Builds 2013 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab Chinook build (3 Viewers)

[Jaybashant]

My name is Jay and I have spent a bunch of time seeing how other folks have built thier dream offroad campers and thank everyone who has posted and shared!

I am about a 2 months into this off road camper build. I bought a beater 77 Toyota Chinook for the fiberglass shell and pop up and had it shipped down to Stuart Florida from Indiana....

I bought the 50K mile 2013 4x4 Tacoma at a salvage auction in NY and had it shipped... it was smacked from the driver's side rear. Pulled the bed off.. replaced the rear end with a low mile salvage one (bent axel and housing)...replaced rear shocks, driver's side leaf and frame shackle bracket... added 1500 lb super spring helpers and had the front end aligned. I want to keep the 4.0L Tacoma as stock as I can but am sure I will be revisiting suspension at some point. The truck has a Off-road TRD package and tow package with transmission cooler and high output alternator and factory 400 watt inverter.

Pulled the camper off the old Toyota and gutted it including the floors... I rebuilt the structure in the pop up roof as it was sagging fiberglass with rotten wood structure.

Rebuilt the factory scissor mechanism for the pop up ..... each side of the mechanism consists of 2 pieces of 1" square steel tube that pivot in the middle with a 3/8" Clevis pin... one side is fixed on a pivot on the top and bottom and the other side pivots on a slide... connected with a 1 1/2" x 12" stiff spring and Turnbuckle.... this pop up is insanely simple and effective. You can raise the top one side at a time with one hand.... a child could raise and lower it...... I can't improve a thing, put it back the way the built it 40 years ago...

Took apart the aluminum framed back door to clean up and paint. I have a pair of 15"x12" crank out windows that will get installed in the original door frame with a fiberglass skinned foam and wood interier. It will give me good viz out the back while driving and help with cross ventilation with the other awning style windows open..... also will install the backup camera from the Tacoma on the back of the camper shell someplace... TBD.... when the truck is in reverse the camera screen is in the rear view mirror... like a sneaky image apears directly in the windshield mounted rear view mirror! Never saw that before!.. I love the guy who figured out how to do that!

Cut 10" out of the front of the camper and laminated it back together. This put 10" more camper on top of the roof to compensate for the Access Cab and moves the weight forward. In other words, I moved the flat forward part that mounts to the back of the cab back by 10"... We have molded in mounts for the Tacoma taillights which are going to look pretty sexy...

My friend Pat has welded a 1x3 steel frame to mount to the truck and create a flat mount for the camper... this will beef up the cab structure as I will eventually cut out the roof and back of the cab to create a walk through.

Installed a Body Armor winch bumper in front... winch TBD.... had a custom back bumper fabricated that follows all the contours of the Chinook. Left an upper space for a 3 step Brophy aluminum diamond plate scissor step. Will still have the tow hitch receiver accessable...

The photos show a dry fit with no floors in yet. I plan a welded steel subfloor with a foam composit fiberglass floor. We have new crank out Windows to install. A propane system for cooking (outside pull out Chuck wagon)... 3kw propane generator, inverter, 3 way fridge, AC and plan a 100 watt solar system...

Lots to go but a good start. I plan to wander central and south America. I lived 4 years in southern Belize and have spent a bunch of time in Guatemala. I have talked to many travelers in everything from Hilux's with tents to rigged out Unimogs who were passing through Belize... Very inspirational.

Hoping to have the floors in and the Chinook mounted in the next week or so. I have a friend helping and it is moving along...

Below the fiberglass camper shell will be aluminum diamond plate fenders and utility boxes. Bought a pair of boxes from Buyers and will fabricate the fenders and rest of it...

I have a thread started on Expedition portal but am having trouble uploading pictures... any thoughts or suggestions are apreciated. I'm smart enough to know that I'm not that smart!

I will upload some pictures from the beginnjng.

 

[Jaybashant]

More pics

 

[Jaybashant]

I looked at Tundras from 2001-06 that have been used before for the Chinook swap outs and everybody wanted top dollar for them.. most had big mileage and then there was the rusted frame recall thing.

I started with the Tacoma Access Cab idea and found out that the late model Access Cabs are rare. The double cabs are very common and easy to find.... Then most of the salvage auction trucks are front end damaged.

I got lucky with this one as I bought it online, never saw it in person...and it had no frame damage except the leaf spring frame bracket that was riveted to the frame. Was able to find someone willing to grind one off another Tacoma and ship it to me. We attached it with hardened bolts and then tack welded the nuts....Leaf spring..shocks and replaced the rear end from a truck with a few less miles and my platform is good to go... and super nice for the same money as a gen one Tundra.... I love this truck.

The last 4x4 Tacoma I owned was a 1999 and I loved it. Drove it all over Central America. Even towed a boat from Belize through the entire length of Mexico to cross into Texas...got in a wreck north of Escarcega Mexico (that trip was worthy of Hollywood movie deal).....But the new Tacomas are sweet! Powerful and confortable... I am hoping for good things from this Tacoma with the Chinook camper... trying to keep it as light as I can and with as low of a center of gravity as possible...

I bought a Toyota Sunrader 7 years ago to do a 4x4 conversion on but realized it was just too tall and cumbersome to go where I want to go.

 

[Jaybashant]

Couple more...

 

[PAToyota]

Cool project!

 

[renago]

I am afraid that this build will result in a VERY cool truck .
keep it as light as possible .

bye Renago

 

[Tank5]

Cool Project! Look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Jaybashant]

New
So there is a bunch of thinking going on... we got started on the steel sub-floor today .., 1x3" steel square tube was cut and drilled to allow them to be bolted using the factory bolts and frame mounting points. Fabricated the spacers and some 4"x4"x3/16" plate that will sandwich a vibration dampening hard rubber like material. It will be quite rigid but allow everything to move a bit.
The perimeter will be welded 1"×1" steel tube... the floors will be composite foam/fiberglass.... supports will be welded in as necessary to support the generator, batteries water tank etc... I will end up bolting on some aluminum supports to weld in all of the aluminum diamond plate. Utility boxes, fenders etc.
The floor will drop down to the rear camper door about 7 inches. Just about exactly where the existing trailer hitch reciever is located... I need to relocate it so it will be functional as well as not interfere with my aluminum scissor step. The bumper/step is going to work good. Just have to work out the hitch..
Need to sleep on it.
I had built a temp wood flatbed and got all the lights etc installed so I could have my dmv inspection to be issued a rebuilt title. Got all that done so today I stripped it down so the steel work can commence....
The goal is to get the subfloor in and then set the camper shell back on it and then fabricate the floors and fiberglass them in.

 

[PAToyota]

Was the frame on the ’77 supplemented at all from stock? I know that flexing of the frame is pretty much expected, but the Chinook body is pretty tight to the ’77. Are you at all concerned that the ’13 will flex?

It’s actually pretty amazing how well the proportions look for that. As big as the Chinook looks on the ’77, it looks just about perfect for the ’13.

 

[Jaybashant]

Thanks PAToyota... I modified the shell by cutting 10" out of the front of the camper (moved the surface that mounts to the back of the cab back and laminated it back together).... The overall length is the same... 10" more camper are on top of the roof to compensate for the access cab.
I do not expect a bunch of flexing after the steel subfloor is welded to the cab reinforcing steel we made...l also when the floors/ subfloor steel/camper shell are all laminated together it will be insanely strong.
The 1977 Toyota had a stock frame with a bolt on add on to extend the length. Chinook had plywood floors and plywood frame spacers and still had integrity after 40 years.

 

[Jaybashant]

Got the subfloor steel framing pretty far along... mocked the back bumper positioning and had a chance to make some decisions on positioning and how to mount some of the components... I am able to mount the generator and small water tank directly to the frame instead of the subframe. As I had mentioned, the subframe will be mounted to the existing factory frame mounting points but will be through bolted with steel plates with a hard rubber center.... it will be able to flex a bit like the cab mounts...
Tomorrow we will set the camper shell for a final dry fit. The back bumper will get welded in position and then the subframe can get welded to the cab reinforcement steel....
Unpacked the diamond plate utility boxes and they are nice! Below the fiberglass camper shell will all be aluminum diamond plate... boxes transitioning into fenders. Black truck, white camper with lots of anodized aluminum diamond plate... the back bumper will get rhino coated black to match the front winch bumper...
Soon I have to look at pulling some of the interior and protecting everything with a low tack protective plastic to not Jack up my pretty interior....
That scary cab cut away is right around the corner.

 

[Tank5]

Jay, looks like your project is progressing nicely. I am looking forward to seeing it come together. I have a very similar build on a tundra. They advice I would share learned from my own build is keep the final end weight in mind as you build it and don't overbuild anything that is not necessary.

Cool build!!
Good luck

 

[Jaybashant]

Thank you Tank5... I am considering every pound added and keeping the center of gravity low... is your truck the Tunook started by Oleg? That truck was a big inspiration to build this one!

 

[Tank5]

That is it. Oleg did a great job starting it and all of what I consider the hard work. He used 1/4 inch 2x2 square tube to build the sub floor for the camper shell. I think that could have been done with a lighter material but on the up side it is welded to the frame and stiff so I have not had any issues with flex. It has been a great rig and we have had a lot of fun with it.

If your not already planning to do so I would lengthen the overcab section so it reaches the front of the cab. That space is really handy for gear placement.

 

[Jaybashant]

We got the camper back on today for hopefully the final dry fit. Also got the supports fabricated and got the back bumper welded in. here are a few shots of the cab with the steel support in place. The fiberglass camper will be sandwiched between the truck cab and the 1"×3" steel cab reinforcement before cutting out the walk through. The steel subframe will get welded to the cab supprt then.... Also a shot of the steel/rubber mounts that the camper will be mounted with using Toyota's factory mounting points. The Generac 3KW generator will mount behind the rear bumper. It runs on propane. I do not think it will be used that much but we will have an option to run air conditioning if needed. Also emergency battery charging.

 

[mervo]

SUBBED! Looking forward to the rest of the build Jay, and hoping to get some ideas for my own. I have a 95 22re (bed removed) that I'm hoping to find a chinook to transplant.

I'm sure you've seen this thread before but @SWCruiser 's Chinook build is what sold me on this project. He hasn't updated in a while but as far as I'm concerned it's damn near perfect.

Lexus lx450 chinook expedition vehicle

 

[Jaybashant]

Thanks Mervo... I have seen the Lexus Chinook. Cool rig for sure. In hindsight, with all the modifications I have made to the chinook shell I may have done it different. I may have fabricated the whole shell out of aluminum. Weld a stick frame skeleton and skin it ....maybe a thought for your '95.

 

[Jaybashant]

The welded steel support for the generator is finished and the gen set has been dry fit behind the rear bumper... there will be access through the floor from above to service it. Also got a good jump start on pulling the interior of the cab out so the walk through can be cut out.... upholstery is wrapped and stored and I will cover everything else really well so it does not get damaged... this truck has a really nice interior and I want to keep it like that.
Liking the aluminum scissor stairs that store in the rear bumper!

 

[Jaybashant]

Pulled the rest of the rear interior trim and was very concerned to see th a there is a bunch I'd air bag apparatus on both sides of the rear window...Took a ride to chat with the service manager at Toyota to understand how it all works... Pulled the back window in preparation for the walk through cab cut that is happening tomorrow. With the rubber back window trim gone we got to see how it fits on the back of the cab with all our guesswork modifications and I am really happy with the fit!
Pat modified the exhaust for the generater. It is a tight little installation package. Note the aluminum utility box and generator to see how we are using every bit of basement area....
Tomorrow we cut the cab... it feels like all downhill from here..

 

[Jaybashant]

The walk through was cut out with no drama but it was scary to do...note in the side view pics all the air bag equipment. The side curtain airbags are still fully functional....
Also incorporated steel frame support for the diamond plate aluminum wheel wells/fenders...
It was a good day.
Some fiberglass work and fairing and God willing the camper shell may be mounted by week end. I have been very fortunate to have a friends shop to work in but he is getting ready to need his space back soon. I want to get the camper weather tights ASAP.