98-00 to 01-04 Front End Conversion Build & Write Up

Nice! So much better than the 98-00!

 

Don't love to bump an older thread but what website did you order those fender brackets from?

 

I got mine from the dealer. The part number is somewhere in this thread though and can probably be found online by searching by that part number

 

Ok, the dealer doesn’t ship to my address and the nearest dealership is 90 miles away, I’m up in Payson.

so I was just wondering.

 

Here you are. Look on ebay or Amazon - might have it!

 

Thanks dude

 

Are the bumpers interchangeable for the 98-00 and 01-04? I have a 99 and want to put a 01-04 bumper on.

 

Yes. You just cannot use the crash bar from the 01-04 as the frame of 98-00 sticks out further

 

About to tackle this mod and wanted to know ahead of time if the extended frame horns on the 98-00 needed to be trimmed to get the 01-04 valence to fit. Know the crash bar on the 01-04 is different and was guessing the frame horns on the 98-00 protrude about the same as the crash bar so there shouldn't be any issues.

Thanks for the helpful thread!

 

The frame horns would need to be removed to use the 01-04 crash bar. I did not put the new crash bar on (would’ve sucked if I got into an accident).

So correct, if you do not put the crash bar on, the valence fits just fine with the frame horns!

 

Thought I'd revive this thread with a question, since this thread has been the most helpful resource for this swap...

I am nearly done with this swap on my 98 5lug. I got a new hood, headlights, corner lights and grill installed without any issues. However, I hit a rather large road bump with the bumper installation; it doesn't fit. The two outer mounting points of the chrome bumper are much wider than the mounting points on the fender apron, about 1.25 inches wide on each side. Bumper is new, and supposedly TO OEM specification (aftermarket, made in Taiwan).

All the writeups I've seen, including this one, seem to show or imply direct bolt on of the 01-04 bumpers to pre 01 Tacomas.

Anybody have any insight regarding this issue? Are the 01-04 bumpers indeed wider than pervious years? Did I get a funky bumper? For those that did the swap, hiw did you address this? Before i try fabricating a bracket to mount the bumper, I thought I'd check with you folks.

Thanks.

 

Take pics so we know exactly what your seeing

 

People are probably sick of these pictures but my 99 with 01-04 swapped everything. Only thing different is the hvac

 

Yeah I picture would be nice! It’s been a few years since I’ve done this and the truck is long gone

 

I believe I figured it out...

I was taking pics, and realized that the bolt that fastens the fender to the fender apron was pulling the fender in considerably. The apparent extra width of the bumper was because the portion of the fender that rests right above the bumper was being pulled in. Additionally, after looking at part numbers, I found that the 01-04 Tacomas, and Prerunner Tacomas from 98-00 have the same fender aprons, while 98-00 5-lugs have different aprons. I'd be willing to bet the fender aprons stick out further on the 01-04's and older Prerunners.

Rather than purchase new aprons, wait for them to ship, drill out the spot welds on the existing apron and re-install the new aprons, I decided to just hack and fab.
I ended up putting spacers between the fender and the apron to allow the fender to sit more naturally over the bumper, which took care of the "wide bumper" situation. To address the mounting point of the bumper on the fender apron, I cut off the mounting bracket on the fender apron, mounted it slightly higher and to toward the outside, and welded it in place with the bumper attached, and held up with a jack for proper alignment.

Wondering if anybody out there needed to swap out their fender apron to complete the swap. I'd be willing to bet if anybody with a 5-lug Tacoma wanted to do this swap, they'd have to either get new fender aprons or do some light fab work to make the bumper fit properly as I did.

Included pics I took before figuring out the issue...

Bumper mounting point on fender apron:


Mounting stud on bumper corner


Bumper stud and fender apron mounting points not aligned (driver side).


Bumper stud and fender apron mounting points not aligned (passenger side).


Bumper appears to be extra wide, but if you notice closely, the part of the fender right above the bumper is fastened too far in. A spacer between the fender and fender apron fixed this issue.

 

I should update the OP that mine was a Prerunner. Forgot that me be an issue!