Thunked a thought today

[Shane Oldfield]

So I was out lying underneath my truck today, as I often do when I don't actually have time/money to work on her, and thinking of all the nice things that I am going to do in the future, when I had an idea. The truck got sideswipped before I bought it (salvage titles make great off-road builds) and the damage is pretty bad on the lower part of the bed and the extended cab behind the drivers side door. My first thoughts about this were, we'll I'll go flatbed someday. I realized today though that in the interum I could possibly cut the lower part of the bed off at the seam. There's really nothing down there, it's just sheet metal that hangs down and I would functionally see the same results as putting a flatbed on, plus get rid of a heap of mangled metal.

Question is, has anyone seen this done? Anyone by chance have pictures of a rig like this? I know it would look a little goofy, so I would love to see if someone else has done it before I take the sawzall to my girl. Also, any obvious drawbacks that I am missing?

Thanks is advance

[jedisdead]

ithink i might know where one is that is rusted that bad about half way up ill see if it is there and try to get a pic it looks funny if you ask me but to each there own

[bbagwell]

Here is a pic of mine, just the rear part is cut off. This is before I bobbed the bed.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/bbagwell/scotsmills02.jpg

[Shane Oldfield]

Hey thanks for the picture! I sort of thought that the general response would be that I was nutters, this is great. I figured that it would look pretty goofy, but I'm a lot more concerned about functional over pretty. I'm thinkin' that I'll probably do it. If anyone else has any pictures or thoughts that'd be great.

Thanks a lot!

[bbagwell]

It looks a little goofy, but being a long bed made it look goofier :lol:. Now that I bobbed the bed it looks a lot better.

[Shane Oldfield]

How hard was it to bob the bed? I've really wanted to do that to mine, and my welding skills are coming along well enough that I feel good about being able to do it, it just still seems like a lot of work. How long did it take you? Any tricks you learned along the way? How much did you take out? Any words of advice would be appreciated.

[bbagwell]

I took out 22", I cut it right to the end of the frame. We welded some steel plate on the end, and put in trailer lights rather then welding the back of the bed back on. I took about a day to complete the job. I am just using a tailgate net since I don't have a tailgate. Here is a pic to show how short it is. We used a torch to cut it off. I was trying to find a pic of the back, no luck.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/bbagwell/Toyota.jpg

[Shane Oldfield]

Ah, so you didn't weld the gate section back on. I wasn't planning on going that route, although the truck is getting retired from a daily driver to just wheeling here pretty quickly so that might not be a bad idea. Although I would also need to work up some lights so that I can keep it street legal. Have to be able to drive it to the trails and all.

Thanks for the pics, looks great!

[bbagwell]

I just got some cheap trailer lights and wired them up. If you are going to weld the rear section of the bed back on the key is to not get it too hot. The metal is thin.

[85yotto]

If your going to bob the bed then cut it off just after your shackle and weld a new cross bar in at that point, to make up for the one you just cut out. With this cut point you have an over-hang of only the ass end of you shackle/spring.
Hey I know this is going to sound kind of silly but unless im wrong FOURWD1 has his bed cut off like you were thinking about. he might have some photos for ya as well. I have seen alot of toyota beds cut up like that because of rust. I like how bbagwell's looks after it was bobed but if you ask me it looked weird in the photo with the lower bed cut, on just the back end and still long.

[OREGON85]

So I was out lying underneath my truck today, as I often do when I don't actually have time/money to work on her, and thinking of all the nice things that I am going to do in the future, when I had an idea. The truck got sideswipped before I bought it (salvage titles make great off-road builds) and the damage is pretty bad on the lower part of the bed and the extended cab behind the drivers side door. My first thoughts about this were, we'll I'll go flatbed someday. I realized today though that in the interum I could possibly cut the lower part of the bed off at the seam. There's really nothing down there, it's just sheet metal that hangs down and I would functionally see the same results as putting a flatbed on, plus get rid of a heap of mangled metal.

Question is, has anyone seen this done? Anyone by chance have pictures of a rig like this? I know it would look a little goofy, so I would love to see if someone else has done it before I take the sawzall to my girl. Also, any obvious drawbacks that I am missing?

Thanks is advance

I knew a guy who did that all the way across the bottom and the top just above the top of the wheel well. It looked real goofy but worked well and cut a lot of weight. It was a lot lighter than a flat bed.

[85yotto]

I talked to one guy that was all about cutting off all his rust this way. His plan was to cut off big chunks of the bed and then he was going to like bolt on some kind of steel waffle type sides, (to replace it) then he could remove them if he gets stuck in the sand or snow/mud or what not, anyways he could then put them under the tire and gain traction. It was some kind of military ramps or something that he wanted to use. Anyways it sounds weird but this guy seemed to have his head on right and it sounded like he really had a full idea of just what he would do. I thought that I would tell you sense your about to start cutting.

[Shane Oldfield]

If your going to bob the bed then cut it off just after your shackle and weld a new cross bar in at that point, to make up for the one you just cut out.


I assume you are talking about the crossbar that is welded onto the bottom side of the bed and not the crossbar in the frame right? The crossbar in my frame is further forward than I will be cutting.