First Gen Double Cab Long Bed Build......

Howdy fellas, and ladies. I am attempting to put this thread together as suggested by a few fellow social media buffs on other Venus.

I have been surfing, and exploring the possibilities of building my double cab short bed into a double cab long bed. I finally got the build done and am going to document most of what I can here for anyone else that may be exploring options like a few of us have.

I started out with my daily driver 2001 double cab V6 auto. My parts truck which I had big plans for was a 99 model ext cab long bed. Now I bought this rolled “parts truck” with long term plans to sit on it and make a river rat.
Back to the build......
As stated, I had studied this project in depth and seen a few pics here and on other search platforms. I decided that it was something that I wanted. So I sat forth and started getting a more detailed plan in place.

Upon getting the parts truck back to the shop and beginning the tear down on it for a few other systems that spawned other projects I discovered that the rear frame area was beyond what I was prepared to try and reinvent and rework. So my river rat plan kind of hit a wall.
Me being me it didn’t take long to come up with a plan “b”.
I further dissected the parts truck enough to know that the frame under the cab was in good shape. So my master plan was a “go for launch”.

I started slowly dissecting the parts truck salvaging the rear brake line assemblies from the proportioning valve to the T connection up in the front driver fender.

The fuel tank and complete fuel line assembly from the engine bay to the tank was removed.

The complete drive shaft was removed.

I unplugged the rear half harness under the driver seat and removed it completely from the rear of the parts truck.

The junk frame on the rear end of the truck was cut at the front spring hanger so I got rid of the axle, springs, spare tire winch, rear bumper and the junk bed.
That left me the front bed mount posts and the good frame under the truck.
I crawled under the truck and chopped the frame off just behind the trans cross member on both sides and then torched the body mount bolt off. The frame sections are free and ready for further processing.

Now at this point I have a good daily driver. A wrecked parts truck on blocks that I still wanted to keep for the matching axle gears and matching drive train parts.


I moved all of the removed parts to my “holding area” and took a good inventory of what I had and what else I may need.

I dissected the drive shaft halves and took the forward prop shaft to my local drive line shop and asked them to cut it apart and add 13.5” of overall length.

At this point my work got busy and my play time took a hit. So salvaging parts and collecting the needed items slowed down to a crawl. I did however manage to salvage the needed frame rail sections for the “stretch a truck” build. I also managed to salvage the front bed post mounts and the rear cab mounts that I would have to relocate during my build.


Here is where my plans get skewed. I was surfing the inter webs one afternoon while I was brainstorming my upcoming project and found a color matched bed for my build. It was for sale. But I wasn’t ready to spend money on a good bed. So I offered to trade the now nearly frameless parts truck and what ever was left of it for this color matched bed. That plan was “okayed” by both parties. So I spent the next week or so “packaging” the junker. I couldn’t get a wrecker in the back yard to drag it around. So I got creative.

I packed what was left of the parts truck on my small little trailer and prepared it for a road trip. Cab, and complete front drive train and engine. Rear axle, gas tank, springs, and rear bumper.

I run a hotshot style rig for a living so I was totally prepared for the securement and road trip. And then one evening my work phone rang and I had a reason to load the parts truck on the work truck and not waste an extra trip for parts. Or work. So I spent a Sunday getting everything packed on the work rig and secured for a road trip to its new home.
That journey was made and I scored a very nice color matched bed for my build. And got paid to go after it. Lol.
I got the new bed back home and set up on blocks to keep the bottom from getting deformed while the project developed.

2/29-20. I am out in the shop stewing around on how to spend the beautiful day. I am standing there with smoke coming out of my ears and the neighbor guy comes over and says to me “ just get it over with”. “Your gonna stew on it till it’s done.”
That moment was what I needed.
The parts were cleaned up and ready. I had the new extended drive shaft. All I needed was to do it. So I did!

Pulled the daily driver around to the shop. Roughly lunch time on Saturday. Removed the tail lights and bed bolts. Backed under the hoist and popped the bed off. Pulled the truck up in the shop and the project was a go.
Blocked the front tires securely. Put the truck in neutral and rolled up the windows.
Drive shaft came out. Fuel tank came out. Brake line assembly was removed and sat aside.


At this point I had a hollow truck that could still be reassembled and driven away. But that wasn’t gonna work.


I crawled under the truck to sort out my cutting options on the frame.
I decided to cut behind the center running board mounting hole that was roughly center of the cab area. I buffed and wire wheeled all of the paint and under coating off of the truck frame area where I would be working. I marked both sides with a single straight square scribe mark and wrapped the frame with blue painters tape to make my straight line cut guide.

At this point I was ready to put the truck on jack stands. Not completely off of the ground. Just enough to support the weight when the frame was cut. 2 stands under the trans cross member up front. 2 just forward of the spring hangers in the rear. I also blocked the back of the cab up with blocks of wood and a small hydraulic jack. Just enough to support the weight when the frame was removed. Now I am ready for the big chop.

Now traditionally I know that when you cut a frame it should be done diagonally or in a fish bone type pattern. I opted out of those options for a couple of reasons and went with a straight chop all the way around.
Reason 1: I was not sure how healthy my frame was internally until it was chopped open where I could see it. I didn’t want to try and weld a long diagonal in a rusted up frame and make it worse then it was ever intended to be. 2: I knew that there was gonna be full length fishplates put on the exterior side of the frame when it was all back in one piece. 3: 4 properly welded sides of a light gauge tube is plenty strong and much easier to simply butt together. Especially when it will be reinforced and double walled at a minimum.

I crawled under the truck with a sawzall and cutting wheel. Cut the top of the frame with the saw. Not room to get the wheel under the cab. Cut the bottom of the frame. Cut the inside wall and connect the first two cuts. Repeat on other side.

Crawl out from under the truck and double check everything on jack stands. Verify everything still looks good so I cut the outside wall. Repeat on side 2.

The truck is now in 2 pieces.
Took the nuts off of the rear cab mounts and made sure everything was loose.
Went to the rear of the truck. Grabbed the bumper and raised it up. Tipped the front downward and released it from the rear cab mounts. Pulled the rear wheels backwards and got everything close to its new resting place.


Now that the truck is mostly in its new position it’s a matter of getting things reset to start the reassembly.
I slowly and carefully took the jack stands out of each side and placed a piece of tubing under the frame rail and jacked it up into place where I could clamp everything together. There was also a piece of 1/8” flat strap on top of the tube to offset the thickness of my safety caps that were installed on the spring hanger areas.
Tubing and flat strap put back into place and secured on jack stands.
The new lengths of frame rail are simply sat in place on the appropriate side of the truck and than I simply pulled the frame sections back together with ratchet straps and the new frame length was seen for the first time. 83” between the original factory cab mounts was the new dimension. That was 13.5” of new metal in the middle. At this point the welder came out. I was ready to at least tack things back in place. Meticulously lined everything up and made it straight and true. 4 tacks on each end of the new frame sections to keep everything in place for more final measurement verification and double check.
Everything looked good so the weld up began.
I stitched the vertical welds inside and out on both sides of the truck. Trying to work slowly and move around to keep the warpage to a minimum.
Verticals were complete. So I went back under the truck and welded the tops of the frame rails.

At this point all of the welding was done on 3 of the 4 sides of the frame. So the jack stands and frame support jig was removed and moved out of the way.

Weld up the bottoms and the easy part of this project was complete. Yes that part was the easy part.


Now the fun part of relocating and mounting new hardware begins. I started with the cab so I could get it off of the blocks. And get it back on the frame. I simply put the salvaged cab mounts in place and tacked them in place. Fairly simple and straight forward. That geometry wasn’t changed.
The old cab mounts and front bed posts were then removed with the trusty ole torch. That area was cleaned up with a grinding wheel and then a little bit of welding was done and cleaned up further.
The new front bed posts were also salvaged off of the beater truck. They needed to be 42” center to center from the middle mount and set at the right elevation. So that part was worked out and they were clamped into place and tacked into their new home.

Now it’s time to see how good my homework really was. I removed the blocks from the front tires and rolled the truck back to the shop door. The new bed was hoisted up and into place with some help from the tractor and an extra helper. We got it lined up and sat into place.
I liked what I saw and all of the bolts went in so I’ll opted to leave it on the truck and not pull it back off. That was a STUPID move by me. Lol. Everything that was easily accessible was now back under the truck. Ugh!!

No need to cry in my beer. The build moves ahead.

The new extended brake lines went back in the truck. The longer main fuel line goes back in the truck. It was the only one modified since the two smaller lines are a vent and return and simply just needed longer fuel rated rubber hose and clamps.
The new front prop shaft and new carrier bearing were bolted into place.
The fuel tank and skid plate were put back under the truck and mounted into place.
The rear section of the drive shaft was put in last just so I had room to get the fuel tank in easier.

Now at this point the truck is reassembled minus the wiring and the exhaust and the emergency brake cable. At least I can actually put it in park and it will stay put.

I opted to do the wiring extensions next. So I pulled the harness out from under the bed where it was all tangled up and let it hang out over the rear driver tire. I made me up a little work bench and went to town cutting, extending, soldering and shrink wrapping all of the rear wiring. E locker, tail light wiring and fuel sending system were all extended 15 inches.

Moment of truth..... key in the ignition. Turn it over and the truck cranks a few times and fires right up.
Left it running long enough to verify all of the rear lighting worked as needed. And shut her back down.

All that is left now is bleeding the brakes and finishing up the exhaust and the truck if functional.

Had the help come run the brake pedal long enough to get the brake system back in working order.
Now it’s time to sort out the exhaust.
The parts truck I had was fitted with an aftermarket flowmaster exhaust kit that I opted to clean up and install on my build. SO.... I chopped my good exhaust pipe off at 15” from the flange. That left me the down stream O2 attachment and plenty of good pipe for fitment.
Now something I didn’t catch immediately..... factory exhaust is a 2 1/4”tube. The aftermarket kit was 2 3/8” tube. So I simply buffed the end of my good factory pipe down to good clean metal. Cleaned up the end of the larger aftermarket tube and simply slid the smaller inside the larger.
I crawled back under the truck to check the fit and mark for welding. Crawled back out and welded up the new exhaust pipe. Back under the truck and bolted everything together and installed the down stream sensor.


At this point the truck build is complete back to the way it was when I started. Minus my running boards. However I wasn’t quite done with the fab work yet.
I started the truck and backed it out of the shop so I could have fresh air and sunshine. Put the back of the truck up on ramps where it is as more comfortable to work on and started with the last big part of this project.

I opted to fishplate the exterior side of the frame rails for added strength and to also close off any holes that simply weren’t needed. So I made up plates that went from the front cab mount to the rear and matched up with my safety cap pieces in the spring hanger area.
These were cut to fit. Clamped and tacked every 6” down the length top and bottom and then slowly stitched together over a couple hour period to disperse heat and eliminate stress and warpage.

Both sides are welded in similar fashion. Welds ground a bit and cleaned up. Rust inhibiting paint was then applied.


When I was done with the welding I made up a home made connection and extended the parking brake cable so that it would be snug and functional once again.

This project is complete. Minus the running boards.
Crawled under the truck and drilled the center hole through the new fishplate on both frame rails. Bolted the running boards on. And she was better then when new!!


At this point I just stepped back and slowly studied everything. Made sure everything as proper. Bolts tightened. Electrical was all good. Lights all worked.


Time for the first little shake down ride to see if everything works and rides as planned and anticipated. WOW is all I could really say. It’s amazing what a little bit of length and a little bit of weight will do for the ride of a vehicle. It’s the new 4x4 Cadillac

this project is a wrap!!! Time for some cold beers and some ibuprofen.


Now I can say this. This project was done completely inside a 3 day window. Roughly 30 hours over a weekend and a Monday.

 

Nice job!

 

Looks awesome

 

Looks good! Did you take any photos showing a pure side view?

 

Cool project! Looks like it turned out really nice

 

I have not had a chance to take many more pictures. I got the truck put back together Monday afternoon/ evening and left for a run for work on early Tuesday. There will be more pics taken today. I will try and add a few more.

 

Nicely done!

 

That is really cool. Good job.

 

Like I said on FB... great job! Looks awesome!

 

the way Toyota should have made it !

awesome job @Tantacookie

are you planning for a sliding rear window?

 

That is awesome, makes me want to do mine!

 

Badass! Great work, looks really good

 

My parts truck that I had actually had the sliding back glass. I was really wanting to swap them out but never got around to it. If I ever get the chance to put one in I probably will. I like the option of the rear ventilation. But it’s a long ways back there to open and close.

 

Our son is 7, he loves the sliding rear window and he opens it for us

 

Thats a sweet looking truck! Love my 3rd gen double cab long bed but yours is truly one of a kind.

 

I no longer have a window operator. She is 17 and out doing her own thing.

 

I know of 3 or 4 of these trucks that I can verify. One in Denver. The guy is actually on TW. There is one in British Columbia or somewhere up north and possibly 1 or 2 out in Cali. The ones out west are Baja trucks. So they aren’t really set up as daily driver “trucks”.

 

Truck looks good! Ditch the body lift and I would plate the inside of the frame, at least a fish plate over your weld seams. I did 0.25 steel C's that cover the seam inside and out.


This is from last fall after a Moab trip but.... I did daily mine today!

 

The pucks were on the truck when I bought it. I haven’t done much to that part honestly. As the truck developes and gets made into my own they will be coming out and going away. Hadn’t considered the C channel option. I can have my local metal shop bend me up a length and be in good shape in that department.

I’m diggin’ that rig. Especially with the shell. Thanks for the feedback.