Hello from the U.P. of Michigan! Tacoma project underway.

Americandad · Jul 17, 2017

Hello fellas, I'm a first time Tacoma owner, long time Tundra owner. My 03 Tundra is my daily and I've owned it a long time. It's got all the normal mods, Bilsteins top notch, diff drop, poly rack bushings, Wheelers AAL's4, long tube headers running true duals with side exit, 285 meats on it and more I'm sure I've forgotten. I love this truck and plan on keeping it forever. Has a solid frame and got Toyota's CRC spray, which was pretty much gone after a year or two so I stripped the whole frame and did it right myself.

The Tacoma I just got a few weeks ago. Been looking for awhile for a clean one but dang they're expensive around here. Well a customer called my shop and asked if I could take the hitch off their mother's Tacoma cause they're going to sell it, I'm like don't do anything I'll be over tonight, I've know them a long time. Well turns out they were selling it for parts cause they just found out the frame was bad. Too bad cause the truck was grandmas and is super clean, not even a rock chip on the paint, low miles for a 99 at 154,000, V6 auto, extra cab, diff lock, really nice.

I took a hard look at the frame and poked around quite a bit. Rotten on the drivers side from the front spring mount to about 2 feet forward. I can fix it though, and the rest of the frame is good, although I'm going to beef the whole thing up. I paid $1,000 for it, and it just had $800 of brand new tires installed. This thing with a good frame would go for over $12k around here easy.

Just pulled the box and have the cab ready to come off, only 3 brake lines and the steering shaft left to pull. I'm going to sandblast the whole frame, weld in new steel, use a couple pieces from autorust.com, and box the rear section with stuff from Trail Gear. It's going to get the full OME treatment front and back with 881's and Dakar's, getting the full kit from Wheelers. There'll be more mods I'm sure but the goal right now it to get it solid and tight.

Here's some pics of my Tundra and the Tacoma.