Tacoma prerunner frame swap (1st gen)

I’ve got a 2000 Tacoma prerunner regular cab that I’m looking to swap the frame for. I found a 99’ extracab frame for a decent price, but I’m wondering how compatible my cab/bed would be with this new frame.. anyone have answers? Some frame schematics would be super helpful, but I can’t seem to find any

 

Welcome to the Forum!

Just how bad is your frame?

I know the bed and cab mounts need to be moved . I was not doing the job so did not look that close.

Are you into Fabrication to do this yourself?

Have you searched we just talked about this? I have seen frame dimensions online they are out there someplace.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
You need a regular cab frame.
ExCab and DblCab frames are longer than RegCab frames.

 

Hey man thanks for the welcome! the driver’s side frame rail is bent pretty bad, had an almost head on collision several months back.. I’m sure there’s more damage under the cab, but I haven’t been able to look for myself. However the bed and the cab don’t line up anymore.

fabrication is something that I would like to learn, and if I could do this myself I totally would, but I don’t have the time nor the resources at the moment. The picture shows just how bad the frame rail looks, and the red line is where it used to be. Unfortunately it was one of the only 1st gen frames that I’ve seen with little to no surface rust.

 

Forgot this one..

 

I'm willing to bet it's extremely difficult to find an affordable way to hire this done these days.

 

My thoughts too, I’ve been asking around but worst case scenario I wait and try to do it myself.. but I would like it to be done right.

 

If you don't use a lift it takes even longer and is much more labor intensive than using one but if you use one, it ties up your lift for an extended period unless you can move it on and off, eating up man hours again.

 

So you want to put the regular cab on the extra cab frame correct?
If you do this you need to cut about 15 inch out of the middle of the frame between the middle and rear cab mounts and graft them back together.
The other major difference is the gas tank crosmember. You would need to cut out the one on your old frame and replace the extra cab crosmember.
The last thing you need to worry about is the motor mounts and transmission crosmember. They may or may not be correct based on weather or not the doner frame had the same engine and transmission as your truck.

I added arrows to show the crosmember and frame cut locations.

 

Seems like some work, I’ve got a buddy who has a lift. I may be able to save some money on labor. And the donor frame had a 2.7, which is what I’ve got. I’m learning to weld in school and I’ve found some splice kits that look fairly promising. It’s just a matter of patience and research now

 

Thank you sir for posting this

 

If you're young, you have already won half the battle. If not lazy, there's the other part.
It's all time and hard work. Big bolts and heavy lifting.

 

I’m willing to put in the work, but it might have to be a project that happens over the summer.. I’m in between school and a job right now so I can’t see it happening in the near future if I do it myself. However I’m not trying to spend everything I make on it

 

It will be a great project but I'd try to find the right frame. If I were willing to cut and weld, I'd just fix the bent sections.

 

True, like I said I haven’t really looked at the rest of the frame yet.. I’ll keep an eye out for a regcab

 

l

Looks pretty bad, but glad you're okay. Was looking at the pics trying to read your state on the plates. Like the horns on the front, at least they survived if you get it fixed.

 

Haha thanks man, my buddy put them on there… I was surprised to see that they weren’t even scratched, they were quite the conversation piece. Missouri born and raised, so if y’all see any compatible frames you know where to find me