Standard's 03 DC OR - Rusty returns

Rusty as of January 7, 2018:





How Rusty looked when purchased:




Meet Rusty, the no longer rusty 2003 Double Cab Off Road. I bought Rusty in April of 2017 with 50K miles on the odo, had a clean Carfax and ran great. Rusty had some light scratches but no dents (that I could see - turns out there was some damage under the Yakima roof rack).

The problem was the frame. The details are in this thread but the short version was, frame completely compromised and was never sealed by Toyota so not covered by the extended frame warranty. My brother has a shop in So Cal and I shipped the truck to him from my home in Virginia. For the next 4+ months I sent him parts and he did a full frame replacement and upgrades to most of the truck, turning it into effectively a new vehicle.

Here's what's in Rusty right now:

Base:
- 2003 Tacoma Double Cab, Off Road
- LX SR5 Package
- 3.4L, Auto, Tow Package

Suspension:
- Front: Total Chaos Upper Control arm kit, Fox 2.0 Coilovers
- Rear: Icon Vehicle Dynamics Add-a-Leaf kit, Icon Vehicle Dynamics rear shocks

Armor/Recovery:
- 4X Innovations Rear Plate Bumper / swing out tire + jerry can + Hi-Lift 48" jack
- Low Range Off Road Gas Tank Skid
- Skid Row front skid plate
- Stubbs Welding HD-SKO Sliders
- Westin 40-0905 Grill Guard

Drivetrain/Wheels/Tires:
- OEM rear E-locker
- 16" TRD Beadlock Simulated Wheels
- BFG KO2 Tires - 265/75/16

Interior/Electronics:
- Pioneer AVHX3800BHS 2-DIN Receiver
- Polk Audio db651s Front Speakers
- Pioneer TS-G1345R Rear Speakers
- Proclip iPhone Mount
- Backup camera
- Refinish faded dashboard

Exterior:
- Innovation Camper Shell
- Smittybilt 40505 Roof Rack on shell
- Repaint Impulse Red Pearl(3P1) - 4 coats of clear, paint shell to match
- Rhino Line bed
- New headlights / turn indicators
- New OEM grill / bumper
- New windshield

Rust Repair:
- Frame from a CA based 2004 Tacoma DC OR
- New Spindles
- New drive shaft
- Replace rusted rear diff (from donor frame truck)
- New OEM brake dust covers
- Replaced fuel tank
- New OEM rotors
- New brake lines

Rust Prevention:
- Frame has two coats of POR-15
- Underside of cab / bed has two coats of POR-15
- Frame rails have Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
- Back of replacement OEM bumper has two coats of POR-15

 

Curious how bad the frame was? Look at this mess:




It was... bad. This is how Rusty's underside looks now (still old tires/wheels in these shots):

 

We have a new badge set for Rusty, just not sure how much I want to put back on. Main emblems / Toyota markings are fine, considering leaving off the TRD Off Road side decals.

 

That's awesome, and a lot of work. Now time to enjoy your truck!

 

Thanks! Flying out to CA this week to pick up the truck and meander back to Virginia via some southern states. Should be a fun drive.

 

When we removed the original front bumper we found just how bad it was rusting (from the back of the bumper out):


My brother decided to mitigate this with some POR-15 on the back inside of the new replacement bumper before it was installed:

Something you may want to consider if you replace your OEM front bumper and live in the rust belt.

 

Glad to see you are now enjoying your truck

whoa! at the bumper bracket O_O
You know the frame rust is really bad when even the bracket is this rusty!
Glad you got a rust-free frame

By the way, I am starting to look around for a paint job for my truck (paint really needs a refresh....). How much did it cost to have the whole truck repainted?
Just so I can have an idea of a typical paint job price

thanks

 

My brother runs a pretty high end shop - for a paint job like this without any dent repair the cost from him would be in the $5K range if the jams didn't need to be redone (same color). In this case there was some other damage that needed repair. The original roof rack had been overloaded and managed to dent in the roof just above the roof rails:

That required some body work:



That $5K estimate is because he does primarily high-end restoration mods - I just got lucky getting it into his shop. You can probably find a local shop that can do it for less, depending on the quality you want. This has 4 coats of clear and multiple color sanding sessions.

Hope this helps...

 

Great resurrection!

 

Got the decals and badges on. Rusty is ready to drive across the US.

 

what did you use to stick them back on? And how did you cut it to match the emblems? knife? scissors?

I'll repaint mine and stick them back on once I've got a paint job

 

We bought them from the local Toyota dealer. You spray the area that the decal will sit on with water and a light mix of car wash soap (get it pretty wet). Peel off the backing of the decal and lay it gently on the side of the truck and you can move it a few millimeters around to adjust. Once it’s in place you use a plastic squeegee to remove all the bubbles. Finally once it’s fully squeegeed on you can peel off the final backing.

I videod my brother doing one, I’ll see about getting that up.

 

This should show how the decals are applied:

 

Late afternoon lighting is a little better:

 

Took this after navigating the 1+ mile off road trail to Devil’s Bridge in Sedona AZ. Not a very difficult trail but hilarious to watch the guy in a stock (and brand new) Ford Explorer following me. Dude tore the bottom of that new truck up and gave up about 1/8th of a mile in. Must have been a rental.

 

The view on the walking trail leading to the actual bridge is amazing. Very worth it if you find yourself in Sedona, AZ.

 

What brand and model are you swing out and front bumper, this is exactly what I am looking for .

 

- 4X InnovationsRear Plate Bumper / swing out tire + jerry can + Hi-Lift 48" jack
- Westin 40-0905 Grill Guard (got it on Amazon)

 

Added a 32” light bar (got in a swap, no branding on it) and some switches that plug right into the two factory blanks I had. Super bright light.

 

So @boogie3478 - who has the Tacomaholic channel on Youtube - did a walk through on my truck. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fY2mhihf20

Also recommend you subscribe to his channel - always some cool Tacoma stuff covered in there.