Flatbed Information Thread

Welcome.
In for pics

 

Here are some photos that I have. If you need more detailed photos, let me know.
These crossbraces attach to the stock bed bolt location. The plate then attaches to two main rails on the flatbed.

This kinda shows the rails on the flatbed going into the braces

As for the filler neck, I am going to try and organize something in the first page. I will highly recommend getting rubber tube that does not kink. I am going to have to redo my tubing as my main hose and the stock hose is kinking based on where I have located my filler.

 

^Ah, Great stuff.

Looks like yours is from UTE LTD? (With Tacoma specific brackets?)

Any chance you could take some measurements when you have a chance?

A: Spacer height @ front bed mounts/ front cross-brace (under cross-brace)
B: Cross-brace height
C: Tire Outer Diameter to bottom of bed clearance



Thanks!

 

Spacers height at front of bed are a approximately a 1” tube



The spacers at the back are approximately a 1/8” washer

The main crossbars are 2x2” angler steel that is approximately 3/16”



The main brackets are like this

I am on 35” tires (ko2’s that are 315/70/17) and I have about 5 11/16” from the top of the tire to the main rail.


My tires do tuck up on the inside which gives me 7ish”


Sorry for the crummy photos but it’s dark out. Let me know if that answers your questions.
Just finished dinner with a beer or four so....

 

That's fantastic! Thanks for the measurements and pics.
I like this community already....I'll keep you all posted on the build.

 

Lol lots of info on this forum.

Look forward to seeing some pictures.

 

I contacted Randy @ UTE LTD to see if I could buy some of the cross-braces to mount my flatbed. He seemed optimistic. So I'll wait to hear back, otherwise, I'll mount it in a couple of weekends.

Here's a picture of the bed when I picked it up.



I'm in the middle of a camper restoration right now. The intent is to mount storage boxes along the side and have the camper slide in-between.
I'll start a build thread soon to track the evolution of the truck. On my 3rd setup.

 

Can’t wait to see the progress

 

Not trying to thread jack you 2nd gen guys here but I’ve been trying to solve this tailight wiring issue for some time.

Recently picked up this 99 flatbed. A shop wired it with trailer lights but the truck had been dunked in a puddle of mud for a day or so. They had stopped working when I bought it.

Toyota uses a 5 wire taillight harness and doesn’t combine brake and turns. So a 4 wire trailer light isn’t exactly a solid option on a Toyota. But my flatbed isn’t setup for anything but trailer lights. Wish I knew what the shop that built the bed did to wire it.

 

No thread hi jacking at all. Once we have this solved I’ll be sure to add it up as it is bound to help someone.

Best bet would be to try and go back to the original harness and using a test light or a metre see what you can find.

Going with weather proof plugs should help, but make sure your connections are tight. I recently had to pull off a trailer harness since the manufacturer didn’t seal spliced wires (was heat shrunk but not well enough I guess) and it corroded to the point I could chase down a ground. Off it came.

Good luck

 

I've tossed the original trailer wiring harness as the previous owners had spliced it to death. The truck had a wire and switch running to the battery to power the old lights as just running lights. I assume to prevent cops from pulling them over at night on the highway. All I know is that at one point someone had 4 wire trailer lights functioning off a Toyota 5 wire/pin harness.

And looking at 99% of flatbeds on Toyota trucks I'm in a weird spot. No one sets these trucks up for trailer lights because combined brake/turn signals makes for a difficult wiring situation on a Toyota harness. I could add a separate turn signal bulb on each side but it would look odd with my flatbed design.

 

Does anyone know what the stock composite (short bed) weighs? I have been thinking of building a flat bed. For me, building is a better option since I would need to cut holes in the deck for my shocks to poke through. My current model weighs ~ 300 lbs out of steel (w/o) weld. If I only add 100 - 150 lbs over stock, I think that would be a win.

 

Finally got my Flatbed installed this weekend. Couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Just to summarize, the flatbed is an Aluma 81087 (81"x87"). I used ute ltd mounting brackets.


Still need to troubleshoot some electrical gremlins, and potentially cut the headache rack down.

Pictures:



UTE LTD Brackets installed:

$13 M12x1.25 mm Self-Locking Nylon Insert Hex Lock Nuts, Pack of 6

M12x1.25 hardware into the frame mounts


Hard to tell, but I used a 1" x 2" rectangular SS tubing to raise the front mounting locations. Similar to what Tacoma16 showed in previous pictures.






I have the filler tube mounted w/ stock length hose right now (Just loosened and rotated the tubes). Just a mock-up at the moment and hoping to adjust the hose length soon.

 

So I'm running into the same issue. The Aluma flatbed I just installed uses a 4 wire trailer harness. I.E. No discrete wire (or bulb) for the brake light; the turn signals are used as brake lights.

Currently, I have the harness set up so that the brake signal is spliced into each turn signal but this is causing both turn signals to come on when I use my blinker. I thought there would be some isolation in the stock electrical system...guess not.

I think I'm going to try and add some sort of diode or isolation on the brake signal and turn signals. Going to order them next week and hopefully have an answer by next weekend. I'll keep you updated.

Here is how I have things wired up (and yes, that's on the back of Ikea instructions ):

*EDIT: This setup does NOT work when installed on the truck, but works fine off the truck. No Isolation in the brake and turn signal circuit upstream of this harness.

 

Love the flatbeds!

Re: tail lights and turn signals.

If I’m understanding the problem correctly, some of you guys are wanting to use a combination brake/turn signal bulb in place of the factory separate turn and brake light configuration.

Trailer wiring adapters for 5 wire to 4 wire are readily available. No need to reinvent the wheel to work around this issue. You could use the adapter for bed or trailer lights, or even both. They are about $15. It’s an easy way to solve the problem.

$20 IIT 16690 Trailer Converter

https://www.amazon.com/iit-16690-II...0465&s=gateway&sprefix=5+to+4+,aps,245&sr=8-6


Or a direct plug in version for about $40

$51 CURT 55513 Vehicle-Side Custom 4-Pin Trailer Wiring Harness, Fits Select Toyota Tacoma, T100, Hilux

https://www.amazon.com/CURT-55513-V...-8-1-2229-272-&vehicleName=2008+Toyota+Tacoma


Hopefully this will help someone.

 

Ahh, doh! Thanks for pointing that out. That's definitely what we need.

Going to order one today.
Otherwise it's:
A) Add a separate turn signal light to the back.
B) Add diodes to Brake and Turn signal lines.

 

Ended up solving my issue I just hadn't gotten around to posting on here. This

$17 Hopkins Towing Solutions 48845 12" Bulb Tail Light Converter

Hopkins 48845 converter harness solved the problem on my 99. I had all functions working fine just haven't installed the lights into the bed yet since I'm prepping it for paint right now.

 

I’ll have to add some of this wiring stuff to the first page. Definitely good to know for those who want to go from 6 lights to just 4.

 

Glad it helped. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. That $10 saved you lots of time and hassle, no you can move on to the next challenge. Keep posting updates and photos.

 

added the filler neck tips and electrical to the first page for those interested