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Welding & Fabrication

The Toyota recall ended the frame repairs. All the boxed frames cause issues. The f150 would break in half. Only the bottom flange would hold the truck together and the truck bed resting against the cab. I witnessed an owner driving a broke f150. I wish I would have taken a picture. It might have completely split in two in the next few miles. The older trucks held up to the salt. And heavy open frames would not hold debrise. Sometimes we would get good condition c30 chevys for weld on hitches. Not only the was frame impressive but there is only 4 or 5 wires in the harness for the tailights. I always claimed modern vehicles are throw away by design. Easy to rot and hard to fix.
 
The Tacoma has a lighter gauge frame than the Hilux to deliver more comfort to the genteel North American truck market. In stock configurations, the Tacoma may ride better on the road than a Hilux, but once the OEM suspension is ditched, a stronger frame would be more desirable, at least for me. No Hilux for NA, though.

While reviewing the parade of rusted out 2nd gen Tacoma frames leading up to the large recall, the possible connection to catalytic converter heat stood out. They rusted horribly in other areas, but that one spot was always a point of failure on ones I saw being recalled. I've kept my truck clean enough to avoid those problems, but I really should add a pair of heat shields to protect the frame from the worst of the corrosion cycle.
The tacoma i feel is like the Toyota USA version of what nissan did when they created the D40( Called a Frontier in the States i think, Made from 2006 ) , and its modern fancier styling and more fragile frame are like taconas full of claims and litigation due to snapping in half,. the D22 is a better stronger more workmanlike frame and in my opinion a better looking truck too.

Navara D40 woes.
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The Tacoma has a lighter gauge frame than the Hilux to deliver more comfort to the genteel North American truck market.
I don't know if it's changed, but I had a 2008 Tacoma and loading a 300 lb bike was enough to bend the tailgate. And in stock configuration it was common for it to be riding on the bump stocks. Fortunately Toyota added a leaf spring for free when I complained. It was a great, reliable vehicle but it was more toy than truck. I kept it for 10 years and 200k miles and it never gave me any trouble. I'm in a part of the midwest that doesn't get a ton of snow so the roads only get salted a few times a year. I was careful to always take it through an underbody wash after each time they salted and my frame was still fine when I sold it.
 
Well King Charles 3rd got crowned a Soldier feinted and a horse backed into the crowd and there were sound equipment issues, i dare bet the sound guy will be sweeping roads if hes lucky for the rest of his life from Tuesday morning when he gets fired.
I listened to it on the radio was a nice day here , my chespeke bay cross labrador pup was snoring in the back seat of the old D22 wile i was chipping away underneath with a little arc welding slag hammer i moved a lot of shale and am as sure as i can be i have a decent chassis under the cab, it seems to have been hit worse from under the rear tub and test drills with my 18mm hole cutter seem to be throwing up soil some sand and light rust particles after vacuuming out the sections, i was nearly 2 hours welding up the test holes and making washers with welded on nuts to fit m12 bolts.
Working around the annoying side steps with the wire brush in a grinder was very frustrating, and so much so i lifted the carpets to see if i could unbolt them, and typical jAP Truck over the 21 years the sound deadening had gotten damp and rusted the bolt heads and yet the reinforcement plates on top of the step arm mountings had taken all the rust worm activity and underneath it is still painted blue and solid as round the mount holes, initial investigation looks like the other side faired better on the damp department and its solid.
Sound proofing holds wet and it adds weight, noise is fine by me its getting just the factoy moulded upper mats and if i add anything under them it will be not water holding insulay not the wooly flaxen stuff they use from new which weighs heavy even when snuff dry.
Before i stopped just before dusk when the rain clouds showed up, i had a good old disk off up front and again it looks very good no more holes of holow sounding thin bits its ringing like a bell if i am honest.
Her indoors called time informing me evening meal of roast duck was well underway, and i was to get in the shower NOW!. Not wanting to incur her wrath i indeed did and i was truly filthy red i did not think i had enough hair left to hold that much rust. :lol2
 
The best little work truck I've had was a Chevrolet LUV 4x4 (Isuzu pickup). Like your Nissan, it had some serious rust in places, but was mechanically sound. I gutted the interior and bolted a bucket seat in for the driver, with the passenger side available for tools (chainsaw, leaf blower, etc.) that wouldn't be liberated from the bed. It was sort of a dual sport, in that it was light, small & nimble enough to go well off-road, with decent power for maintaining 60 mph / 100 kph with a trailer.

Let's see some photos of the Nissan reclamation project the next time you're red.

I have not bothered taking photos of it much so far, but here is a couple i posted before on the dis mountable camper thread, which is one of the reasons i wanted to build this truck.
The Worst place on the body(The Cab itself) is the off side rear outer cill (Rocker panel in USA), Its visible under the back door on the lower picture, rest of body is good apart from some hoof marks on the nearside front door.( Where a michevious horse kicked it Because it could) , engine is not so good and i still have not decided what to do, if i should try put right the original engine or go Mercedes OM 606 (Which i like the idea of but wanted More ecconomy of fuel if i convert) Or 1.9TDI vw engine, the original idea i had for a VW AGX 2.5litre five cylinder diesel was killed discovering as ancient as it was 1997 it was still dual mass flywheel, so i need another conventional flywheel to put the nissan clutch cover on which is not that straightforward as the fwd fives i am told have a diferent bolt pattern and stand further away from the block.
Really its probably going to be a 1.9tdi vw its got enough grunt for hunting and even the camper body i want to make wont be heavy but might create trouble pushing it throught the wind with the 1.9tdi engine.
I dont esspecialy like the Nissan YD250 and like the 3 litre ZD30 even less, so its posibly a easy swap in nissan td27 2.7 litre which is a trully wonderfull engine or go the hog and fit the 1.9tdi vw.
I think i have to look at just how bad the death rattle as maimed the yd25 before i jump either way, but given the nature of these engines i expect the worst.
Its going to be a long term project this one and i want it to last us well, it would have been a lot eassier to buy a running d22 or l200 mitsubishi for £2000ish but it would still have the yd25 motor and need chassis work too, so the £200 rattler was a no brainer given what i wanted to do.
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2Well After all that, My Plans changed radically yesterday when a mate who had a navara D22 wreck the gearbox last month smashing it on a rock and holing the transfer box and it subsequently faired badly on the trip home, talk about driving to destruction:lol2
He rang me asking if i was using the box in this project i said i was, and thought that was the end of it.
But an hour latter he rang asking if the whole truck was for sale s it had a title and he wanted other parts for his existing truck, i said i had planned on keeping it, and said it had taken me several months looking for either a D2 or Mitsubishi L200 . He mentioned he could get a mitsubishi shogun sport 2004 which had failed its test on rear brake pipe corrosion a front cv joint boot not securerly fitted and an oil leak advice.
He said would i straight swap if i left the alloy wheels on my D22 and paid him £30 for our mutual mate to collect and deliver. .
I said i would look and we arranged a viewing today.
It was as described on the phone and clean and tidy on the body and chassis frame was again very clean just surface rust and it drove ok but engine was sluggish and i am near on certain the egr valve is stuck open and i think the intake manifold is full of soot and carbon gluck . the oil is ousing out of a loose intercooler pipe and removing it it ws full od black gluck so think its been run with egr open for some time, it seems to be ok on the turbo and its spinning and whisteling ok but its simply not boosting down to the stuck egr .
Oil is filthy and yet its not breathing exesively i think its revivable quite straightforwardly. Its the D456T engine 2.5 TD 114 BHP a ubiquitous engine. .
Its a Van version no rear seats and i kind of fell for it down to this fact, if it had been a normal wagon suv style i would have essitated but i agreed to the deal and it should be happening end of the week.

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As requested, some pics of my welding table. These are 500mm pallets from a horizontal mill. I think I paid 250$ a piece for them. They are roughly 3.5" thick and 24x36. They have 1/2-13 holes tapped on a 1" grid.

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I also have a mill in the shop. As of now all it does is take up space and cost me money.

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But it does allow me to make stupid shit I otherwise wouldn't be able too.
 
Interesting. Could be a great option for some moto related repairs.

Please let us know if you try it out.
 
came across this for Welding Cast Alum...

Always wanted to buy some to play with. Says it bonds at 600°F, which is way below typical brazing temps. Closer to plumbing temps really.

It don't seem right, but I've used two part epoxies that were insanely strong. Strong enough to tear steel metal body panels before the glue gave up. Technology is great.
 
Yup.
Truck Bedsides et.al are bonded on nowadays, those adhesives are also insanely strong.
 
Homemade Rabaconda Street Tire Changer knockoff is primarily done. Everything acetoned and waiting for paint after dinner.
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Crude. The same way I like my wimmen
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Epoxying a piece of leather on to the bead breaker spade. Fingers crossed it will stay 😁

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New Tool Release

 
Were having a fish fry for Labor day and the wife asked for a cast iron lid holder,
also doubles as a cast iron dutch oven stand off when cooking with coals

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Bolts are overkill, They are are 11/16" x 6" takeoffs from several new International 4300 Chassis Trucks that were in the shop for serious upfitter mods a few years ago. I'm glad I finally found a good way to recycle this old hardware and put it to good use.

I stood on it, dead center, seems stout enough.....
 
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