D
an Pitts, even at age 17, has got his priorities straight and the confidence of youth on his side. Putting in long hours
after school at his Uncle's garage, he's saved up his hard-earned clams to turn his relatively stock '87 Toyota mini truck
into a rock crawler, and he isn't afraid of body damage either. Rolling into the shop with only 32" tires and a lunch box
locker in the rear axle, Dan is ready for us to tear into his ride.
The goal: turn this stocker into a capable trail rig, ready for the rocks, the trails and just about anything else.
With that blank slate, we decided to start with something that would catch people's eyes, add a level of safety to his off-road
adventures, scale to fit his needs as the rig is molded, and add some trail armor in one fell swoop.
The task: ditch the home-made truck bed, for a slick, tubular flat bed conversion kit from
All-Pro Off-Road that would allow for some big tires and trail armor.
We put a call into our Toyota-expert friends at All-Pro Off-Road in Hemet, CA and ordered their All-Pro Flat bed kit
(part # 2500-AP-KT).
Their flat bed kit is the perfect balance of form and function. Comprised of 1 ˝" .120" wall DOM round
tubing and 1" .120" wall square tubing, it looks cool, and it's beefy as hell too. It's also designed so that you can modify
several aspects of the build to make your All-Pro flat bed kit unique to your rig.
So if you're ready tackle the All Pro Flat Bed conversion kit, you'll need to bust out yo' mad fabrication skills, set aside
3 or 4 weekends, a bunch of 40 ouncers in paper bags, and line up a bunch of tools. Take note as you'll need a right-angle
grinder, a welder, a chop saw or hack saw, a tape measure, an angle finder, a whole-saw or a tubing notcher, a couple levels,
several medium and large clamps, a reciprocating saw and a few other small fabrication and hand tools - oh yeah, a plasma cutter
will make this job a lot easier too, but you can get away with a torch set or a skill saw that has a metal cutting blade. When
it's all said and done, you'll have yourself a trick, rolling jungle gym with enough bars for you to get your monkey-awn.
Before we get into the how to, here's an example of what your pickup could look like before and after its transformation from
zero to hero, stock to rock, or street queen to trail king.
Before All-Pro Off-Road's Flat Bed Conversion |
After All-Pro Off-Road's Flat Bed Conversion |
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