My 98 Tacoma Flat Bed Project

Alright, so I just acquired this non-op Tacoma. There is significant frame rust on the rear but not so much the front. It has a 3rz-fe engine that doesn't run, and 4x4 5 speed.

Pictures will be in a following post while I wait for them to upload.

Anyway, the bed and tailgate are in rough shape, but no big deal because I can build an aluminum flat bed pretty easily. I work for a somewhat prominent offroad shop so I'll have no issue building that and some bumpers/skids/sliders.

It's certainly going to be an adorable little flat bed truck.

The cab and interior are in good shape but are filthy.

Anyway, this weekend I'll be pulling the head and ordering a remanufactured one. I'll do the timing chain and vacuum hoses and all of that in a week or two one parts arrive and hopefully this will be moving under its own power fairly quickly.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

subbed! Im doing an almost identical build but with a non-op'd 5vz-fe. can't wait to see what you do for the flat bed. I'll be starting mine in the near future.

 

Nice project, more importantly is that a BJ45? And an 80 series in the other pic?

 

Can't wait to see where this goes.



Half the fun is fixing the frame

 

That's my boss's Bandeirante resto-mod project. It's sitting on an 80 chassis with a custom soft top currently. We got the drivetrain moved forward 11" and built the tunnel and floorboards but had to stop because business picked up. The 80 is a customer's truck. We built a front bumper and it's currently waiting for a rear.

 

I may have a 3d scanner and laser cutter at my disposal...

So making some frame plates and gussets won't take any longer than it takes to weld them in.

 

Only real advice I have is to watch weight. Stock bed is only about 200lbs.

 

It *should* be under 350 pounds, including the rear bumper, headache rack, and storage area. I'm not as concerned about adding weight to the rear since I have a T100 for heavier loads and the Tacoma is mostly for offroad trips.

 

Fair enough. Rear bumper is about 50, factory hitch another 50, so you should be pretty close.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld! Great project, looking forward to hearing about your progress.

 

I decided I'm just going to send it and put a 3.4 in there.

 

I'm in the process of procuring a 2.7 for it. Decided against the 3.4 because apparently they don't mate up the same transmission.

My boss and I worked out an agreement where I will design and fab (but not weld) a flatbed for his f250 and he will buy all of the material for my truck's stuff.

So I have material in, and a pretty solid 3d model of what I am doing on the f250. Can't show that, but once I get the Tacoma scanned I'll show what I come up with for the flatbed. It's looking pretty sweet though.

The deck is 3/16" aluminum and box housings are made of 1/4" (though they may be 3/16 as well for the Tacoma). Water tight boxes are 1/8" aluminum in nonstructural areas and doors/drawers range from 1/16" to 3/16" depending on function and location. The bed will be isolated from the frame with 1/2" rubber pads, but will have interference sized washer plates so even if the rubber stopped existing the bed would be secured.

I think we found a goo compromise between blockiness and usable space. Looking at other people's beds they tend to go for a totally square utility bed or angles everywhere and no storage.

I am implementing water storage and a compressed air tank in there, and hopefully camp kitchen stuff in a rear drawer.

I don't think I'm going to plate the rusted out parts of the frame. Instead I'm going to order some custom rear frame sections from these guys: https://www.autoweldchassis.com/spec.html
2x4x11 gauge should be plenty fine I think.


Regarding lift: I am doing a 3" lift in the front. Should I lower the frame in the rear 2-3" for lift or do the various lift kit options also provide more travel? The lower the frame in the more usable space I have in the bed.

 

I may be out in left field but I don't think you'd get much more travel unless you 4-link it? not sure the axle/leafs in stock locations will be more than a few extra inches

hopefully someone will chime in and tell me hush. but since you are rebuilding the back end anyway you might as well customize it to suit what you want

 

Looks like I'm going to pull the cab to swap the engine and do the transmission and frame work. Any tips?

 

I will buy the rear lower 12x12 piece of the wheel well from you both sides, plus the drivers side top center of the wheel well, a 6 by 12 section.

 

PM sent

 

I got the bed off and found that my frame actually isn't that rusty. From underneath in the dark it looks like flaking rust, but it's actually rust under the frame paint that's coming off in big flakes. It definitely has rust that needs to be dealt with, but there is plenty of fresh metal there to wire wheel and paint, so that's convenient and unexpected.

There's is no chance of pounding a screwdriver through any part of it, and everywhere I scrape shows fresh metal.

 

I've got the scan and some measurements. I'm shooting for a 2" lift and 33s from where it sits. Once I get an engine and bumper on the front and a bed on the rear I'll probably want 3", though I may run 31s until I get around to the lift.

The surface of the bed is 40" from the ground with 33s or 36" with 31s and minimal lift.