mini truck bed converted to fit tacoma?

[mountain]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but the beds on the japanese mini trucks you see around are exactly what I'm looking for, for my tacoma double cab.
They have fold down sides and look similar to the ones made by ute and the ones you see on alot of the trucks in oz. Can't find any dimensions for them, and obviously there would be some work to make them fit, but I've seen non running mini trucks for under a grand. Has anyone tried this or have experience?

 

[enzo]

Wat?

 

[mountain]

The little flat nose micro trucks. They aren't registerable so you mainly see them on farms. They're all over the place in japan, korea etc..

 

[mountain]

http://www.allterrainminitrucks.com/ these

 

[enzo]

Ok gotcha. I don't know if that'll work but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

 

[Clutch]

Saw one of those for sale on our morning drive today, plus they use them at the city park where I walk my dog...could take my tape measure if you wish, unless someone beats me to it.

 

[4x4x4doors]

I believe those (min-truck) will be too small.
These will likely be too large: http://www.fthr.com/truck-bed-commercial-utility-trailers/model1651-truck-bed/

 

[mountain]

57"x75" long cut the middle out and reweld, move the wheel well? Going to look at one tomorrow for a grand, runs so should be able to remove the bed and still get at least 500-750 back out of the truck. Has a headache rack on it also, just have to figure out the fuel fill.

 

[herm]

seems like a lot of work. if you can do all that, then maybe it would be easier to just build one yourself exactly the way you want it.

 

[Containerized]

I looked into this for two of our work trucks in Nairobi. The best suppliers are all in Oz, what you want is an aluminum utility tri-fold bed. Tell that to an Aussie supplier and he'll know what you're looking for. From our research on Hilux and Taco beds, it shouldn't be hard to swap a Hilux unit onto a Taco.

 

[justbecause]

From our research on Hilux and Taco beds, it shouldn't be hard to swap a Hilux unit onto a Taco.

Do you know that for sure?
Build/swap links?

 

[Containerized]

The underside is close enough for Hilux aftermarket beds to fit a Taco with minimum fabrication, though you'll need to do some work to get it to look right behind the cab.

The upside is that the aftermarket (tri-fold) Hilux beds are substantially tougher than the Taco factory bed (stock vs. stock).

The downside is that they have issues like rust and vibration that the Taco beds do not generally have (at least here in east Africa).

I had my Taco parked next to a Hilux a few days ago and we were looking at this and it's an interesting option. Obviously, the Hilux bed is heavier and would eat into your GVWR.

In the end, we just decided to do something custom without the tri-fold, but I think the Hilux bed swap is interesting.

That said, a tri-fold bed is far more usable (the ones you see in OZ) if you carry wide loads or unusual shapes.

As for your original idea, I would suggest finding a Suzuki Carry with the tri-fold bed, a common option.

This should swap, but you'll have to do some fabrication... they tend to have too much bed in front of the wheel and not enough behind.

A typical Suzuki Carry tri-fold: http://www.americasminitruckcenter.com/americas-mini-trucks.php?tid=38

 

[4xdog]

Take a look here:
http://www.uteltd.com/

Don

 

[esetter]

The ute bed fits well and install is not too difficult.

 

[JWP58]

If my bed ever gets destroyed, a ute tray will be the first thing I buy. It would be great to mount my dog box to it, and an overhead rack.

Esetter did you buy that from uteltd?