Frame swap

First post thank you all for a great website like this where someone like me can read and self teach myself. I want to share what I ve gotten myself into.

Long story short as possible lol my favorite little 2003 v-6 3.4 extended cab trd 4x4 was hanging on by a thread due to rust I pulled the bed off Memorial Day weekend and thought I could patch her up I quickly realized I needed some professional help called a welding buddy and he suggested chop the back find a back half frame and go that route. I soon realized that was not an easy task until one of my hunting buddies said hey ride over and check out my old hunting rig the motor is blew but the frame is decent.

Boy was he right I bought it cheap. He said it was a 2001 sr5 Toyota Tacoma 3.4 v6 extended cab 4x4 looks good to me more on that in a second lol . Now I realized I couldn’t cut this beautiful frame in half I had to do a whole frame swap major undertaking for a fella like me but hey if you want it done right do it yourself!!

I got it home and went to work tearing the sr5 down to nothing but the frame wire wheeled degreaser and pressure washed and re painted with Eastwood rust and top coat and inside the frame rails. Disassembled the trd truck and my plan is to move everything from it to the new frame. Rear axle, front spindle’s, motor,trans etc.

I did need new struts and leaf pack so that’s when I ordered the old man emu kit. This is when I realized how much of a dummy I am lol I realized the sr5 frame leaf packs where a little shorter so brilliant me looks in the door jam and it is not a 2001 truck it’s got a date of 09/95 so of course I panic and call the company and they graciously worked with me and are sending me the CSO19R & SB43 leaf springs “shorter”. To my knowledge the only other thing I have found is the cab mount bracket seem to have the same measurements but the hole pattern where they bolt to the frame is a little different hoping I can just order a 1996 energy suspension body mount bushings and the bolt holes line up and the 2003 cab line right up. Everything else I have measured seems to be the same.

Thought I would throw my story out there and see if y’all knew of anymore differences or what other hurdles I may have to clear other than all the broken rusty bolts and brake lines and a little elbow grease. Thanks for listening!