Tacoed Tundra project

Hi all,
I’m brand new to this site. I’m located on the wet side of Oregon. I currently have a 2000 Tundra 4wd AC...that’s been wrecked pretty bad, but the truck still runs and drives excellent! I drove it around all last winter (as is), but the cab is smooshed bad enough that there’s room for about 1.5 people. I’m planning swapping all my drivetrain and engine into a 2004 Tundra 2wd AC truck. I’ll be starting up a thread here kinda soon. Hopefully i can get some input from others, and maybe my project will inspire others as well?

I did just join the Tundra solutions website and began my project over there, but i got a heads up that there’s much more traffic over here. So i decided to come over heat so i could get some more input and direction.

cheers,
Whodats

 

Welcome! Definitely more traffic here in my experience.

 

Welcome. Gonna be fun seeing progress being made. These big projects are always cool to see unfold.

 

Is the frame bent? Why not a cab swap?

 

Welcome gang!

 

This.

 

Welcome. “Tacoed”?

Well at least nobody will be asking you for a ride.

 

Yeah I was at first expecting something @DJenerated would get all lathered up about, but no, it just turns out OP made a telephone pole taco for dinner one night.

 

Welcome you brave soul

 

Seriously though... you drove it like that all last winter?

 

First off, thank you for inviting me over here Mr. Bee! You’re spot on, there’s definitely WAY more traffic over here than at the other tundra website.

Yes, the frame is bent pretty bad. I’m guessing it got pushed in around 8”. Bad enough that the rear driveshaft was pressed against the fuel tank. I took a large hammer and beat in the tank as much as i realistically could, but there was still contact. I ended up cutting off the frame bracket for the carrier bearing and relocated it about 4” away from the tank. The craziest thing is that the truck still steers great down the highway. I can take my hands off the wheel and it still tracks straight!

If you zoom in, you can see that the cab body is smooshed against the transfer case.

 

LOL...yeah, long story short, my niece was driving her dad’s truck without a license OR his permission. The truck was full of 15~16 year old girls and a tree started to chase them down the road. It was all gravel roads where they were at. In her defense, the tree probably wanted to steal the truck so she drove faster to get away from it. Apparently trees are well organized...just up the road they set up a road block and one of them jumped out in front of her. I think his name was Doug? The girls were unharmed enough to learn their lesson.

 

That isn't going to buff out. I'm surprised you bought that back as a salvage vehicle from the insurance. It should have been declared totaled by them.

 

But .... Totaled = Salvage? Or am I crazy?

 

Most places, yes.

 

I have a guy at work who has an 02 AC 2UZ 2WD that he married into the jersey barrier 2 years ago and now has a bent frame. He won't do anything with it, won't part it out and won't part with it so it just sits and rots in the back parking lot. I'm just waiting for him to get desperate and sell it to me cheap so that I have a parts truck at my disposal.

 

that'll do it. Welcome to the madhouse.

 

Welcome looking forward to seeing your build out transformation

 

On a positive note, that could be viewed as harmless, innocent hazing. If we really didn't like you, we'd just not respond.

 

I went to a public school...i can handle all the hazing anyone and everyone can dish out here

 

Here in oregon we have the right to “retain” our salvaged vehicles. Just about 99% of the time it’s worth retaining (coming from an investment standpoint). We don’t have vehicle inspections either. It was $500 to retain the truck...then after a bit of butting heads with the tow yard and the insurgents company...i mean insurance company, i ended paying $300 for it. Done and done right there!

 

I’ve been using the tundra for the past month gathering firewood. The more i drive this truck around, the more i’m liking it...a lot. Normally i use my big old 1991 Ford Highboy flatbed for getting firewood, but it’s currently tucked in the back of my shop getting a 12 valve cummins swap. Though this Tundra carries a 1/3 of what my Ford does, the tundra is a much better vehicle for getting wood in this particular instance. I’m getting the trees free from my uncle’s property (that’s located about 400 meters from me), so i’m totally fine with taking multiple trips with less wood in the bed. There are zero skid roads or deer trails out in the forest, so i’m literally just driving through a forest crashing through (or over) stuff at 3mph. A full size truck would have difficulty squeezing between many of the trees out there.

 

The truck is seeing quite a bit of abuse right now. I just load the bed up with as much wood as possible and drive around offroad with the frame sitting on the bumpstops.

 

I almost Tundra’d a Taco today. Driving back from the SPCA dog park on a semi-rural hwy so idiot in a late model Tacoma pulls out of a business and stops in my lane. He’s turning left and looking right at traffic on the far side and never saw me. Fortunately my tires are new and my brakes reasonably well adjusted so I was able to stop prior to a collision but he was still looking the other way and then pulled into his lane. If I had a beater…

 

Here’s the 2004 2wd tundra that i procured. It was located about 300 miles away from me, but my sister happened to be driving in that exact area, so i quickly fabbed up a front receiver and a drop hitch. I had a pile of about 5 receivers to choose from, and one of them happened to be pretty darn close. I just had to narrow the receiver 1.5” on both sides and drill one additional hole in each side. No one had drop hitch that dropped far ent, so i quickly made my own. I had some weird random 2.5” hitch that didn’t fit anything i had. I modified it into a 2.5” upper with a 2” lower (with a 2” ball). I could have made it stronger, but it’s more or less a one time use item.

 

The 2004 2wd engine was pretty much blown. MASSIVE amounts of oily smoke was pouring out of the exhaust pipe. The picture is when the truck is at an idle. If you revved up the engine, there would be a Spy Hunter smoke screen that would completely engulf the who truck. So much that you wouldn’t be able to see it!

 

Nice score!

 

That picture is pretty darn accurate on how i modified the front receiver