Tacoma from the Crypt

Well folks I’m finally taking the time to log in this fun/challenging/eye opening/still in progress, build or should I say...REBUILD that’s been a work in progress for over two years now. Feel free to give me pointers and input!! Thanks for taking the time to check it out, I hope y’all enjoy!

The arrival..March 2015
A 2005 TRD off-road 6-speed



Took a chance and bought it off an online auction without looking at it in person first....no big deal, “it will buff out” After further inspection it was decided that the truck took a decent impact in the front while towing a pretty heavy trailer. But those were only guesses. Either way there was lots of work ahead of us, that was certain. On the up side when we were looking at pictures while bidding we thought the sides of the bed had chipping paint and they had described the transmission as “missing reverse” but upon arrival we realized there was lots of vinyl stickers (way better than paint failing) and the shift knob was so wore down you couldn’t see the shift pattern so whoever jumped in the rig to write details didn’t know where reverse was. So those two key factors saved me lots of time and $$$ right from the beginning.

So we got her on the frame rack and started stripping her down.


After further inspection I found that this was its second resurrection! Found that the core support was halfway sheet metal screwed on and there was just tons of bad hidden repairs all over. So the job continued to grow. Oh and did I mention that the inside cab was like sawdust pile? Being a retired arborist truck it took me a half of a day vacuuming it out Haha.


After we pulled the front rails around a little we had to take the bed off and pull on the rear rails. It had split the right rail so we decided to add some extra strength to both sides.

Before

After


My brother in law, who I owe BIG time for helping me through this mayhem, decided to strip all the bondo from the original repairs on the left side of the truck back down to weld up every hole and rework the metal for a better quality job. Thanks Max!!


That was after we welded in new aprons..


At one time this was a WELL used work truck so there was damage all over. Then the choice came over me, to either fix the obvious damages or to go an extra mile.....or five, to just go the whole way and fix every dent I could find and paint the fucker complete! With this being my first Tacoma and first build without supervision of my Dad I quickly decided to just go all out! I mean, why not!?


To be continued.....

 

This is unreal man thank you for sharing

 

Thank you and much appreciated bud!! I look forward to continuing this tale after work tonight..

 

Is the last picture how she's currently sitting?

 

Nope. That was from 2015. She’s currently sitting about like this..
Well that was from August haha summer time.

 

This was something I thought about doing (or maybe somebody else doing since I’m mechanically retarded). If we’re going to replace many stock parts with aftermarket, why not start with something where the stock parts need to be replaced anyways?

 

Looks fantastic man, glad to see a taco restored back to life. It'll serve you well for many years

 

Exactly! I love buying wrecked vehicles and rebuilding them. You learn so much in the process while saving money.

 

Thanks again bud. I had to bring one back from the dead not only to learn but also to keep the yota’s alive! This is my third Toyota and first Tacoma. I love them for sure. Good long lasting vehicles.

 

My truck has a salvaged title but all the work was done before I got it. First thing I did was replace the brand new stock upper control arms with light racing UCA’s. Grrr

 

Well the intentions of buying a salvage title is to save money off the top of the selling price. So then you can put that money into upgrades and other accessories! Did you find out how badly it was damaged before the buy?

 

Awesome work on the rebuild! It's giving me a little more motivation to finish mine. Keep up the good work

My CoPart truck: (build/rebuild thread coming)

 

Thank you much bud! It has been an awesome journey that is for sure. I’ll be updating sometime this weekend with the next chapter of the story. Long live the rebuilders! Good luck to you on your reconstruction!

 

Definitely gives me humbleness for the few things I've done along the way!

 

Haha yea, you can say it’s been one hell of a journey!