Hey all,
I just finished a fairly major project on my taco and wanted to share. After rebuilding the motor this fall, I put 6k trouble free happy miles on the pickup, hauling big loads and climbing through deep snow. My buddies are too cheap for toyotas, but everyone has been very impressed by the rig.

Unfortunately I got a bit overzealous while hauling timbers for a cabin and bent the frame. My estimate is that the rear bumper was about 3" below its stock position. I am proud to say I managed to straighten and reinforce it in my driveway with about 10 hours of labor, and some basic tools.

The before. It doesn't look so bad, but for someone like me it was totally unbearable. Frame had some serious deformation at the bend too.

 
Bed off. If you look real close at the frame just above the rear tire, you can see the bulge where it bent.


This is setting up the straightening jig. I had to add some stability and reinforcement, but the basic idea is there. That is a 30 ton jack, and it was way overkill for this project. The only reason I used it was the remote pump on a 10' hose, so I could hide from it while it was under tension.


Finished frame straightening jig. I used a 4' adjustable bubble level to check for straightness. I compared the bed mounts front to back against the frame below the body. And the front bed mounts left to right to the rear bed mounts. Im confident it is within 1/16" of true.


3/16" plate to return the frame to original strength or better.


And the other side all painted. I originally planned to box the frame, but ran out of time. I think to do a good/safe job you would want to pull the gas tank.