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Building an “offroad” bed

Tacomadad18

Tacomadad18

8️⃣ Paragon
Tacoma3G Supporter
Tacoma3G O.G.
Well like the title says,

I am preparing to build an offroad bed for my truck. My factory bed has its bumps and bruises and instead of spending the money to have it fixed, and then happening again, I’m going to rip it off for an “offroad” bed.

It will not be your typical flat bed, so I don’t feel I should call it that lol. Offroad bed is more like it. Will be purpose built for off-roading. It should be able to bounce off trees, better than my stock bed. Have mounting brackets for tools, gear. It will still have a “bed” with a tailgate but all e custom made.

Now, I’m very new to metal building, but I’ve been in construction my whole life, from building houses from the foundation up. I should have a few skills from that, that can transfer over. We’ll see how it goes! I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time just didn’t have the time. Now that I have AC in my garage, I will get started this weekend.

Tail lights are ordered. Reverse lights are ordered. I will be going with 4” round for those lights. Tail lights will be stop, parking, turn all in 1. All led.

Bumper will come off, new one will be made from 2x6 steel with hitch incorporated into design. I do anticipate adjusting the leafs to accommodate the added weight, which im going to try and keep it as light as possible, while keeping it rigid.

Regardless of how it turns out, it will be fun and a new experience. I have way more fun building things than I do anything else. Feel free to follow along, suggest other ways of doing it, I will also post videos on my YouTube channel- TacomaDad.
Here’s what it looks like now, with some dents lol. Top of tail lights and left bed slide likes to take the majority of the hits.

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kwill said:
Anxious to see the results. You are fearless about modifying your Tacoma!
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It is just a bunch of sheet metal lol. I’m ready to go to the next level. There are two more steps after this before I go backwards and start dialing everything else in!
 
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AZ_CAVALRY said:
Sounds awesome. Do you have any drawings or renderings of what you want it to look like?
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Kinda of. I got inspired reading this guys on TW, now has Trailtoys.net. I’m not sure if it’s original owner or not but all I care about is the design for the flat bed. He did a drawer under the bed, which I will not do. I want a bed with a small (custom) tailgate to still throw stuff in there if needed and not have to worry about it falling out like a traditional flat bed. I like the open area of the rear wheel wells, lots can be done in there. Also the low headache rack. Keep stuff from flying forward, Atv or something like that.

I also plan on making a top for the bed part once it’s done so I can throw a wheeler on top.

Here’s the flat bed idea. It’s not going to be the same but the frame work is similar. So if you can imagine the area that houses the box in the photo, will be sheeted on the inside to make a bed
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TRDOFHOLLAND said:
This does give you the opportunity to do something better with the leaf sprung setup in the rear too...any thoughts?
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Well I’m not gonna go crazy since I plan on sas and that will change again. Probably a heavy duty leaf pack. I talked with a guy who did a swap from a 70s? Truck I can’t remember all of it but that’s the idea. I dont want it to sag but I also don’t wanna loose articulation with too beefy of a leaf pack.

So it’s all up in the air until the bed goes on and I “see” the weight and what it does
 
Tacomadad18 said:
Well I’m not gonna go crazy since I plan on sas and that will change again. Probably a heavy duty leaf pack. I talked with a guy who did a swap from a 70s? Truck I can’t remember all of it but that’s the idea. I dont want it to sag but I also don’t wanna loose articulation with too beefy of a leaf pack.
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What about going to a SUA kit for the rear to give you more bump travel?
 
Looks badass without the bed haha

I tried to do a burnout to get kinda "stuck" for my traction board video. It's tough to do even in sugar sand lol
 
KnighT4CO said:
Looks badass without the bed haha

I tried to do a burnout to get kinda "stuck" for my traction board video. It's tough to do even in sugar sand lol
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It’s pretty sad. The trucks like nooooooooo...ok just a little... then out of now where it allows you the full rpm range. These tires are super soft and sticky though, even more than I could tell before.
 
I think it's worth making a removable, lightweight, fender/mudflap. Seen lots of folks lose their rear window and destroy back of cab with tires being thrown forward from tires. Then just pull off to wheel.
 
WarFabArmor said:
I think it's worth making a removable, lightweight, fender/mudflap. Seen lots of folks lose their rear window and destroy back of cab with tires being thrown forward from tires. Then just pull off to wheel.
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Totally am. I was thinking that last night. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about my window but I don’t wanna be that guy to others on the road. The sides will go over the top of the tire- at least 3/4 of the tire will be covered, not much different than the bed now.

Just thinking about doing a bar that bolts to frame and/ or bed and just has a solid piece of rubber hanging off. That way if it gets hit I’ll just fold the flap
 
Day 2? Maybe 1 of building. I’d call it fabrication but I’m not a professional by any means.

Got the base setup and shimmed to my liking, then swapped the wood shims for metal. This week I’ll work on drilling holes and sleeving them. Probably work on the sides and then this coming weekend it should be done (should be).

I’m not great at welding but the sliders on my truck are welded on by me and they hold up so I’m ok with that.

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Tacomadad18 said:
It did come with some stickers of who made it 😂

Thanks again. It looks killer and I’m sure it’ll perform how it should. Not to mention the extra mounting AND moving the cooling line back, so they don’t stick out. Appreciate it 👊
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Yeah the front of these don't lend themselves to great mount options. But should be good stuff. Glad you like how it turned out.
 
WarFabArmor said:
Yeah the front of these don't lend themselves to great mount options. But should be good stuff. Glad you like how it turned out.
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They really don’t. I think your way of having that full plate between both mounts will strengthen it up though. And the additional bracket will keep it from “uplifting” and bending the stock location
 
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Finding out that doing a little bit at night after work is not very productive lol

I did get the holes drilled and sleeved. Started on uprights for the “bed” itself. I’ll have a few more pieces together tomorrow. I’ll keep inching away until this weekend, which I plan to have it back on the road again. That will just require me to wire the lights up.

Figured I’d leave it to the shop to cut out my bumper brackets, I don’t even have the correct tools to do so. Probably could but would take me forever to get them to look decent. I’ll drop those off later this week. They will water jet them and I won’t have to worry about that part of it.
 
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