Frame swap -n- facelift for Mable

i rock the chain fall on my I beam with a trolley... works great.

 

thanks brother. I’m just using the tools I have for this project. I am lucky to have a lofted ceiling with a beam in the center.
Spent this morning and rolled the frame out. I left the rear wheels on, dropped the front and it rolled right out. Here are some photos of the process.

 

One more cause it looks cool.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Dude, this is awesome. Really inspiring work!

Makes me want to buy a second tacoma and do this myself!

 

Thought you were taking the weekend off I know how it goes. Moving right along. Boy that old frame was toast!

 

What does a 20 year old neglected Tacoma frame look like?

 

Listen up folks, this may be helpful information. As I got closer to reassembly with the new frame, I noticed the motor mount brackets looked different. A few quick measurements confirmed, this frame had a V4 engine. Mine is a V6. The difference is in BOTH the motor mount bracket AND the location. The V6 motor mounts are numbered 1. They also sit about 30mm more toward the back of the truck. Here are photos of removal of the #2 brackets and reinstall the #1 V6 bracket. You need have some solid welding and fabrication skills to do this.











also, I know it’s not a V4, assholes.

 

Also the transmission crossmember may be in a different location. On the automatic transmission frame the crossmember is 3 inches further back then on a manual transmission frame. I'd double check the location. On mine I used a automatic frame on my manual truck. I had to modify the crossmember.

 

That last part made me laugh.

Nothing is ever straight forward, is it?

Glad to see your steady progress and glad you’re able to find a solution to the mismatched motor mounts.

Thanks for sharing this undertaking of yours too.

 

man you sure know how to give a brother pause for concern. And I appreciate the heads up. Thank Tom Cruise god it appears to be perfectly centered to accept my MT. Very fine job on the fabrication btw. I would never have thought of that, I would have moved the whole crossmember.

 

Yeah I figured it out the hard way. I already had everything back together went to put the crossmember in and was like £∆©#!!!!!!!! So I just bent some metal and welded it on. Had no issues with it at all.

 

Spent the weekend relocating the motor mount brackets, and doing some painting of rear end and fuel tank skid.

As far as motor mounts... should
I stick with OEM or go aftermarket? There is a huge price difference.

 

Fabrication day today. I’ve never liked the stock headlights on my 2000, sorry to offend kind sirs. To me they look oversized and cheap. Trying to look “modern” I much prefer a classic glass lamp. These are cheap eBay until I score some OEM. This is my solution to the swap. I’ve seen in other threads that that sit to far back behind the grill so I danced up some spacers. Waiting on strong springs from a 75 Chevy to arrive to complete, but you get the idea. I used cheap generic from eBay but the quality is shit. The steel is soft. Switched one out already using quality hardware from the original lamps, and nuts from the last Japanese vehicle I restored, nuts from gauges from 76CB750. That warmed my heart and made my day!

 

Very interesting. Will be keen to see the front put back together with those.

 

me too! I’ve got a few more surprises for the front.

 

I went with aftermarket. But I use my truck hard and have read that the OEMs either need to be reinforced (gusseted/plated) or replaced with something beefier.

These are from DMZ Fab. http://dmzfab.com/product/tacoma-motor-mount-perches/



These are definitely BEEF.

 

Those are quite nice, thank you for the thoughts. These original ones are not very beefy at all. However, I do not use my truck hard, and am trying to keep it all original.

From a fabrication perspective, that joint and welds, as well as the brackets are super strong. I think you will just rip the frame before those would fail and then you have bigger problems my friend! Have you considered that the originals are designed to drop the engine on the ground in the event of a head on collision, and not straight through the cab.

I was referring to the rubber mounts themselves though when asking the question.

already have the originals back on.

 

Check out what I found when going through my owners manual. Remember like it was yesterday!

 

Getting closer. Calipers are rebuilt. All gear boxes drained and new oil going back in soon. New motor mounts. What else should I maintenance while it’s all so accessible?

what is a reasonable lifespan of front wheel bearings? These are at 135k of very gentle use.