Official Bobbed Bed Thread

I figured I would start a thread strictly for bobbed beds. I know there are a few people out there who have done this, most on earlier Tacoma's. Let this be a thread for discussions and how-to's for people thinking of shortening the box!

I removed 11" out of the box and 5" off the frame of my 04 extra cab. The box now sits at 63" and the tailgate sits flush with the rear shackles.

Finished product

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

First I started off by measuring for the lines off the cab, then cut the box liner back so it wouldn't melt during the welding process

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

I used duck tape to make the lines. Make sure you leave the rear line(closest to tail light) far enough forward to miss the bracket on the underside of the box.

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

I don't have any pictures of the first cut, but here is the second cut with the center section cut out. I used a 7 1/4" cut disk for a skill saw to go through both layers of the box near the top and bottom sides of it.

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

The tail light section cut out and prepped for welding

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Box prepped and ground for welding. I used a 60 grit flap disk

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Frame chopped and semi cleaned up for end caps and boxing

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Capped with 3/16" plate, welded on both inside and out of frame

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Some action shots thanks to my dad! Definitely a 2 person job to line everything back up

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

The hardest part of the bob was getting the corners in the box to line up after the cut. You can see the gap I had going haha. It was extremely hard to keep a straight line with a grinder on such a tight radius and keep the 2 lines matching up.

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Fully welded out and ground smooth ready for Bondo. It took a long time to get everything perfect. But all my lines matched up nearly perfect. Keeping a straight cut line is very important and makes the tacking process go a lot easier!

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

I'm not body guy, but it turned out pretty good for a 5 minute youtube video hahaha!

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

I then had my room mate wrap the back of the box with matte black 3M vinyl. He does 3M installation professionally. Does outstanding work!

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Stretch!!

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

Finished up!

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

image by Tanner Tucker, on Flickr

 

that looks sick! really well done

 

+1 looks sick

 

Looks real nice. Good job

 

Thanks guys!! I know I'm not the only one so let's see some more picktarssss

One build thread that really helped me out was 45acp. He did a very nice job!

 

Hope to knock this out later this year! Subbed

 

On my last Taco, I took 13" out of the bed to make it the same length as a double cab bed so you could run a soft top or hard shell if you wanted.

 

^OD GREEN FTMFW.

Awesome write up though . I would have wrapped the tail gate too but it looks great. How well do the MT/R's handle the snow?

 

Yea...I like the red tailgate though. You can at least tell the truck is red from behind. The MTRs are awesome in the snow. Espcially deep snow. Ice...not so much

 

Nice work!!

 

Subd! wanna do this one day but will likely get the sas done first. my bed is about trashed anyway at this point haha

 

Nice work!

 

Wow you can make a thread out of anything these days



I bobbed this baby 11" So short

 

^^ muddy bitch

 

I plopped 11 out of mine. My biggest word of advice is take the measurements from the front of your bed and do the best you can to transfer those to the inside. This ensures you can get the straightest cut possible.

Sorry for the upside down pic. I rolled the truck.

 

Those tires have some good grip!

 

This looks great on the A-cabs n single cabs. Has anyone done a double? I love having a camper too much to do this. Just wondering what it would look like.

 

I haven't seen anyone do a DC come to think of it now that you say something. I think it would look pretty sweet. But their boxes are small enough already hahah, taking another 10-13" out if it would make it completely useless haha.