ACME Beer Truck

That ROTARY makes my shop look like an amateur show. There has been many good used hoists for sale here because WORKSAFE BC has made it mandatory for shops to have swing arm locks. Home use does not require the locks. As you know, SG, I don't have the room to spare, for a nice hoist. My friend was able to convince his wife to move to an acreage with a nice house and a detached 4000SF with another 3500SF on the second level. The first thing he installed was a ROTARY Like yours then a four post.

I bought the Rotary Lift off the tool truck! Made easy WEEKLY payments. Hid it from the wife at a friend's shop.
You know, the usual.
There was no way I could buy something like that (Muscle Mig, Plasma, drill press, etc) without the tool truck people. Mac, Matco and Snap-On.
So when people remark about how I paid TOO MUCH...
My reply always is where's YOUR lift! welder, plasma, drill press, etc?

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH??
I think that it is very important to try and keep our fellow countrymen employed with making and selling the tools we use. I have very strongly held feeling about buying off-shore unless there is almost no option. The first event of taking NORTH AMERICAN businesses out of the country and putting our people out of jobs should be treated much like treason. Each job lost in our countries weakens us and any ability we might have had to survive and or recover. I paid more than double for a MOD-U-BLAST cabinet, 100% MADE IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA than what I could have paid for something that looks similar and was made off-shore. The last cabinet I had was all but free and made off-shore. It leaked from new and had to be resealed. The dust control was poor or worse. The OEM media gun lasted until noon of the first day and was replaced with one MADE IN USA that lasted for 12 years+. I feel compelled to spend my money on things that were made here. I have two wonderful drill presses that still work perfectly are each over 100 years old. Both were MADE IN ILLINOIS buy AMERICANS. My lathe was MADE IN SOUTH BEND INDIANA in 1945. I only buy MILLER BLUE, MADE IN USA AND AMERICAN BALDOR.
Here in CANADA, it is popular to think that we are better than our neighbours to the south, because...... Well, CANADA has allowed many of our jobs to go outside of our country, also. I do not like to call THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA or TELUS and get a person in another country who I have great difficulty understanding. The government here has allowed our real-estate to be bought and sold by off-shore speculators who have jacked the price of a three bedroom home in this area to $1,500,000. It would seem, to me, that our federal government is trying to sell our natural resources to off-shore interests for some short term financial and political gain. Here in CANADA we used to have a loosely governed Foreign Worker Program where any employer was able to hire persons who are not CANADIAN and pay them less that what the law required for LOCALS. The qualification to hire foreign workers was too easy and all of the big fast food eateries jumped at the opportunity. My local drive through b'fast eatery has had nearly a full staff change when they were forced to hire CANADIANS FIRST. The staff were instructed to tell the customers that the person or persons who are no longer working there are on a break.
80% of the houses and properties in the 'hood have been flipped several times by off-shore investors. the price of a 50' by 175' lot here has gone up 21.5 times (2150%) in price since 1979. There is no place to go, now.
It might not be too late. Get involved and understand the issues then vote intelligently. It might be necessary to change and old and long held family tradition. Maybe "our guy" is not good for our country.

Old, well-made tools seem to have more soul.
I would like a LITTLE of the price increases here on property that you've had. My five acres might be worth a little, then.
2008 brought a HUGE drop in property values. We will be digging out for years.
Maybe if they completely legalize pot???
Gotta grow it somewhere. Why not Central CA?
My neighbors aren't waiting for the laws to change...

Long list of things to accomplish on beer truck this long weekend.
I'm shooting for a 4 to 6" engine/trans setback due to the interference between a/c compressor and radiator support.
Believe it or not, getting the beer truck on the hoist may have been the hardest of the things to do. I started last night and just got it positioned a few minutes ago.
I will have to temporarily remove the m/cs to accomplish cab lift off.
Once the cab is floating above ground I will:
1) cut a piece of exhaust out. Should be easy
2) remove front driveshaft for future sectioning/replacement. It's tapered, hard to shorten much.
3) use cut off wheel to seperate trans crossmember from frame and slide back
4) either fabricate plates to adapt to engine mounts to move engine back, cut and move welded frame engine mounts back or both. This looks to be the time suck.

Here we go! Floating cab...
Also a picture of trans crossmember that has to go backwards x inches.
Yes, all emissions devices are left intact. That's the cat onverter down below. After all, I want the truck to run "normal" which means GOOD for Toyota Tacoma.
Cardboard over manual trans is just to keep dirt out while I'm adjusting where cab will go. I'm going to put shifter housing back on now.

Turns out the oil pan sump and main front crossmember will have a headache if I go over two inches engine setback.
I COULD raise engine to fit over crossmember but would obscure oil drain plug. I have no problem using a suction hose to drain oil pan. We do it all the time at work on trans oil pans (drain and fill).
GOOD news is that there's probably enough driveshaft for a one inch cut on each end (though not optimal).
Also good news is that there is enough "pedestal" room under welded engine mount brackets to cut them loose and slide back.
Left engine mount WILL be close rack and pinion.
Here goes!

You being the one doing the work and me being the one a couple thousand miles away, I was wondering if you could do a frame section to ease some of your interferences encountered moving the engine back. In other words, cut a 2" - 3" (or whatever works) section out of both sides of the frame to the rear of the transmission mount and add the corresponding amount ahead of the engine mounts but behind the front suspension. It's just a "what if" suggestion and I'm well aware I'm not on site and not in touch with the proceedings there and you are.

Thanks, WEW51L110! Great suggestion! I like it when people think outside the box.
Along with cutting firewalls and dashes I'm loathe to cut frames "in half". I guess the main reason is my lack of precision on the reassembly.
Having said that I was intrigued enough to install Volare, Mustang II and Pacer front suspensions on different trucks. Lots of hacking going on. Never mind the three other Japanese / old iron hybrids I've done...
I guess this D-2/ Tacoma looks like such a slice and dice job that you might ask "why not?"
If I thought I had a reasonable chance at a staight frame when I was done I might give it a whirl. In fact, I will look very closely at your idea when it cools off a bit and I go back outside.
I suspect, however, that I'm too scared to try it!
I know what I'm doing looks like madness sometimes. But even I need a solid "foundation" to rely on, the frame!
Thanks!

Plasma cutter and cut off wheel made quick work of exhaust pipe and trans crossmember to frame welds.
I removed front driveshaft to shorten or replace. It's tapered on both ends. Japanese driveshafts are different from US makes, weird OD and different wall thickness. Pretty much gotta use another Japanese truck driveshaft for a replacement tube.
I made a very nice square cut on the exhaust pipe only to find that the muffler is broken and there was no need for such precision. Pipe behind cut will get replaced and welded when muffler is replaced.
Tomorrow I'm gonna cut the pedestals loose from the motor mount brackets, perhaps use plasma to modify crossmember for sump clearance (I also hate cutting on major crossmembers).