by johnny lange - Wild Yoats

 

 

    Let’s all face it, we all like change. Change is good and keeps things interesting. When change helps comfort and utility, then it is even more desired.

    For those of us that are over six feet tall with single cab trucks, the desire to become more comfortable on the trails is a never ending task. I finally did something about it with my 1981 Toyota truck.

    There are many times that I think to myself that I should have built a 4Runner or a newer extended cab truck. Well, I didn’t and had to contend with what I have. Besides, the thought of starting over sometimes makes me cringe.

    Day after day I stuffed my 6'5" body into the tiny cab of my 81. Then, during the day dealing with where I should stuff the camera, wallet, and other in-cab goodies, I struggled each and every time.

    Instead of starting over with a new rig, I decided to make mine work. After many hours of laying in bed at night pondering the modification, thinking of ways to make it easier, this is what I came up with. I call the truck my 1981 Toyota Super-Cab Rockcrawler now. And, by far, it is definitely unique and gets lots of comments no matter where I go. The best part about it was that it was not even that difficult and only took me a week of working on it every night in the garage. On with the modification job.....

How it looked before

    The first step in this process is obviously to gather up some of the needed materials and tools. My first obstacle was to find a donor cab from a 79-83 Toyota truck. Either 2wd or 4wd should work. After I located the beautiful rust free cab compliments of the Farhner brother’s, I strapped it to the back of my truck and hauled her home. Some of the tools I used is as follows:

-Sawzall with metal cutting blades

-Grinder

-Welder for welding body sheet metal, I used my little $100 stick Home Depot special

-Hammer

-Body repair tools and sanding equipment

-A maker or marking pencil to draw your cut lines

-Safety goggles and gloves

    The second step was to plan out the incisions to be made on both my truck and the donor cab before cutting. I marked up the cab of my truck to resemble a 4Runner. I left some extra sheet metal on the bottom sides of the cab so that I could use those to fold them over and weld them to the bed.

    I then removed my seats and cleared the way of all electrical wiring located around the back of the cab.

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    Then I removed the front wall of the bed.(#2 & 3)  This is a lot easier than it looks. It turns out the bed is actually bolted and then sealed in place with a sealant. I removed the bolts on each side of the inner bed and worked the old sealant loose until the bed wall came out. Don’t munch up this wall to much because you will re-mount it back further later.

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    Ok, ready to start cutting? Make sure you have those safety goggles on and start up the Sawzall. Drill a few start holes to help you get the Sawzall started.

    Start cutting out the back wall of your existing cab. Cut inside of the outside walls and give yourself at least 3 inch’s all around from the outside edge. On the top portion, or roof, I made my cuts under the rain gutter because I figured that rain gutter is a key structural area and I wanted to retain as much structure as possible.

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    After you have made your cuts, spend a lot of time cleaning up your cuts with the grinder.

    Before cutting up your donor cab, spend some time planning it out. Visualize how it will be placed on your truck. Think about where the two cabs will meet. I cut out the donor cab back bottom wall to match the inside curvature of my bed, much like I cut the first wall on the bottom portion.

    After you have chopped up the donor cab, there is where it starts to get fun. Now you can place the donor cab on the back of your 4runner style truck, and you will see it start to come together.

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    The donor cab should rest on the top sides of the bed rails. The top should lay on top of your existing roof. The bottom of the donor cab should sit on the floor of your truck bed. You will need to play with some of the lines a bit with your grinder to get the lines nice and true.

    Bend over the tabs you left on your existing cab so that they meet your bed. These will be welded onto the bed. Also, bend over the metal you left on the floor section to meet the bed floor. You will need to pound this sheet metal the best you can to match the bottom ridges of the bed floor.

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    Once you have played with all the lines and mated surfaces, prep all the metal for welding and line everything up in place. Tack weld some spots to start out with and if everything looks good, then finish up all your welding. This is the part that becomes boring and lengthy. Have patience. (Easy for me to say, I have no patience).

    Once your new cab is welded in place and looks good, you can now re-install your bed wall to the back side of your new cab rear wall. Get that sucker up tight to the cab and weld it in place via the floor and top bed rails.

    Spend some time cleaning up your welds and making them smooth. Once everything is good, play with Bondo or other body filler to combine the mated areas visible. (Should be the roof and the bed rails). After you have done your body work, prep the surface, prime and paint to match. My paint matching is extremely easy as my whole paint job is compliments of a rattle can.

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    I went to the local hardware store and purchased some automotive grade black carpet and lined the inside floor and walls with it for a finishing look. My original plan was to mount a stock Toyota bench seat in this new section, but I have not because my dogs fit back there perfectly and can gaze out the windows with no obstructions....

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    One last thing as far as the windows...Here are some options that I thought of. Plexy glass, a removable canvas window with snaps, or what I did, wood cut out perfectly and wrapped in canvas. These are also removable with great ease.

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    And that’s just about it. Obviously there are probably a bunch of other ideas that you will come up with to do the same modification on your truck. This is good. I hope this article has given you a tiny spark to get your mind going on what can be done with some simple tools in your garage. And of course the benefit to this modification is worth a million. My seats can recline, I have way more storage inside, and the dogs love us again for being able to wheel with us instead of being tossed around in the bed!

                                                                The finished product pictures.......

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