 for new ring and pinions and install kits. A lot of time you can find used 3rd members for about $300, more if they have a locker installed. Davez Offroad has 3rds starting at $349 plus shipping. The 4.38's wont be bad for a while, but you should look into either swapping gears or running smaller tires if you want to keep your clutch in good shape and maintain 20+ mpgs.

Steering may or may not be a problem. The stock push pull steering is usually good up to 3-4 inches of susp. lift, so if the lift is a combo of body lift and springs, you should be OK.

The high steer involves installing a IFS power steering box and new steering rods, it replaces the oem push-pull steering, and moves the steering components to above the axle out of harms way. It isn't a necessity(though a lot feel it is after installing it), it just makes the truck nicer to drive, less bump steer and wander.

If you do trade, the gears/steering isn't something that has to be done right away, just added costs to think about in the long term, especially the gears. You might use the cost of the gears to get some cash out of the Toy owner, if you feel your rig is worth more than the Toy on a straight trade.

Thank you, i have been strongly considering asking for money + the Toy and i think thats what its gonna come down to. If he agrees i think ill be pretty happy with the truck since there are a lot of ways to modify it relatively easily without worrying about trashing a nice rig, and i think im willing to sacrifice a little cosmetic issues for a more reliable engine.

Well it looks like im gonna do the trade after all. I'm looking past the cosmetic work, i can fix that over time relatively easily. The rebuild has only about 150 miles on it and it runs strong. Lots of new parts and very trail ready, not to mention fun to drive. And as an added plus, im keeping the new 35" mud terrains and wheels off of my K5, so thats at least another $800 value. To make a long story short, thanks for the help on deciding and you guys will probably hear from me a lot more as i go through the truck getting it just the way i like it.

That is the one thing that opinions can't account for, what the vehicle feels like to you.