2004 Toyota Tacoma Frame Swap & Camper Build

[gavin234]

Let me tell you how it all started...

It was September of 2013, I was going into my final year of high school. I had a fair amount of money saved up from working all summer and was thinking about buying my first vehicle. Instead of bumming my parents Toyota Matrix, I was looking for something more eye catching to finish off high school with. Being immensely influenced by my parents love for Toyota's and knowing that if I brought anything else home I would likely be shunned, I quickly narrowed my search on the Tacoma. I have always loved these truck. Some of my earliest memories are driving around in my dads 1989 pickup. So yea back to it, September 2013 I found it! A 2004 Tacoma 4x4 extended cab, v6 3.4l, Automatic, with around 198,000 miles on it for the reasonable price of $3600 CAD! I was the happiest kid ever that day picking up my sexy beast of a truck, felt like freedom.



Here is one of the earliest Pictures I have of it. Already making use of the bed to pick up a toy for my buddy. A lot has changed since then.




Now after about three and a half years, 32,000 miles, a frame swap, homemade bumpers, camper shell and much more shes still kicking. But it took some work and I still have much more planned! Ill try to fill in the gaps best I can and after that I will be posting the work I am currently indulged in. My goal is to make it an inexpensive camper/expedition rig for weekend camping trips and possibly a trip from Nova Scotia across Canada in the near future.

 

[gavin234]

Breaking It In

In the first year of owning my Tacoma I didn't do a hole lot to it. General stuff like struts, leaf springs, oil change, greasing everything. One day though on my way to school I looked down at my dash and noticed my temperature gauge was reading really hot. So I pulled over looked under the hood didn't see much but I felt the rad hose and it was pretty hot. So called up dad for some advice. Ended up driving it home in 2 minute intervals to let it cool down before driving it another 2 minutes. Yea that took some time. Found out our assumption of a broken water pump was correct. one of the bearings was wore out and it was leaking around the shaft.



The silver round thing in the middle of the timing belt is what makes the water pump go. kinda in the thick of it. Took some time to get it out and while we were at it we replaced the thermostat as well.
since owning a Tacoma I started watching more and more videos on them until i came across expedition overland's youtube series! Was completely blown away by that life style and I knew it was something I wanted to aim for with my truck. Well just on a lot cheaper budget. my First modification was not a good one at all I would later learn. A 2.5" lift and level from rough country, consisted of a 2.5" strut spacer and 1" shackles on the rear leaf springs. It made my truck look awesome for the around $300 it cost.



The down side of this lift is that when your strut is at full extension the top control arm will hit on your spring causing the spring to hit you strut. That can cause some unwanted damage down the road. I later took this kit out and back down to stock height. As of right now though I ordered some new upgrades to lift me back up the right way!

 

[gavin234]

As many know Tacoma's don't have the most rust resistant frames. Living in a place with salty winters is not a good combination at all. almost ever since the day I bought the truck my father and I had been trying to get Toyota to replace my frame because there were starting to be some concerning holes around the front leaf spring mounts and other areas. But Toyota wouldn't budge, their reasoning was that my truck didn't get the rust preventing spray that was issued before I owned it and is no longer available therefore I did not qualify for the frame recall. so my inspection was going to run out in like October of 2015 and the frame would not pass and Toyota would not fix it. The truck was looking less and less like a good deal. Luckily my father found a guy selling parts from a first gen Tacoma that came from the states and the frame was good and for sale! Yay for Kijiji! $500 and 9 hours of driving later I had a frame.



It may look a little rusty but its only surface. The hole frame is solid and still had a lot of the paint left. the frame is from a 4 door so the back cab mounts and the front box mounts will need to be modified to fit my extended cab but that is the least of my worries compared to whats ahead. This will be the general steps taken during the frame swap. I cant go into too much detail because I was not present for all of it. It took a little over 2 months to complete the job while working on it after work and my father taking some weeks off. None of us are mechanics but we are fairly handy just need to make sure everything you take off the old frame goes back on the new one in the right order. makes it sound easy enough right. Cant hurt to try.



First we disconnected the lights and took the bumpers and box off and stared painting the frame, I used red oxide primer and tremclad. Probably should have went all out and bed lined it.



Disconnected everything from the cab. Pro tip, a logging arm on a 165 Massey Ferguson trailer is not recommended for lifting a cab. It can just do it but I would not recommend. Bigger tractor defiantly needed for putting it back on.