Removing the bed by yourself

Quick back story- I got a 2006 Tacoma TRD Offroad with now 230k miles. I was in a 4 car pile up (not my fault) and it bent the ends of my frame and crunched the front aluminum bumper bar that sits behind the bumper (my truck was stock). Luckily she still rode straight and the alignment was still spot on from Firestone. Insurance wanted to total it but I said just gimme the check and I got the keep the truck (lol there was only a <$1,000 difference in the check between them taking or letting me keep the truck [that's a no brainer])

It had been about 3 months since the incident and I had gotten a hydraulic pull ram from harbor freight ( ) and some strong straps to several trees and pulled it. I got it somewhat better but still it was still bent. I had let that sit for a month more or so because I had gotten busy and I rustled with getting a new truck and selling my taco to some farmer or hunter as a beater. After looking around I was discouraged because all the cheaterships had crap vehicles from auction with 10lbs of tire shine everywhere....lol my hands were slipping test driving them.

I soon just gave up and decided to keep my truck, because even with 230k miles on it, it drives like when I bought it at 145k miles with only 1 other owner and I did all the maintenance on it so I knew it like the back of my hand.....PLUS good lord is it easy to change the oil on these babies!!!! CAN I get a thumbs up if you agree too (I have worked at firestone and Valvoline in the past and can with confidence say this). So I decided to try and get it fixed and start my modification journey.

ANYWAYS to the reason y'all clicked "What 'how to remove a truck bed by yourself' no f**king way that is possible". Now I do want to say that this isnt a step by step guide and you will have to use your imagination some with the pictures that I do have-I will try my best to explain.

Here is the truck after the fact to show that It was done.



So to begin with, from what videos I found online (kinda scarce and from like 2007..) you had to either use a crane or get your best buds together after a round of beers because the entire piece if fairly heavy and you don't want to damage the thin fender sides on anything. Welp I dont have either so I had to do it by myself. My thought process was to take the delicate side panels off and anything else that weighed a lot, then slide the tub off.


I started off by taking apart the visible screws in the bed of the truck and bagging and marking them accordingly. I took off the bumper and the towing hitch.


After that I took off all the bits and pieces such as the rails, cubbies, lights and unlatching the wiring harness from the tub.


After that I drilled the rivets from the gas cap to take the insert out (I plan to use some self tapping screws to put it back together....We will see if there is any other alternatives; any suggestions let me know)


Once all the bed screws where off and the gas fill neck could move freely I could get the remaining screws that hold the side panels on; they are tucked behind the cab and the bed. I am attaching a picture showing it off but the screw holes. I will say that it was tight, I had to slide the tub back to allow for clearance-these were 10mm and I had to use a cordless ratchet and a swivel joint just to get all of them...I would also warn to be careful of the gas fill neck when sliding the tub back or you will get scratches like I did as shown in the next pic.



After those screws are undone, all I had to do was move the tailgate metal attachment frame piece shown in the pictures and I had a floating tub.



Now that the tub was free and I wasn't as worried about it sliding on the ground a little bit I slowly started inching it towards the back and lifted it up like a dump truck!


Now I got up underneath it and lifted it straight arm..it wasn't heavy at all


Now I can get better access to the booboo and try to fix it. I am going to go at it again with the hydraulic pull ram, some heat, and some prayers. It has a crack in it and I got a welder so I might try to bridge the gap and slap on some mild steel as a brace.. I am open to suggestions-but yall need to suggest fast because I plan to do it like this week and come back to post updates.


Also this gives me plenty of room to clean and repaint my frame...I cant believe how good this frame looks after 230k miles- I have spot painted every now and then but so far so good!

Now that is a wrap- I apologize if this isn't the perfect write up or formatting, this is my first legit forum post.

 

Very nice description and photos! Thanks for posting this, it's extremely timely info for me.

 

@Wyoming09

 

After looking I can`t see any pictures of any crack

I can only give general advice drill out the end that of the crack has not already worked out to the end

vee out the crack before welding make sure your filler metal comes close to the material being welded.

 

Sorry, you are right the pictures of the actual damage are not all that good since that wasn't really the post. But since @Clearwater Bill tagged you @Wyoming09 I have taken some better photos to show you what I am working with. I look forward to hearing what you say. I got a propane torch for soldering, thinking about getting some of the yellow bottles (I really don't want to get oxyacetylene torch $$$$) and heating up the metal and pulling it straighter, then I got a flux core 125 with some .035 dia wire that I was going to fix the gap and possibly use of 3/16 mild steel as a brace. I got some 3/16 mild steel flat bar ~2" wide that I drilled some holes to match the frame holes. I was going to attach it to the frame and use it as a lever for mechanical advantage (think of a long post sticking down from the frame)-will post updates. My main concern is being able to tow with my truck again...I dont tow often but I would like to hook up a uhaul every once in a while....ya know when the wife kicks you out of the house....the usual.
Passenger side damage:





Driver side damage





STRUGGLE Damage (can I catch a break........i just saw this and this is the 4th time in like 5 months)

 

@deanosaurus I am glad it was somewhat useful, please post your reply when you get your bed off. Afterwards, upload some pics and talk about how it went for you and tips for others that might be taking on this somewhat big job!

 

Since the vehicle is mobile, why not run it by a good shop with a frame machine (and a history of someone knowing how to use it) and see what they'd charge to fix that up.

You've done the hard part by getting all the other stuff cleared off.

It might be worth a few bucks to skip the DIY on this?

 

Quick question,is the fuel pump on the gas tank removable with the bed off,or is it still hidden under the cab ?

 

I have to agree that is going to take some serious pulling. you want a frame machine to be pulling that

either that or just drive it like it is.

 

@lynlan1819 The fuel pump is not accessible with the bed off. My recommendation if there isn't any guides on the forums (someone tag some guides if you know of any good ones) is to just undo the gas tank straps and lower the fuel tank. They are HEAVY AF, so I recommend pumping out some fuel or doing the job when the fuel is low and using a jack to hold it while you remove the gas tank and lower it. I have attached some photos for you to see what it looks like from a top down pov. Also a fuel tank that is already taken off for reference. The fuel pump goes where that large white ring hole is. Also to add is that when you lower it a little you will need to unlatch the sensor connectors and the fuel neck band clamp-see references because you will more than likely have to do it by feel when you disconnect the connectors.

 

I will look into it again. I went around the first time and several shops were saying "Just saying frame is gunna cost you starting at 1k$".....I was like are kidding me......Now that I got the bed off I will do some more research and try to find a frame shop and see what they can help me out with on the low low. I have included more pictures from the original damage at the scene and my first pull setup which has it looking like the OP. The spare tire buffered the hit as it wedged the rear diff....Luckily I was towards the front of the pile up because it is not that bad.

 

@Clearwater Bill @Wyoming09 So I tried to pull it again but didn't make any more progress because I didn't have sufficient heat. I decided to just take it by a frame shop to see what they would say.
I wanted to get some of yalls opinions on how this transaction went down because I have never had to take a vehicle to a frame shop. I found a place that had "frame and alignment shop" in the name and had several 5 start reviews. They had two frame pulling machines. I called up and asked roughly the time frame and ballpark cost on a little kink in the end of the frame. They said they were backed up a week to 2 weeks but could take a look at the frame when I dropped it off; and as for price they said sometime sub $600 but very rarely do they have any work that cost that amount. So I took my truck up to them and explained what happened and how I wanted to be able to tow with it again and there thoughts on the damage. He told me he couldn't tell me how long or how much it was going to be until he got it on the frame machine and put some gauges on it; he did say that it is about $80-100 per hour for labor. I mentioned half jokingly that I really didn't want to spend like $5,000, and he chuckled and said it wouldn't be anywhere close to that and that he could "give me a call in a day or two or so when they get the gauges on the frame" . So I gave him my keys and was on my way (I didn't sign anything either.)......3 days pass and I hadn't gotten a call so I called them and they told me that the truck was done....I asked if I could get it and how much it was (i was kinda appalled since I didnt authorize any work to be done yet or specify the scope). They told me that it was still on the alignment machine and he would have to get it aligned and the earliest I could pick it up was in 3 days...we eventually agreed that I would pick it up at 9 am the next morning. I tried to argue the fact that I didnt want an alignment done (I work at firestone and I was just gunna get it aligned there and it only takes ~1 hour to do alignments furthermore I had aligned it after the wreck and it was good). He insisted that they do an alignment and that he wouldn't let me get it until they did. I was just like whatever, what is the price....He said he didn't know and that they were busy and couldnt get it to me, but he asked the guy I originally spoke to when i dropped of the truck and that everything we discussed was done and it looked beautiful .... I show up the next morning and the truck is done (see pictures attached; overall I think the work was good); The total was $1,598. I asked for a breakdown of the work such as labor by the hour but they couldn't get me one besides the generic separate jobs. I contested that I didnt get a call back about the price or scope of work. He told me "my guys couldn't tell until they started pulling the frame and at that point we arnt just gunna stop in the middle of a job; so there was no way that we could have called and given you a price ahead of time"..the breakdown of the jobs was: $190 for the machine guage setup, $1,310 for pulling and squaring up the frame ends, and $96 for a 4 wheel alignment. I got them to take off the alignment since that was some total bullshit that they "aligned it". So all in all I paid $1,500. What I find funny is they had me signed the bill of work that states "I hereby authorize the repair.....etc." seems like some steps were done out of order at that shop. {Disclaimer: the conversations were longer than what I typed out but I hit the major parts and withheld the formalities and the cursing to myself}. Like I said before, I just wanted to get yalls opinion on the overall transaction, craftsmanship, and price of the job. Ultimately I was hoping to cap at $1,000 at the most {in hindsight I shouldn't have said I dont want to spend $5,000 because that could be construed as approval to do the work/ 'name a price<5k' }.

On another note that wasnt really related to the frame fixing, I brought my tailgate hitch in the back seat and when I dropped it off I asked if he could see about putting it on after the frame was pulled, He said that it would be no problem....It was never put on and when I asked after picking it up he said they forgot and that they ran out of time.....It seems that they need better oversight/ management.

 

While the shop has management issues for sure, there is definitely a bright side.

You now have $2500 into a truck you know the history of. And it's fixed. Take the $2500 off the insurance payout, and that is how much you are paying yourself for disassembly/reassembly of everything to get it ready for the repair.

You obviously like the truck and are comfortable with it, or you wouldn't have bought it back to begin with.

Look at it as a win-win for you and don't fret over the shop shenanigans for another minute.

Have fun cleaning up and reassembling. And being proud of what you are accomplishing! Piles of people here would have taken the money, given up on the truck and made a down payment on 5 years of debt with a 3rd gen.

Come to think of it, since you didn't do that, that means you have a win-win-win.

 

It looks like the shop did a pretty good job to my untrained eyes. I would've expected the price on something like this to be several thousand but I have no clue. Seems like they need top work on their communication though. I'd be tempted to drop some money on a flatbed since the box is already off

 

Sounds like your shop was a bit disorganized but the work looks good and that is the important thing.
Best of all no debt!

 

Interesting afterthought...but I feel that if I am going to get a flatbed its gotta be able to pull a gooseneck trailer....and even though I like the tacos optimism; i just dont think its built for that . Plus I already got all the body parts back on it in an afternoon...gotta buy some more plastic rivets though.....ugh they always break.

 

Good choice in keeping the truck. There are alot of things I would DIY to my truck to save $$$ but straightening the frame with cheap HF tools would definitely be not one of them.

 

Sub'd

 

Haha the thought of a tacoma pulling a gooseneck is a pretty funny one. Hey, maybe someone does it but I just haven't seen it yet.

 

The job looks good.

Although if the tires were not being destroyed I would have left it alone.

You got a good job be happy a shop where everything is so very good could be an easy 4 to 6 weeks out with work.

Finding a shop to do any type of work is really difficult.