Should I take the next step???

It’s had been awhile since my 2009 with 75k miles got any love. I recently got new 285 Toyo open country MT rubber And FN six shooter wheels, I will be replacing the old fox 2.0/Beilstein Toytec lift with a new fox 2.5 elite series on all four corners.

I have attached pictures of what she looks like now, but my dream is to add a C4 hybrid, bumper to the front fully kitted with winch and light bar and light pods, add McNeil +2 inch fiberglass fender, flares in the front, and a summit expedition trucks UTE bed in the back. I was trying to picture what it would look like in my mind and scouring the Internet for someone with my exact set up then it dawned on me that AI would be able to create it. Here is how she sits now:

 

And here is how I am envisioning her to look for phase 2 of the build. it took a few attempts to get what I was looking for out of the AI model

 

And here were a few early attempts:

 

Looks great just the way it is, save your money.

 

Part of me agrees with you!

 

When you eff up your bumper, upgrade!
That bed is pretty cool though

 

Check out the website, they are pretty sick!! Pretty $$$ though

 

More shots of their bed

 

Bro,

You’ll get some heat,

But do what you wanna do. If you have thought about it and have the desire to do the work then why not?

This comes from a very biased source who is mid total exterior regeneration of my 07 Prerunner.

 

Ya I’ll get heat all right, from my wife

 

That ute bed is sick. I don't really off road so the bumpers and winch don't really matter to me but that bed would be really cool someday. I love square drop sides.

 

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: for every dollar spent on the truck you gotta double the budget to cover the present to get you off the couch.

 

If you go with a Ute bed, it needs to be the kind you see in Asia/Australia as that seems correct for the Tacoma lineage.




The more "ranch hand" looking ute beds scream "wannabe cowboy", and those belong on a big 3 truck.

 

Those Ute beds are awesome.

 

I'm not in a hurry to rip the bed off a truck that's actually really good looking/in good shape, but when she's further down the road I would consider it for sure. So much utility for actually hauling and doing work, plus I think better clearance all around. At that point I would feel better about a big ugly bumper too.

I just can't justify all that for myself, yet.

 

That’s kinda where my heads at too but it just LOOKS so bad ass, and the functionality of that bed is just endless!

 

Another AI image:

 

people spend 10s of thousands on UTVs for ranch work when all they really need is a toyota with a flatbed

 

I’ll just add it’s not all pros with the flatbed. Besides the obvious, It’s going to raise the height of your bed, possibly limit the upward travel of you wheel if that’s important.. and you lose any of the aftermarket options that exist for the stock Tacoma bed.. just my 2 cents. I don’t have a flatbed and I also think they look sick and add a lot of versatile utility. But at like 10k .. or the undertaking of doing your own fabrication it’s ambitious. For me, I would dislike losing the Softopper, having to strap down everything I place back there..

if none of this dissuades you, definitely take a look at @overlandunderbudget on IG. He’s got an absolute beauty of a first gen Tacoma with a complete and modular flatbed setup that will make you definitely consider. I want to say he’s also shared some tips on how to follow his footsteps.

 

These are very good points.