Update 3/8/99: I finally finished what I originally set out to do 6 months ago. I added the side protection to prevent more body damage. I already wrinkled one corner in a near roll, a year ago. Hopefully this will save the other corner. The pictures are taken on a rainy night, I'll try to get better picture soon, but this should give you a good idea of what I've done.
I
took off my OLD
CUSTOM BUMPER with the swing out tire and gas can racks and sold it,
so that I could afford to buy a MIG welder. My intensions were to make
a new and improved bumper, but keep the design very much like the old one.
I
had the old rack cut off (it was welded to the frame) and as soon as I
took a good look at the 4Runner with out that HUGE tire hanging off the
back, I knew it wasn't going back there...at least not in the near future.
I -really- liked how much shorter the truck was. I found it harder to manuver
on the trail with the added length, and was constantly scraping the tire
on the ground.
Since
I had made up my mind I was not going to have a tire or gas can on the
back, I suddenly had a lot more options in designing. I figured out my
priorities, and started designing.... Priority #1 - Low profile...I'm sick
of dragging my rear end over things. Priority #2 - Tough as nails...I'm
gonna be dragging my rear over things
The bumper I created met both of those priorities for me. This is the lowest profile bumper I've ever seen on a 4Runner. The guys who see it on the trail (gear heads) have great comments about it, because with just a quick look at it, the realize my priorities were size and strength...and I definately achieved the goals. This bumper sits so much higher than both the original bumper and my old custom bumper I still go over obstacles expecting to scrape, when a lot of the time it never touches ground.
The
main part of the bumper is 2x2", 1/4" wall box tube. The box hitch is 2.5x2.5"
The pieces on the side are 1x2", 1/8" wall box. The main bumper mounts
are cut out of 1/2" flat bar. All the supports are 2x 1/2" flat bar. The
mounts are actually two piece, rather than one. This way I only had to
take my tailgate off once...just to get the mounts that slide into the
frame rails in place. Then the bumper bolts to those mount using 1/2" grade
5 bolts.
I
managed to rest the truck on this bumper while playing around on a 45 degree
slope...I've come down on rocks with the usual thud...and I've dragged
the bumper over rocks that it didn't clear. I've taken a good deal of paint
off it, and the bumper still hasn't flinched. A few minutes with a spay
paint can and it looks good as new. I've giving full-throttle tugs with
a strap, over and over to pull a truck truck out of a nice mud hole. I'm
happy to say that all the pieces are still straight, and it's mounts have
kept it sitting in it's original location.
This page was last updated March 8, 1999