I have a almost rust free bed I am prepping for paint in the back yard right now, and after the swap I am thinking about following up with bobbing 12 inches out of the back.

 

Well I bobbed the bed this weekend.... Last weekend I swapped beds, found one in good shape for a good price. I also started on a new rear bumper, its almost finished.

The lower half of the rear bumper is a removable drop bumper, 4 bolts and its ready to hit the trails. I'll post up some pics of it pulled off after I finish the main bumper, and paint everything.

 

very nice, i likes. A little more taken out than mine.

 

looking good. i took 17" out of mine.

 

thats a sick departure angle (and chop...)! i'm pretty jealous...

 

Thanks guys

I am very happy with how it turned out, I think 12 inches was perfect. Put the shackles right where I wanted them.

That takes some balls to chop a 4 runner like that, looks good though And looks like you did a clean job on the 87.

 

Bent up some side hoops last night, and welded them up. The welds near the wheel well look like crap... Had to patch a gap on the backside, since I cut the main bumper ends to short.

 

Looks good man!!

 

Well as soon as I got home last night, I backed the truck into the garage for a full night of body work. Started out by patching the one small rust hole in the bed, cutting out a section of the removed 12 inches and welding it in. Then I blended in the lower drivers side corner on the outside. After everything was smooth, I ruffed up the metal for the body filler. And I spent most of the night laying body filler and sanding it down... I wasn't finished with the body filler until midnight. There were still a few small voids, but I didn't want to spend another hour on the body filler. So I cleaned the body up and sprayed two coats of primer, followed by two spray bomb coats of paint. I think I got to bed around 2am....


This morning I went back out to the garage, and masked the body off for the black paint. Sprayed one coat of black, then bolted the bumpers and tail lights back on while it dried. Pulled off the tape and headed off to work. I stopped at a park to take a few pics on my way in to work.

 

Nice job, I like the finished product. also nice job on the bumpers...

 

Did you make the bumpers or where did you get them? Looks great and real clean. anymore plans for this truck? lift, ect?
great work

 

looks good. nice bob!!

 

awesome work man, That looks really good. I agree with 12"s being the best look. The very end of the bed is not too long or short.

 

Thanks, I did make the bumper my self with the use of a friends tubing bender. I drew up all the mounting brackets and had them cut locally with a CNC plasma cutter.

Right now I am thinking about getting either Downey or Alcan springs for the truck, might look at the OME springs as well. Does anyone know the price of the Alcan and OME springs off hand? From what I have read, the Downeys work better then stock, but don't last to long. The OME's are a step up, and Alcans are the bread and butter of springs, but not cheap. Currently I have some stiff add a leafs in back, and I have pretty poor flex.

Also been thinking about gears, but then I look at dual cases and I think I would rather invest money into a dual case setup then regearing the diffs. And I still have a FJ40 to wheel... Trying to keep the truck a daily driver that can still handle the trails.

 

ya the ranchos are not really the best for flex real stiff. i would go Alcan for the flex

 

Well I had a chance to take my truck out on some local trails yesterday. These trails are built around jeeps, not long wheel base trucks.... So the trails are tight, the bobbed bed was doing great all day. Well that is until the very last trail, it was up a hill with a sharp turn to the left, tree on the top inside corner, and as I was swinging the turn wide my front bumper hit a tree on the right side of the trail. I tried several times to avoid this inside tree, but it took out the drivers side of my new bed. I should be able to pop most of the dents out, I've had body damage before. And the paint is just rustoleum, making touch up a breeze.

Sorry, I didn't snap any pics of my truck on the trail, waiting for others to post up the pics they took.

 

What kind of rustoleum? Is that just on the bottom or the top too? The top (silver) portion looks decently glossy... I'm kinda curious.

 

The upper gray portion is rustoleum paint. The bed was spray painted with their standard paint cans. And the cab was rolled on with their professional series paint. It seems to hold up just fine, painted the front of the truck over a year ago.