I found that the Tacoma's bed design was not supported well by the selection of boxes that local dealer's kept in stock although every retailer was happy to place special orders.  Online, Tacoma owners pleading for help seem to get a lot of it, but with rarely with definitive results.  As soon as it sounded like someone had found the prefect box to recommend to someone, they revealed they could not recall the brand or where they purchased it.

      Then, if choosing the box was not a large enough task, determining how to anchor it to the truck would become yet another challenge.  The Delta boxes we we found each came with two J-Hooks.  We installed our son's box first because I was awaiting delivery of my headache rack.  The Tacoma rail system has notches beneath them for J-Hook applications.  Since we wanted a solid installation, we used the J-Hooks from my son's box and from mine to secure his.  We were surprised that Delta did not supply four hooks and I would later discover that the installation of my box over the bars provided on my Headache Rack would create even new challenges.

      For our son and me, the Delta Champion 32000 (bright) and 32002 (black) boxes worked out almost perfectly for us.  To actually be perfect, the dimensions could have been a couple inches longer, but their next size up low profile toolbox was designed for full size trucks and it was much too long.  The Double-T design means that I can still reach the sides of my truck where Toyota has designed some in wall pockets within the plastic bed liner.

      To install the toolbox on my truck, I had already donated my J-Hooks to my son's installation.  I either needed to find 4 J-Hooks for my toolbox or another way to anchor the box and Headache Bar.  I had hopes to utilize the Toyota bed rail system, but the goofball in the Parts Department of our local Toyota dealer had no better advise for me than that "the brackets to mount a toolbox are always supplied with the toolbox".

       While visiting The Home Depot one evening, I found an inspiring product called a Grip Rite Tool Box Mounting system by Better Built.  The photos on the back of the package were dark and almost impossible to make out.  The price was hefty; a whopping $25 plus.  However they only had one set in stock and I knew I could return it if I found it would not work for me.

      When I opened The Grip Rite and downloaded more legible instructions for the product from the manufacturer's Web Site, I found that the product could not be clamped on the edge of my truck bed as described BUT, I could place my own washer on the device (shown above) and slide the device along the bed rail (shown below).

      Once on the rails and tightened, I placed the box over it and hammered a long nail upward through the nearest hole to mark the first hole on the bottom side of the tool box.  With a template I made of the second hole by rubbing paper with a pencil, I was able to determine the placement for the second hole.  Once the box was placed back over the brackets, I found that the special bolts supplied with the Grip Rite sunk into the brackets perfectly.

UPDATE:

      Ever since I installed the toolbox, I found it surprisingly difficult to latch closed.  I assumed from the beginning that my difficulty was because the airtight nature of the box.  In other words, closing the lid with force compressed the air inside making it hard to close enough to latch.

      In recent weeks I noticed that the latch welded on the underside of the lid was only welded on one side (A second latch was welded properly on all sides).  As a result, the single weld was acting as a stiff hinge and the latch bracket was bending away from the lid (see below).

      I decided to take the truck to a local muffler shop who had done other small tasks for me.  They were extremely nice, but they could not help me.  It turns out that the popular form of vehicular welding is referred to as MIG welding which is better defined as Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW). MIG welding is a high deposition rate welding process whereby wire is continuously fed from a spool.

      Since the toolbox is made of aluminum components, a different form of welding is needed called TIG welding.  TIG welding is more accurately defined as Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW).  TIG welding is not quite as common because it is used when high quality, precision welding is required.  An arc is formed between a tungsten electrode and the metal being welded. Gas is fed through the torch to shield the electrode and molten weld pool. Filler wire may be added to the weld pool separately.  The process is a hotter procedure.

      I went to four different auto repair shops in the area.  None of them either had TIG equipment or training.  The fourth stop referred me to a tractor supply yard near downtown Oviedo.  One of the men working in a shop there advised me he had a TIG welder at his home.  He invited me to visit the next day to have the bracket welded properly.  I was just a little skeptical but I knew I had to have it done before the existing bracket weld weakened and snapped off.

      The next day, I went to visit "Rick" at his home where I found a huge workshop on a very large piece of property.  It turns out that Rick is a professional fabricator, welder, and race car builder/driver.  He has also built elaborate mobile homes from semis or buses.  His shop was incredibly clean and organized.  He had several projects at various stages of production in each corner of the work area.  Trophies and photos lined the wall from his triumphs over the years.

      Rick was uncommonly kind and warmly friendly.  He showed off the mobile home he had parked along side of the workshop.  He never bragged, but he was very nice to answer my questions about what he had done.

      Amid the conversation, Rick fired up the welding equipment and knocked out a perfect TIG weld to secure the latch properly (see photo above).

      I offered Rick payment and all he would take was $5 after having offered more.

      I did not ask for Rick's permission to publish contact information, but anyone needing metal fabrication or welding work in the Oviedo area can send me an email and I'll respond with contact info.