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First Gen frame interchange

Discussion in '1st Gen Tundras (2000-2006)' started by t.mcginley.jr, Oct 16, 2021.

  1. Dec 3, 2021 at 6:20 PM
    #31
    shifty`

    shifty` The Second Shortcoming of Christ

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    empty_lord and worktruckwhite like this.
  2. Dec 4, 2021 at 2:31 AM
    #32
    w666

    w666 D. None of the above

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    I'm following an interesting frame replacement on "Meta"...
     
  3. Dec 4, 2021 at 5:13 AM
    #33
    FirstGenVol

    FirstGenVol Brake Czar

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    No Meta for me. What's interesting about it?

    I saw a first gen for sale recently and the seller mentioned it needed a new frame but he had a shop quote it as only being $3000 :rofl:

    Perhaps the frame itself could be purchased for that little assuming you can find one. Installation would be a fortune.
     
  4. Dec 4, 2021 at 6:56 AM
    #34
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    So the frame swap is done, I'm just wrapping up some suspension stuff. BUT it has a been a hell of a process. I'm debating if I should make a whole separate thread about it, or just use this one. Either way I will post fully about it soon (maybe later today). Long story short though, if you are going to do a frame swap, get a frame from a truck with the same engine as yours! :annoyed:

    Here's a teaser pic of the new frame getting installed:

    20211123_155240.jpg
     
  5. Dec 5, 2021 at 2:25 PM
    #35
    Punk1974

    Punk1974 former 2000 owner looking for a fg tunny project

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    nice work so far. keep the thread going here as its all related
     
  6. Dec 5, 2021 at 2:31 PM
    #36
    empty_lord

    empty_lord They see me rollin'

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    Had to move some mounts eh?
     
  7. Dec 7, 2021 at 7:39 PM
    #37
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    How'd you guess? lol
     
  8. Dec 7, 2021 at 7:48 PM
    #38
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Going to go ahead and fill in the details on this "little' project (this will be pic-heavy). First, some homage to the ridiculous frame rot on the original 2001 frame. I believe it didn't have much longer before something major gave out, like a crossmember. The more I stripped it down the worse it looked. That big hole in the front crossmember is where the steering rack *used to* bolt up.

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    the red, Jack McCarthy, w666 and 3 others like this.
  9. Dec 7, 2021 at 7:53 PM
    #39
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Here's more pics of the donor vehicle/frame. This was a 2005 Tundra 4.0L V6/auto 2wd access cab version. The way it sat in the junkyard when I found it was with the engine/trans and cab still on the frame, along with most of the front suspension. Someone had already snagged the whole rear end, the bed, and the steering rack.

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  10. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:01 PM
    #40
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Got the mostly bare frame home on a rented Uhaul car hauler; I wasn't confident I could fit it on my 5' x 8' utility trailer. Once I got it home I stripped the remaining parts off of it and then power washed the hell out of it. Once it dried I removed any loose paint/etc. I then went through about 10 cans of undercoating and still probably could have used more. If I was planning on keeping the truck I probably would have had it professionally done.

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  11. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:10 PM
    #41
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Now back to my truck, like I said in a previous post I saw a youtube video of someone doing a frame swap without removing the drivetrain from the body and decided to emulate that. They did it was 5 jack stands and a few floor jacks, so I figured I could do it with my lift. By leaving the drivetrain in, you don't need to touch the harness, the A/C system, or the cooling system. You still need to unhook the power steering lines from the pump and all the brake lines/fuel lines. Obviously both driveshafts need to come out.

    I supported the engine with a 4x4 I cut to fit square between the fenders. The 4.7 had hooks on top of the motor I'm assuming from the factory when they installed it. I ran a chain from one of these hooks to the other over the 4x4. The harder part was supporting the trans/transfer case since there isn't much along the underside of the body to support it with. I decide tack weld a link of chain to each side of the body. I then ran a length of chain from one link to the other and bolted it to the bottom of the transfer case.

    The bed also came off at some point before raising the cab off the frame.

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  12. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:13 PM
    #42
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    These pics never get old, definitely the best part.

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  13. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:14 PM
    #43
    Tundra2

    Tundra2 Zoinked

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    HOLY FUCK STICKS BATMAN!

    The amount of work that can be done with a post lift is incredible! Jealous of your progress!
     
    w666 and dinosaur like this.
  14. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:18 PM
    #44
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Pics of the frames next to each other. The first thing I moved over was the whole rear end, you literally just unbolt the leaf springs (which surprisingly wasn't terrible) and parking brake, and bolt it on to the new frame. I also temporarily welded on a peg leg/caster to the front bumper to make it easier to wheel the new frame around the garage.

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  15. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:34 PM
    #45
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    The front suspension took significantly more time to move over, for several reasons. First was that the 05' frame still had the lower control arms attached. I was able to remove the bolts, but the actual camber adjustment sleeves were frozen to the bushings, so I had to sawzall them out. I actually planned on reusing the LCA's from the 05, so I installed new bushings in them and installed them, not realizing that the wouldn't work with my original 01' spindles/lower ball joints. I installed new upper ball joints, upper control arm bushings, and sway bars links/bushings while I was at it. The original CV axles were both shot, so I installed new ones as well.

    At some point during this I moved the steering rack and front differential over as well. I installed new steering rack bushings since I had it all apart anyway.

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  16. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:45 PM
    #46
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    At some point while swapping over the front suspension components it hit me that I missed a major difference between the frames. The 05' frame had the 4.0 V6 engine while mine obviously had the 4.7L. I assumed Toyota would have kept the frame mounts identical and simply changes the motor mount brackets on the respective engines. Hard NO. They changed the mounts on the frame itself (stupid IMO). So I had to cut the v8 mounts off of my original frame, cut the v6 mounts of the new frame, and weld mine onto the new frame. In the pics, the short mounts are the 4.7 V8 mounts, long ones are the v6 mounts.

    I wasn't sure exactly where to weld them on and I didn't want to be way off, so what I did was get them all cleaned up ready to weld. Then I mounted the motor mount brackets to the motor mounts on the engine. I then lowered the cab/drivetrain onto the new frame and tack welded the mounts to the frame based on how the engine should sit in the bay. I then unbolted the brackets from the motor mounts, raised the cab back up and finished welding them in. This obviously took lots of trial and error, several trips up and down on the lift but it wasn't too terrible. I think I forgot to take a pic right after I welded them in, but they looked great.

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  17. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:54 PM
    #47
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Some miscellaneous things I did. One was the power steering lines, mine were pretty crusty so I pulled a set off of a 2002 Sequoia. As most of you know the Tundra/Sequoia shared a lot of things, like the front suspension and steering rack. The Sequoia PS lines actually have a cooling loop built in that the Tundra didn't. The 05 frame actually had mounting holes for the brackets to hold it in the exact right places. I just had to make mounts for the cooling loop section up front, which I did later on.

    I also had to clean up the exhaust midpipe? sections. Basically everything between the cats and the muffler was falling apart, O2 sensor were shot/leaking, etc. The PO had installed a magnaflow muffler and dual tailpipes, but whoever did the work never put any flanges in so the exhaust was essentially one piece from the manifolds to the tailpipes. While the exhaust was still on the old frame I cut the pipes and welded some new flanges on. Later on I also welded in new flex sections and O2 bungs with new downstream sensors.

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    Last edited: Dec 7, 2021
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  18. Dec 7, 2021 at 8:58 PM
    #48
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Another random thing that Toyota changed from the 01 to 05 frame was the gas tank. My 01's tank I believe is steel while the 05's was fully plastic. My fuel tank straps fit perfectly on the 05 frame, but one of the crossmembers that the tank rests against had this extra support plate welded to it. I had to remove it otherwise my tank wouldn't sit right. A little work with the angle grinder and a cutoff wheel took care of that.

    First pic is the 01 frame, second pic is the same crossmember on the 05. Not sure if that extra plate was there for support, or just to accommodate the newer style tank.

    20211109_112635.jpg
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  19. Dec 7, 2021 at 9:00 PM
    #49
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Finally had everything stripped off the old frame and got it out of my garage to make some space to work! I wanted to save the hitch, but it was far too rusty to be worth it. So I chopped the old frame up, threw it in my truck and got $60 for it in scrap metal.

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  20. Dec 7, 2021 at 9:07 PM
    #50
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    So at this point the new frame was ready to go, all I had to do was lower the cab/drivetrain down onto it and bolt everything back down. We tried several times to get it all lined up, but something just wasn't right. The body mounts all lined up perfectly, and I put a couple of bolts in the trans thru the trans mount. But the engine seemed like it was sitting too far forward. Long story short, the trans crossmember IS ALSO DIFFERENT IN THE V6 VERSION. GAH. The v8 trans crossmember sits about 2-2.5" further back than the v6 version.

    At this point I was too deep into this project to let that stop me. So I cut the crossmember out, cleaned it up, grinded down the frame, bolted the now free crossmember the trans itself, got the drivetrain and crossmember all good and square where it should rightfully sit, and welded it in place. This time I remembered to take pics. You can see in the last pic the line where the crossmember used to sit.

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  21. Dec 7, 2021 at 9:11 PM
    #51
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Finally it was ready to all go together. Clean body on a nice clean frame, so satisfying.

    I also did a full timing belt/water pump job, because who knows when it was done last.

    5aa.jpg
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  22. Dec 8, 2021 at 3:09 AM
    #52
    w666

    w666 D. None of the above

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    As rusty as the original frame is, I'm surprised at how clean the rear diff is...must have been changed out along the way?
     
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  23. Dec 8, 2021 at 5:28 AM
    #53
    shifty`

    shifty` The Second Shortcoming of Christ

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    This is some quality content and nice work. Clearly not your 1st rodeo. Thanks for taking the time to post up the slideshow! This should clearly serve as a warning to others, make sure the donor drivetrain and cab config matches :D

    Totally. It's been killing me. I've been in the same house for two decades and not enough land plus the topology challenges make it impossible to install a 2-post at home. Had a friend down in FL with a 2-post (his shop space actually made it into a book of 'ultimate garages') before moving up here so I was spoiled. Landed another friend up here a couple years in who raced P-cars and had a similar shop space with offset 2-post I was able to use, but they moved down near where I was in FL maybe 6-8 years ago.

    Look forward to gtfo of the city and actually being able to (finally) have a proper shop space.
     
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  24. Dec 8, 2021 at 6:19 AM
    #54
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Definitely not my first rodeo, but I haven't ever done a full frame swap/replacement. Part of this project was just seeing if I could do it.

    Its possible the rear was replaced at some point, not sure how I would check. At this point I think I'm at least the 4th? owner.
     
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  25. Dec 8, 2021 at 11:12 AM
    #55
    HAL69000

    HAL69000 New Member

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    Awesome work and thanks for the photo journey! I don't know what I would've done if I were ready to finish the job and a friggin' crossmember was in the wrong place. Good GOD.

    Thinking about a cab swap on my truck in the long term (I have a good frame, swapped under recall a few years ago, but the body has creeping rocker rust) and your post made me appreciate how little effort just getting a cab from one frame to another would take in comparison with starting out with a rusty frame.
     
    dinosaur likes this.
  26. Mar 25, 2022 at 4:30 AM
    #56
    Tsig

    Tsig New Member

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    So just to recap there wasn't a problem with the 01 to 05 problem. It was just the V6 2wd to v8 4wd was the problem?
     
  27. Mar 25, 2022 at 5:07 PM
    #57
    t.mcginley.jr

    t.mcginley.jr [OP] New Member

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    Correct. As long as it's the same cab configuration it should be no problem, just cutting off that extra gusset where the fuel tank mounts.
     
  28. Mar 29, 2022 at 11:38 AM
    #58
    the red

    the red the threat is real

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    Massive thank you for this thread @t.mcginley.jr ! A fine showcase of your skills.
    I have an '05 4.7 4x4 and am looking at an '02 4.7 RWD mostly because it's getting a shiny new frame from Toyota. :)
     
  29. Sep 26, 2022 at 9:17 AM
    #59
    Shane1962

    Shane1962 New Member

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    I have a 2001 Tundra 4WD with the 8 foot bed.
    I'm told the frame will only match up with the exact transmission and bed length.
    Would the modifications be overwhelming to use a Tundra 2002 with a twin cab same engine?
     
  30. Sep 26, 2022 at 9:26 AM
    #60
    shifty`

    shifty` The Second Shortcoming of Christ

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