New Tacoma owner

[MykolaS]

Hi guys, sorry if this post has a lot of grammar mistakes but english is not my 1st language Im Nick and i just bought a 2020 Double Cab TRD OFF Road Tacoma with a salvage title. Im going to import it to Poland so i wont have acces to any parts here, and i thought the best thing to do will be to make it a flatbed. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions first.
1. Should i buy a lift kit first or will the stock ride hight be enough to install a custom made flatbed?

2. Is the rear bumper reinforcement needed or should i make one custom?

3. I am a pretty good welder and have my own shop but i think i will have a lot of problems designing a flatbed my self, could you please recommend some design with a lot of photos that i could base my design on?

4. Any tips on what should i buy before my broker ships my car to Poland?

Im very enthusiastic about doing it by my self

Thank you in advance for any help you could provide. Below i will post some photos of the car taken by my broker, that will ship me my car.

 

[Biohazard]

Building an “offroad” bed

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...

tacoma3g.com

Tacomadad did just that. Check out this page for the chronicling and discussion of that.

 

[Bird dog]

Welcome aboard. I agree with Biohazard. Don’t re-invent the wheel, Tacomadad is your source.

 

[Trudog]

The Mits Alloy flatbeds are an amazing product in my opinion, however extremally expensive, the reason I mention them is if you can see one in person they are a great design that may give you some ideas, I also agree Tacomadad is a great source!

Aluminium Ute Tray | Newcastle | MITS Alloy

Heavy Duty Aluminium Ute Tray from MITS Alloy. 100% Australian made and with a lifetime manufacturing warranty.

mitsalloy.com.au

 

[TCOTUE]

Calling @Tacomadad18

 

[DavidLReid]

Hello and welcome from SW MO. Good luck with your build.

 

[Tacomadad18]

Welcome to T3G!

I built an “offroad” bed off a design I saw and then just added my own little changes to it. But I would imagine making a flat bed wouldn’t be too much different.

I would suggest adding a bit of a lift, by means of extra leaf or something just to keep the rear from sagging, from the weight. My bed is about 80-100 pounds heavier than the stock one.

Making your own bumper is a must, anything aftermarket or stock even, will look silly. If you incorporate a bumper into the flat bed, add a cross piece between the rails to keep them from coming in towards themselves. The frames a very flexible once you remove the rear bumper/ hitch.

You most likely will have to ditch your spare tire carrier. I did on mine, due to 1) I run 37s so it won’t even fit underneath 2) I wanted my bed as low as I could to the frame.

The frame rails have bends up and down in them, so you will have to make shims to allow for that, to make it level. I used square tube on the entire thing, so I just took my shims- added a piece of thick cylinder stock in the middle- welded a plate across the bottom of the shim and drilled out the hole- welded it all together. It’s kind of a through bolt setup.


If I was to do a flat bed I would:

Measure how wide you want it
Measure how long you want it
Build a frame out of square stock
Gusset the inside corners for strength
*Check fit on truck before welding it all together
Add cross pieces every 12-16” side to side
Try and line 2 of the cross pieces up with the factory bed mounts
Add center pieces right down the center, from front to back
Lay sheet stock on something flat, lay frame you built on it- upside down
Tack together
Fit back on truck to check everything- keep in mind the evap stuff is back there and sits up a little bit, I figured my cross pieces into this and was able to fit right around it all
Build rear bumper off of the flat bed, add gussets to the back side to keep from flexing, can even incorporate a hitch into it if you tie that into the frame rails
Whip up a headache rack in whatever style you like
Add lights and mud flaps, can even build the fenders off the bed to keep it all in one
*have to use resistors on the tail lights to run regular trailer lights
Enjoy

Obviously that is a brief example but it may help you get going. I have a YouTube channel- Tacomadad, if you scroll down a bit you can watch the videos of my bed build.