Frame Swap, Build & other stuff

Hey guys!

Starting a build thread for my green truck named Ancho:



Mid-last year I decided to snatch up a rusty green '01 out in Massachusetts and drive it across the country. My friend's mechanic had a good look at it a few days before we took off on the journey and said "this is a piece of sh*t, you should get your money back". So naturally I decided to put even more money into it. haha. Me and the old man converted the old cap that came with it into a pop-up camper and built a bed platform. Had the timing belt done and the following morning my lady & I set out west with fingers crossed.







Miraculously we made it all the way to Los Angeles, a journey for the books.

But oh man, is she rusty! I was teetering on the idea of just offloading it and looking for a rust-free out out here in the desert. I joined TW and posed my first question - should I bother? Through this I connected with some esteemed and generous TW guys @Sperrunner and @Broke Okie Ty , who offered up a donor frame & the assistance/expertise needed to do the swap. The community around this truck is unbelievable.

I plan to post as much as I can to this thread about the swap process -- so stay tuned if you're interested!

Cheers

 

I'm super curious as to why you went all the way to the East Coast when all of us Midwesterners typically go to somewhere like LA to find a nice (rust free) Tacoma? I actually just drove one back from Washington state to Wisconsin to get one without any rust. I basically gave up on my 2002 Tacoma because while the frame was solid there was still plenty of rust and rough paint. I guess it all depends upon your financial situation and desire for wrenching on this truck. Let's see some pictures of the undercarriage.

 

Can you post some pics/description about how you converted the shell into a pop-up camper?

 

Very good point haha. My folks live on the east coast and my lady's folks live in the midwest, so the idea was to pick one up out there, build the camper with my pops, then do a one-way road trip out west stopping in the midwest for some time along the way. I got this one at a pretty low price (well, high considering the condition but still much lower than average) and had the exact config I wanted (bench seat, 4x4, manual, ext. cab). I wasn't there to look at it myself so my dad went to check it out. He has an '04 that's so bad even east coast mechanics refuse to put on the lift. Farm truck. So by comparison, he thought this one looked pretty solid. It was sprayed with a heavy coat of rust-cover-up which is starting to chip off & reveal how bad it really is:



So yeah I definitely got swindled and would probably have been better off getting rid of it when I made it to LA, but I'm keen for a project truck and this has been a great learning experience so far.

 

Definitely - I don't have great photos (lots of videos). I was planning to eventually put together a video that shows the process better. The camper is made from RV materials (basically just sheet metal, aluminum, and vinyl trim). So the way it was built allowed us to fully detach the sheet metal roof. We then bent some 1" aluminum to frame the entire thing and retain the curved shape. Mounted aluminum extrusion rails along the top, which we anchored shoulder screws into as pivot points for 1" oak dowels to lift the top up. Mounted steel flagpole holders in the corner, which allow us to set the height and pivot well. Then we laid down some heavy duty velcro and waterproof fabric which stays on and folds in when the top is down. To keep everything in place when driving, we have 4 latches (one on each corner). We had to pivot a bunch and only had a week to do the entire build, so it could definitely use some improvements. But that's the fun for after I get the new bones on it.

 

Well its about time I stop rolling around under my truck and post some updates! The frame swap was absolutely hectic but successful. @Broke Okie Ty journeyed down 2+ hours with tools & parts in tow on three separate occasions to lend much-needed help and guidance with the operation - real good guys still exist! No chance I would have been able to pull this off solo. Every single thing about this swap was harder than it should have been thanks to mother rust, and the fact that I've never wrenched on a truck before. Safe to say this was my first and last time working on a rusty rig. haha.

I'll chomp away at the updates starting from the beginning. @Sperrunner 's frame arrived on Feb 26th, and he was nice enough to leave an entire rear end and some rubber on there (which ended up coming in absolutely clutch, because my entire rear end was entirely f**ked). When I rolled the frame into the garage, I realized I had no clue what I was looking at. Time to study up..




Sanded the whole thing down by hand and with a cup brush attachment for my drill. Once it was stripped down and power washed good, I hand-painted the entire thing with a generous coat of Chassis Saver. Took the entire month of march. By the time April rolled around, I was ready to start the teardown. Had to figure a good way to build a gantry-style hoist in the driveway. I came up with the idea of using a swingset with a big eye hook and ratchet straps. Figured some chinese steel brackets and a 4x6 crossbeam would be good enough to suspend 500lbs. Hunted down a $50 dipped eye hook from Grainger just to be safe (probably the safest decision of the entire operation in retrospect). Honestly, this thing was pretty sturdy.




And so it began!

Plenty more to come.

 

The teardown! Just a bit of rust...





Took three weeks to get the old frame down and the new frame up. Pretty much every bolt was cooked. In retrospect I should have definitely gotten a MAPP torch, but I stuck with propane. Not to mention a grinder, sawzall, sledge, and just about every other demolition tool you could think of short of the junkyard. The front right body bolt was so buggered in the bushing sleeve, it alone took 3 full days of trying just about every siezed bolt removal method possible. The winner, after trying all angles to cut it out (unsuccessfully) was repeated sledge, heat, and probably a gallon of PB blaster and WD40 penetrant. Pretty good feeling when it finally budged though.





Once everything was disconnected, @Broke Okie Ty suggested we just saw the frame in half and roll away the rear, so we wouldn't have to deal with it at all. The point of absolutely no return. This turned out to be critical, probably would have taken another full weekend if we tried to disassemble instead. Sage advice from the man!







Made for some great yard decor. Neighbors loved it!

 

Might be a dumb question but are those factory wheels? I see they have Toyota center caps. Either way they look great.

 

Not sure - they came with the truck when I picked it up

 

Next up was the swap. Suspended the engine from the swingset, set the cab on jackstands at ~18inch height, and supported the trans with a 4x4. Needed to alternate between jack & 4x4 for the trans a few times to allow the old frame to clear on the way out, and for the new one on the way in.




We thought the operation would be smooth because the old half-frame came out pretty easily. In retrospect we definitely could have used a few more inches of clearance between the ground and cab, because getting the new one in nearly didn't clear the cinderblocks/jacks at multiple points. And the 4x4 was too low for where the frame curves upwards. We looked at it & for a second thought it might not actually work. But after some on-the-fly pivots, moving stuff around, and rolling around underneath the truck a lot more than we would have liked, we eventually we got it fully underneath. @Broke Okie Ty and I probably lifted up and set down the new frame (with front diff) 20+ times. Good workout.







Bingo bango bongo. Everything lined up pretty good. Wrestled around a bit to align the motor mounts because the driveway wasn't level, but we got it eventually. Heck of a day.

Hardest part done, time to rebuild.

 

Great Job on saving another 1st gen from the junk yard. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

Finally catching up on posting. The full rebuild took about a month and a half. Had to finish everything up and get the truck driveable before the end of July because our lease was up and I needed the truck to move stuff. With the exception of crashing it into the garage trying to move it without any brake fluid, everything went smoothly. ha... pics of that later.

Rebuild part 1: Rear end

The axle housing, 3rd member and axles that @Sperrunner left on the frame were still in pretty good shape as far as I could tell. Decided to use those because the originals were cooked and would have been a nightmare to disassemble & restore. Pulled the third member to check it out. Had a bit of rust buildup on the inside, probably because some water got in the breather and it had been sitting without any oil slinging around in there for some time. Doused everything with brake cleaner and ran a toilet bowl brush in the axle housing to clean it out as much as possible. Probably shouldn't have sprayed brake cleaner on the gears, didn't realize the inside of those things are painted until it started flaking off. Oh well, it's not a swiss watch.





Wire wheeled the whole thing up, replaced the oil seals, and painted it up nice with chassis saver. Same with all the frame crossmembers and new gas tank skid. Found a pretty good parts yard up in Sacramento that pulled some of the missing frame parts I needed and shipped em to me quick.



Old is the new new. Threw the leafs on there and hooked everything up. Drank a lot of beers.




Putting the leaf springs on before the axle was a bit tricky but some ratchet straps did the trick. New eibach shocks too. I re-used the U-bolts just because I intended to replace the leaf springs sometime soon anyway... Hooked up the driveshafts (greased, new carrier bearing) and hung up the exhaust.



Progress!

 

I'm impressed! Well done so far -- looking forward to seeing the final result in motion.

 

You sir are the definition of the word "Dedication".

 

Good to see that frame being put to good use

 

@bushtaco01 Looking good. glad that frame finally got used. Just for reference this is where your new frame came from.
https://youtu.be/m_p3LcgLgaE

 

That's a decent amount of work. I hope you got a good deal on that truck. Rust free trucks are super common out west.

 

OP: After that video, you might need to do an exorcism on that frame....

 

following, I've tempted myself with the idea of a frame swap. would be a definite project even with space to do it.

nice work @bushtaco01

 

Haha, guess that’s where my ‘new’ rear axle is from too… what’s the story on that truck? tear it down & part out?