Chico: 06 frame swap/super-mega rebuild

First post here - I have been a long-time lurker on Tacomaworld, but never have been one much for posting. Making this thread to hopefully keep myself accountable and document progress as I go. I'm really really bad at taking pictures, so hopefully it forces me to do that as well. Anyway, here's the story:

Last weekend I picked up a 2006 from a coworker for dirt cheap - paid $360 plus lunch, and he towed it to me. TRD, access cab, etc. etc. The truck runs well and the body and interior are in decent shape, considering we are in Michigan. The frame, however, is absolute trash. I have welded a few of these old toyota frames at this point, but this one is well beyond worth saving.

Plan is to do a full frame swap, and a bunch of needed maintenance and parts replacement while things are off/out. Figure I can end up with a decently built/updated truck for still significantly less than I could just buy one. I've got a copy of the FSM for the frame recall and have started pulling stuff.

Heres some shitty pictures, taken on my iphone potato, and a photo of my long term daily as well, a 99 tacoma with 300k, a 95 face swap, and some other stuff.

 

See this here thread -> https://www.tundras.com/threads/early-1st-gen-2000-2003-tundra-frame-replacement-faq.54331/

There are plenty of people who are still getting frames replaced for free from Toyota under warranty. I was one of them along with several other members here. That thread will tell you where to look at your truck.

 

Welcome. I'm not sure about others here but, I want to see some pictures of that frame. Lets see how bad it really is.

 

Putting the vin in didn't come up with any open recalls, but I will have to read through the whole thread. Not holding out hope, but that would be sick...

 

Here are some dark but illustrative pictures of the frame, with the worst part. The whole thing, every crossmember, diffs, everything, is completely covered in heavy scale. Like at least three pounds fell on my face tonight while working on it.

 

Holy moly!!! Be careful driving that, well, maybe don’t drive it

 

Tonight I took off the hitch, bumper, and unbolted the bed. Only broke two bolts on the hitch, which was pretty cool.

The bolts on the bed are of the T55 star bit variety. This truck has a nice line-x bedliner, but that unfortunately made the bolts unremovable because they were covered in rubbery gunk:



No worries, welded some nuts on there and zipped em off



And the real mvps:

 

Oh hahah - it's not driving anywhere. When I picked it up from my buddy's place, the rear drums were seized. It had shitty brakes before, but once we got the drums off, it had nothing at all. Couldn't even drive it on the trailer, so we had to pull it on one foot at a time with ratchet straps.

 

Nice. Looking forward to see it back on the road. Seems you’ve got quite a bit of work to do though.

 

Tonight I finished disconnecting things under the bed and started working on things in the engine bay. Drained the coolant, removed the intake, radiator, hoses, AT cooler lines, vacuum lines, and some other stuff. Managed to snap a rusty bolt head on the shift linkage, so need to do some work on that, as well as the, brake lines, parking brake, etc. Taking good notes and marking things as I go. Biggest issue currently is where to put everything in my garage.

My plan is to get everything disconnected and leave the body sitting on there until I can get a frame sourced and start building it up. Then I will devise some contraption to lift the body and roll the new frame under. Easy enough! If anyone has or has a lead on a frame in the Michigan - Ohio - Illinois area, or has a good idea on where to source one shipped, I'd be very interested.

Here's some pictures for the day.. probably won't make much, if any, progress this weekend as my in-laws will be in town.

Broken shift linkage:



Engine bay sans some stuff

 

So NO/GO on the free* frame from toyota?

 

Based on the thread you linked before, this truck was never covered under the recall, since it's a 2006, just the limited service campaign that ended. Reading through the whole thread, looks like everybody that got their frame replaced was a 2000-2003 owner, covered under the total recall. Looking the vin up shows no open recalls.

Going on the toyota/owners site shows no record of a check of the frame or a coating applied, but as I understand it, the recall only covers 2000-2003? Is my interpretation correct? Perhaps I should check with the local dealer this week after work, just to see if there's a slim chance they'll sympathize?

 

Well, it has been awhile since I posted or made big progress on the truck. I work outside through Michigan winter and am also in the midst of a bathroom remodel and various other home projects, so it's sometimes hard to find motivation at the end of the day. Also have been at a standstill while looking for a frame, but that wait is over!

First, my wife helped me get the bed off of the truck, so I could start unbolting things under there, and I also started piling up front suspension components, along with some misc maintenance stuff that I want to do while the truck is apart. We set the bed on my jobox, but it is now on sawhorses in the drive. I will clean up and paint the underside while it's off.



Big thing is that I was able to find a frame a couple hours away and last weekend we went to get it with the help of a friend. The frame is super clean from down south, and looks flawless. It still has good brake lines and fuel lines attached. The guy painted it with rustoleum, but I am thinking about adding some extra protection, maybe something more heavy duty, and then a fluid film or woolwax type rust preventative on top. What do folks think of rustoleum enamel?

Anyway, the guy who had it owns a double cab, and bought the frame for his truck without checking dimensions or doing enough research into it I guess. Bad for him, good for us, as we got it a good deal on it. Through a series of events and lack of available rentals, we ended up towing a double axle uhaul trailer behind our Tacoma. I was nervous about that, as it was a 4 hour round trip on the highway, but it went really well and the truck handled it without any issue. We were able to pull 65-70 mph heading back north with the frame and trailer.

That's the update for now, hopefully I can get the ball rolling here sooner than later, after finishing our bathroom project... So far the running tally for the truck is still under $2000.

 

OP, you're a legend in the making, sir.

 

Well it's been a good while since I posted, and this will be a big one. Also not a lot of pictures until the the most recent portion of the build.

After getting the frame I saved up a bit and got a big pile of parts. I'm sure I won't remember it all but basically got all new parts for front end - suspension, brakes, steering wear parts - rear end wear parts, timing belt kit, some other engine maintenance stuff, etc. etc. In the midst of all this, we were redoing our bathroom which took a lot of energy and time.

At this point I built some stands to hold the frame at relative ride height, and I started to transfer some stuff from frame to frame. Started with the gas tank, rear end, and rear suspension. As I transferred stuff over I cleaned the rust off any metal parts that I planned to reuse, and painted rustoleum primer and enamel. Cleaned up the rear axle and assembled the back brakes. Decided to reuse the leaf springs for now, but may replace down the road.

I then moved to disassembling the front end so I could reuse whatever parts I needed when putting together all the new stuff. I was getting pretty close to getting that done when buddy came over and we were able to disconnect everything on the body and start lifting the cab, just a few inches and sat it on blocks.



Then, last Wednesday, we came home from work to a notice from the township that I was in violation of code by having a partially assembled vehicle in my drive. We had 7 days to get it out of the driveway or we would be cited. Spent a few hours mad about that, but decided, whatever, it was go time.

 

Wednesday June 7th:

Immediately after getting the notice I made a trip to the infamous harbor freight - I try to buy quality tools and American made whenever I can, but some things I just can't afford to throw down the cash for. I bought a 2 ton engine hoist, load leveler, and 3 ton floor jack. Spent some time cleaning up the front differential and my wife put some paint on it while I put together the hoist. I also managed to break a vacuum line connection on the 4wd actuator, which is something that I still need to address.

 

Thursday night, June 8th:

Got a good portion of the front end assembled. Pressing the balljoints into the spindles was difficult, I don't have a press, or somehow, a vise, and the hf balljoint press kit doesn't really fit with our style spindle. I managed to add a socket into the mix and lose one adapter to get it kinda work, but I couldn't hold it still, or get my impact in there. So I bolted it to the frame and used a pipe on a breaker bar.

I did not paint the spindles because of the time crunch, and I need to press in new wheel bearings when I get a change, so will have to disassemble the front end again at some point. I ordered the parts but they had yet to arrive.

Got most of the front end put together that night, minus the brakes.

 

Friday night:

I finished up the front end by getting the brakes done and got it rolling. Moved some shit around and some buddies came over and we pushed it out of the garage.

 

Saturday:

As soon as we got the notice, I asked a couple buddies if they could help with the big push of swapping the cab and drivetrain on the weekend. They were in, and yesterday, we got it done. It couldn't have been done without all of their help, even those without car experience, and a lot of thinking and figuring it out.

It is worth saying that if I were to do this again, I would definitely go all out and buy a lift. I tried to buy a gantry crane, but hf said its discontinued and would't sell me the floor model. I didn't have time to wait for one from summit or somewhere else to arrive, so had to make do with what we had.

In the end, teamwork, a lot of creativity, jack stands, floor jacks, 4x4s, and some landscape blocks from my buddies yard got it done. It was definitely a little sketchy, but it worked, and everyone emerged safe and whole.

Ended up using jacks in the rear and the hoist around the core support in the front, raising very slowly and blocking it off as we went, then repeating. Once it was high enough to clear the frame we dragged it out and swapped the drivetrain to the new chassis, the rolled it back under and lowered back down.

I didn't take any photos at the end - but we got it done. Took about 11 hours, including breakfast, lunch, and an ice cream break.

 

Today, Sunday:

It was supposed to rain, which we desperately need, and I needed to get the truck in the garage. I spent a few hours cleaning up the wreckage from yesterday, and reconnecting hoses, electrical, shift linkage, etc. etc. Got it hooked up well enough to steer it into the garage, and could probably try to fire up if it had fluids.



Still need:

steering rack bellow clamps
4wd actuator vacuum connection
a few brake lines plumbed
brakes bled
timing belt kit
spark plugs
pcv valve
some other misc maintenance stuff
radiator hooked up
fluids
bed on
clean up and paint rockers

hopefully I can get this all done in the next few weeks/weekends. But over the big hump.

 

Awesome job so far....tip of the hat to not only you but your wonderful wife for the man playing with his toys.



As for the Township folks, may I suggest 2 of these....

 

Yep she is definitely my biggest supporter and gives me a lot of patience and grace. I am lucky to have her as a partner.

As for the township, I agree. It's wild to me that I can drive a dangerously rusted truck down the road in a state with no inspection, but I can't work on a vehicle on my own property.

 

I fought that the whole time i lived in pasadena, tx. They knew i liked my junk, and checked on me regularly, but a car cover could keep em at bay. Guess you've gotta do it before the notice, but once its covered they have diddley to form a complaint about your project.

congrats & respect earned, its not easy wrangling up a team of buddies for a time sensitive goal.

 

Been awhile since my last post again. I was wanting to compile a good list of everything I've done to this point finishing the truck, but life and other projects have gotten in the way of my record keeping and I'm sure I don't remember everything I've done.

After getting the truck pushed into the garage I replaced the timing belt, water pump, tensioners, drive belt, as well as spark plugs and boots, pcv, and some other misc maintenance stuff.



At some point I also welded up the exhaust with a combo of some cheap tubing, the original tail pipe, and a flowmaster parts store special. I think the hangers were mostly random round stock I had laying around.

 

I wish I could figure out how to resize some of these photos. I'm not too tech savvy.... seems I can only choose thumbnail or mega-sized.

Anyway.... After that, my wife helped me roll the truck out of the garage and we plopped the bed on it and bolted the bumper back up. Post timing belt the motor was running and everything seemed good, but I still had no brakes because of rusted lines. I was unable to find any clear or full diagrams showing all the lines that I needed. However, I think that @shifty` has a thread on here that describes how to find part numbers in the toyota system after plugging in your vin, and that was tedious but ultimately very helpful. Many thanks for that sir. I was able to get all the lines I needed ordered from McGeorge, except one that was just too long and had to be sourced locally. Ended up replacing like 8 lines or something, many on the firewall from the ABS unit to the master, down to the calipers, and along the frame. Afterward my wife helped me bleed it and after several adjustments of the rear shoes everything is working great.

Truck finally looking like a truck:




After all that, it was time to finish dialing in the suspension, doing little shake down runs around the neighborhood, and getting an alignment. After a lot of trial and error, I managed to get everything straight enough to drive to a local shop to do the alignment. Before I started that, I threw the tires from my Tacoma on (285/75/16 KBro2s), along with the spacers I had on that rig as well.

This process had several confounding moments, where I would line it all up, and drive it, only to find that it was all out of wack again. Turned out the shitty moog lca cams I got were moving around. The shop had a similar problem, and ended up doing the alignment 5 times before giving up on the concept of perfect. It pulls a little to the left now, but have no issues other than that. Apparently these moog grease-able aftermarket bolts are known to loose round on the cams, at least on the tacoma variants. I want to replace with the TKO offroad octagon ones, made by a toyota enthusiast. For now, I made match marks the cam tabs and have yet to see any movement.

Truck also got a name during this period, given by a friend visiting at the time:

 

At that point, I tentatively started driving the truck, Chico. The first issue was a CEL for an evap, which was solved with a new gas cap and realigned filler neck. I think the vent tube on the tank is also plugged and you can't fuel too quick or it burps gas all over the place.

Also has torn CV boots, and leaking oil seals at the front diff. Got new CVs and seals, gonna replace along with a loud passenger wheel bearing as soon as I can get the time. Monitoring the diff oil and adding as needed.

Passenger tire rubs on the front inner fender liner during sharp left turns, need to push that forward. Other than these aforementioned issues, mostly minor in my mind, the truck has given me a little over 1500 miles trouble free. Currently it's on daily duty, until I get a chance to fix the CVs and wheel bearing, which will have it on stands for at least a day or two. Also got pulled some leafs at the junkyard last week that I'm gonna use to make a multi leaf aal of sorts. It's got the bro squat right now and I'm more of a rake guy.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. After driving for a week, we took it on a 12 hour round trip trek to the UP, with my wife's encouragement. I was pretty nervous initially, but I have driven a lot sketchier vehicles further, plus I had every tool, fluid, and extra part I could fit in the bed. The truck did great, way comfier to drive and do trips in than our Tacoma. We even did a couple hours on forest roads and loose sand without issue.





At the lumber yard about to get loaded up:



Currently working on a headache/modular lumber rack, mostly with schedule 40 pipe that I pulled out of the dumpster at work. It's set up so I can run the roll up tonneau with it, and clamps behind the tonneau rails. I've been cruising the marketplace and may eventually get a cap, but I need to haul some 20 foot board for our deck, and I like welding things, so this'll do for now.



Hopefully more soon.

 

Get that ass-end up in the air so you don't look like a dog wiping its butt on the ground

Just ran back through this. Great work! I have a rear lifted leaf pack suggestion if you need.

 

Can't believe I missed this thread. Awesome job. You made it look so easy but I'm sure it wasn't.

I've been wanting to remove my bed for a while but wasn't sure how heavy it would be. I'm impressed with your wife. How strong is she? I'll have to convince my wife she can help me lift the bed off when the time comes.

I think this is my favorite picture.

 

That is an awesome pic. I’ve never been able to snap one like this with me and my buddies doing a project that we weren’t all double fisting beers.

 

Thanks! And yeah, any recommendations would be great - for now I'll probably go the budget route but I'd love to replace with a newer pack that's beefier down the line. I'm always surprised that ARB doesn't make the dakars for these trucks.