body swap

Hi. How hard is a body swap? I'm thinking of putting a 4runner body on my regular cab tacoma 2011 frame. Does anyone do it?

 

4runner to taco... yea... thats a big no. the tacoma frame is not deaigned for a SUV body. factory 4runners are fully boxed frames. tacos are c channel after the engine.


can it be done? sure. is it worth it? no.

 

is it possible to remove the bed, and install the back half of a suv?

 

Anything is possible given enough time and money.

Is it possible to remove the bed, and install the back half of a suv without massive modifications? NO it isn't possible.

 

What’s your reason for wanting to do this?
Enclosed bed? Buy a canopy.

 

or buy a 4runner...

 

It’s only Monday….

 

Guys. Stop. Don't you want to see what he comes up with?

 

I want to convert the reg cab into a 4-runner. With the same vin #. Truck runs great and I have an excellent insurance deal which is non-transferable.

 

With the amount of money surely involved in such a project, would you actually save any over the useful life of the vehicle based on the insurance delta?

Something to consider is that the taco frames flex quite a bit, particularly between the cab and bed. Even if you grafted something together, it would require major re-engineering of the frame to eliminate this flex. I've seen photos of modified (or maybe prototype?) Toyota pickups that have essentially a rubber bellows between the front cab and rear enclosed section because of this, and I recall hearing that they were very problematic.

In other words, there's a reason Toyota went to all the hassle of a different frame for the SUV variants of this platform.

 

I'm no insurance expert but I'm pretty sure they won't cover a chopped up Frankenstein vehicle.

Also it's not Friday yet

 

Lol. How do people come up with this stuff?

 

He's asking experienced people if it's even possible. What's wrong with that?

 

I dont think I said there's anything wrong with it.

 

Just buy a V6 4th gen 4Runner.

 

Slow and expensive way to invalidate your insurance.

 

I think this is a great idea. Rear disk brakes and he can turn the truck bed into a trailer./s

 

You joke but removing the bed and making into a trailer is the best way to increase payload capacity. Maybe OP really is playing 4D Tacoma chess...