My entry into the third gen world...

This will be my second Tundra, the first one started off like this



It was a 2006 Toyota Tundra Double Cab SR5. When I got it, I was pleasantly surprised it had a brand new frame and decided I wanted to make something of it. Long story short, it ended up with a Sequoia front end.



I drove this last winter and let me say it didn't let me down. It drove like a tank, even when we got over 5 feet of snow in 24 hours.



As with all things in life, all good things have to come to an end. In reality, although I enjoyed the truck I felt it was a bit dated and found myself adding thing to it in order to catch it up with the times (ie. Bluetooth.) Along with this, the 4.7 in the truck felt great around town but once I got on the highway I felt like I needed more power. So, come April I got an offer on this truck and turned around and bought a 2014 Toyota Tundra Double Cab Limited TRD.



This truck has most of the thing I want, so I felt like it was a good starting point. The following pictures will be my progress from roughly 4/16/18 to present day. Keep in mind I'm not a body work kind of guy so be gentle.






































So present day, it still needs wet sanded and buffed. Waiting on another fender flare and then I can finish the badges. All in all, a lot of long nights and quite a few days missed with my 3 month old son.

 

"I'm not a body work guy" proceeds to un-cluster the body. That is a nice looking truck. Are you planning on doing anything further?

 

Not bad at all sir for “not being a body kind of guy” haha great job bringing that truck back to life.

 

That statement was true though, by trade I'm a programmer although I do turn wrenches on the side. Body work to me is on the scale of pulling teeth, it's tedious and drives me nuts when I find imperfections.

As far as the the plans for the trucks, in the short term I'd like to completely finish getting it to it's previous state. In the long term, that remains to be seen. I need to spend some time with my son and seeing as it's summer I should tend to the house some. Eventually though I can see myself gearing towards a TRD Pro front end along with better lighting. In the process of rebuilding, I already equipped Bilstein 5100's since the rough country lift ended up breaking the stem on one of the factory shocks. I'm your typical guy with the mod bug, as much as I try to resist eventually I give in.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

That explains the almost 3 week lead time on the current work. I vote for the TRD Pro front end becuase the old school "TOYOTA" spelling is the best- paint the letters white to get the retro effect.
I hear ya about spending time with the kiddo, have 2 under 2 myself so that is priority #1. Load up the stroller in the bed and take him on a nice outing!

 

Looks great man. You have patience on your side. What size tires are on now? and what kind of flares are those?

 

Nice work!!! Truck looks>>

 

Great job man! I thought you said you weren’t a body guy? Coulda fooled me....

 

Good looking truck sir. Great work.

 

I like the way you're thinking, probably black out the rest of the chrome while I'm at it. Keep it simple.
Yup with him and the husky, I think we're going to be spending plenty of time outside.

Thank you! The tires are Toyo Open Country LT295/70/R18. The flares are OE Style Bushwacker 0.75" that allow you to retain the factory mudflap and require no drilling.

Thank you! Hard work pays off.

Thanks guys. I will say this much, doing body work myself makes me truly appreciate the people that do it every day. Takes a keen eye and very sensitive touch to get a nice finish.

 

Welcome from SoCal. You're truck is lookin' good! And, congratulations on your newest sidekick!

 

hows the parts hunting been? have you just dealered it up or been having luck with the salvage places out there sourcing what you need?

 

Thank you! From the both of us.

This is one area where I can thank Toyota's lazy nature. Since the truck basically hasn't changed since 07, there is a lot of cross over between gen 2 and gen 3. As such, this was by far easier than my first gen rebuild where a double cab was different from extended or single, SR5 changed things even more so, and then having the last two years made it even more different. This repair breaks down like this...

Air Bags will be by far the most expensive and difficult. Typically driver's air bags are harder to find since there's typically a driver present at the time of accident so they blow, aka there are less of them. Ebay, car-part, and/or places like Five Star air bags are the best for this.

Air Bag modules and seat belts are the easiest. Modules can have crash data wiped for about $50 and seat belts can be rebuild for about $50 also.

Suspension, at this point you have 11 years worth of OE parts to choose from so no reason to buy all new. If you have access to a shop and they use LKQ, even better. I had an entire knee assembly (UCA, LCA, knuckle, strut, etc) delivered for $200 from a '16 with 11k miles on it. If LKQ isn't an option, you can search for knee assemblies on eBay at a slightly higher premium.

Body is a mixed one. If you need a chunk of frame (I didn't), anything 07 and up will work. This is common too since we have C-channel in the rear. Door's are identical with the second gen, mine is from a 2010 I believe. Fenders and bed are obviously different. With this one, I had an eBay OE fender shipped from Cali and a eBay door with a dent from just above Albany, NY. This one was a gamble, dented door for $500 or near mint for around $1000 big difference. Beds are notoriously expensive and difficult to find. I think most I saw were around $2.3k and up, compared to a domestic where you can find a bed closer to $1k. Bed sides LKQ wanted something like $400 for a half cut and $600 for a full cut. I ended up going through the dealer on this one since I had an entire skin for $376 delivered. Then small pieces like fender brackets and etc, I used dealer parts also since I wanted good fit.

Paint hurt more than a tickle. Had a local Hovis mix up Chromabase paint, one pint was over $150 just for paint. This doesn't count primer sealer, clear, or any of the activators/reducers.

I know this is a little long winded but hopefully answers your question. Basically when it comes down to it, check prices everywhere (even dealer) and see what your best options are.

 

Very nice progress! Keep up the good work and the pictures.

 

Thanks, hopefully within the week I'll have the other flare (expensive) and paint finalized.

 

Looks great!

 

Thanks!

Thank you. We all start somewhere, with enough practice we get better.

 

Truck looks brand new. Great job.

 

"not being a body kind of guy"

As I scrolled, I was expecting to see a FrankenTundra, but you did a good job!

 

Question I thought of- where did you get the truck from? Does it now have a salvage/rebuilt title?

 

I am curious as to how much money was saved by buying a slightly damaged truck and repairing it yourself. How much do you have into the truck now, if you don't mind my asking?

 

Truck is looking good.

 

Congrats and welcome

 

Props to you man. Looks killer.

Just curious, how do you insure it? I figure it has a savage title?

 

Appreciate the kind words, thank you. Always great to see my efforts appreciated and hard work recognized.

The truck was purchased at a salvage auction so upon receipt it was branded as a salvage vehicle. With the rebuild nearing an end, the process is in the works to switch this from a certificate of salvage to a reconstructed title. Biggest difference being, certificate of salvage basically just establishes ownership but you're not allowed to register it nor drive it on public roadways. Reconstructed title is essentially a normal title with full rights except noting the fact that a vehicle has been rebuilt. Depending on state laws kit cars, modified vehicles, in some cases even vehicles with a color change can be branded as reconstructed.

That being said the negative stigma of reconstructed vehicles seems to be going away slowly especially since most of the opinions ended up being unfounded and biased based on hearsay. In reality, repairs both good and bad must pass a more rigorous safety inspection in order for the paperwork to be submitted for a reconstructed title. In my case, the only aftermarket parts used in the rebuild were Moog tie rod and sway bar link as well as an OE equivalent tail light, otherwise everything was factory down to the splash shield.

Severity of the damage is reality down to the creativity of the person repairing it and what they have at their disposal. I will say this, I was looking at rollovers as well as accidents because it is much easier to say buy a bed around $2500 and a cab say for $3000 then to be replacing panels and etc. With trucks it's actually simpler than cars, your solid foundation is the frame/drivetrain and even now with 20 ton frame machines pretty much anything can be straightened. The stigma of weakened metal is also kind of a moot point, once you see how much effort it takes to put one of these back into shape you would understand. Unibody can be more tricky since it's the design of the body to include crumple zones in order to absorb damage. In the end, pretty much any part of the vehicle can be replaced whether it's used or from the dealer.

In terms of savings, with this particular truck you're looking at about $13k below book, should have been more like $16k but that's a different story. In general, if you are the labor your savings can be closer to 50% but with more work you outsource the closer you get to clean retail. In this case, all the labor was me and I also painted myself. The paint alone would fetch around $3k. I will put this disclaimer in here though .... with these auctions, especially if buying sight unseen, you run the risk of losing your ass off. Whether it be, dishonest sellers "spiffing" a vehicle up to hide damage in order to turn around an resell at a profit or just in general the damages can exceed your initial estimate and sometimes you can spend as much if not more than a clean title variant. Generally it takes a good eye and a fair bit of research for a good purchase.

Thank you, insurance is just like any other vehicle ... they take a vin and what coverage you want and the rest is pricing depending on your record. Salvage title as I said is different from reconstructed. I don't even have the reconstructed yet and I already have insurance on it. Contrary to popular belief, there are even institutions that would give you loans on a reconstructed vehicle, not all but they are out there.

 

HOLY COW! Not body work type of guy did a BAD ASS job pin getting it to its current state! It looks GREAT! And your baby is cute!!!

 

Thank you on both counts, you could say he's growing on us ...

 

Awe! I love kids.... specially babies! I have 2 of my own.... they aren't babies any more though! Still young and a lot of fun. Dreading the teen years with my youngest....i think my oldest will be easy

 

Oh I can only imagine, better yet I don't think I want to yet ... worrying about school etc. Still getting acclimated though, it hasn't quite hit me like it has my wife ... parenthood that is. With each day though, you can notice more awareness, emotion, or just in general human-like qualities.

 

Yup! It's amazing watching them grow and become little humans enjoy him!