1st gen tacoma 2001 DC front hitch removable Winch, 2016-2018 tailgate, prerunner converted 4WD

Hi, I just finished my project , I installed a custom front hitch for a removable Winch to use it in front and rear.. also as you can see, I installed a 2016-2018 tailgate on my Tacoma 2001 DC "Prerunner" CONVERTED to 4WD 5 speed MANUAL transmission. 10" low profile Pioneer subwoofer

 

That tailgate is very nicely done, did you cut and weld the new skin over the old talgate shell?

 

Yes, and actually I modified the tailgate lock to have it work with my engine truck key and connected the rear factory camera to my double din stereo..

 

Wow that is sweet

 

The tailgate

 

NICE on the tailgate, the front looks crooked for some reason...

 

Yes.. my house's front driveway is very inclined that's why the truck's rear is very inclined and makes the truck's front look crocked

 

In fact in the first picture you can see the two houses in the back how they are not at the same level it's a hill and the left house is like 50 cm lower than the right house

 

Tailgate looks pretty good. Would be damn near perfect if the body line lined up with the bottom of the taillight. But I have no clue how hard that’d be

 

Pretty sure I know what I'm seeing here.

 

You are right, the 3" tubular front bumper it's crooked, now that I am seeing it

 

Any more pics on how you did the tailgate? Very cool.

 

Sorry a painting workshop did it

 

I think he attached a bull bar to the same plate as the winch. It's going to be crooked more often than not.

Not digging the tailgate personally. The body lines would drive me nuts.

 

the bull bar is attached to the chassis through an angle steel (two bolts directly to the chassis, same bolts where the hitch is attached with the extra front bold where the crash bar should be installed) the bumper crash bar was replaced by the front hitch

 

Is it the skin of the third gen tailgate on the first gen shell?

 

Yes Sr. the paint shop had to cut/weld to pieces the bottom one (with TACOMA letters) and the lock in a different piece as the 1st gen tailgate is shorter than the 3rd gen. The attached picture is when I bought the 3rd gen tailgate and put it together with the stock tailgate, you can see the different size..

 

So all that was done is the tailgate was shortened, cut, and welded — how did you adapt the stock camera to your head unit?

 

I used the attached picture to connect the camera..I preferred to have a manual switch (2 positions) to activate the camera for offroading.. and soon I will install a front camera with a relay to switch the power between the two cameras.. very useful and I love also having the same engine key to lock/unlock the tailgate as I have a bed extender and when I remove the bed cover, no body can open the tailgate and steal the bed extender.. so the change was a cosmetic but also useful for security reasons.. I am very hapy with this.. but the 3rd gen tailgate are VERY expensive so I had to wait like 2 years to find the one..

 

@Gamaliel , I know this an older post, but I'm looking at different options for mounting a winch. I like this since, I don't have to leave the winch on the truck exposed to the weather year round. The only weak point I can think of is the lynch pin the holds the winch onto the truck. Have you had any problems recovering your truck this way. Ever broken or bent the lynch pin during recovery. Love the seat covers, did you have them recovered by a upholstery place.

thanks