Part One: The Patient
1. The homemade bedliner that's peeling away from the rusty sheetmetal of the poorly constructed step-notch cover only hints at the offensive fabrication violations hidden beneath. Take a deep breath and hold on. This is gonna be a bumpy ride.
2. At some point, someone...
2. At some point, someone relocated the primary starting battery for the truck to the bed. Notice how it's just resting atop the unused hydraulic battery rack. This needs to be securely mounted to avoid a potential fire.
3. Some genius decided it...
3. Some genius decided it would be quicker to just weld the bed to the mounts rather than take the time to find the factory bolts. The tacks had to be cut off with a die grinder and cutoff wheel before the bed could be removed.
4. The entire staff of Go-EZ...
4. The entire staff of Go-EZ about fell over when the bed came off. This is quite possibly the sketchiest fab work ever wrought upon a mini-truck.
5. There are several things...
5. There are several things wrong in this photo. First, the frame notch wasn't properly gusseted after it was cut out. Second, there's poor penetration in the "welds" along the areas connecting the square tubing to the original frame. Lastly, the tubing used to create the step notch is only half as tall as the original rails and only extends about an inch past the area that was cut out. This means there's a huge stress point above the notch, which means the frame will likely crack in this location.
6. The shock mounts weren't...
6. The shock mounts weren't much better. Because no spacers were installed between the mounts and the shock, when the bolts were tightened the mounts pinched inward, which caused them to crack at the bottom near the welds. Nevermind the fact that these mounts are u-g-l-y!
7. The frame work was so bad...
7. The frame work was so bad that it was determined that, to a large degree, the leaf springs were helping to keep the rails from coming apart. Since they were going to be cut off and replaced with a linked suspension, a crossbrace was welded between the framerails, behind the axle, to keep the rails square.
What's under the truck?
Once the Go-EZ crew determined the extent of the damage to Eddy's Tacoma, a gang of new parts from AVS, Slam Specialties, and Mac's Spring was brought in to replace the old suspension components and mounting locations.