elbandito

Has anyone fabbed and welded a 2" receiver hitch through the front of an OEM front bumper on a 4th gen 4Runner? I'm thinking of trying it in order to be able to interchange a portable winch front to back. Any links of prior projects would be welcome.

elbandito

32 views and nobody has tried it? The idea seems like it would work if you tied your fab'd receiver frame into the front of the frame behind the bumper. The receiver would be approximately where the license plate is. I thought I'd seen this mod somewhere before...

Pigskin63x

I did what you are describing on my 07 Tacoma. I bought an old receiver at a local salvage yard for $40, cut it up and had it welded together to bolt up where the aluminum bumper frame was. I had similar hitches on my last 2 Toyotas - 95 T100 & 84 FJ60 for my Ramsey QM5000.

Here is the Tacoma hitch after construction:




Installed. Notice that I notched the lower part of the valance. Understandably, most folks won't want to do that.




This setup has come in handy several times in the past, though I haven't used it on this truck yet... John

Andy42

Hidden Hitch has front receivers for the Sequoia, Tundra and Tacoma - maybe one of these is adaptable to the 4Runner.

MrTom

Looks good. I like the valance notch. Was thinking of doing the same thing and having the center of the rear valance grafted in.

Who decided how to piece it together and who did the welding work for you?
Tom

Pigskin63x

Here's the story...

Loosened the valance and unbolted the aluminum bumper frame. I measured outside to outside on the frame and cut a 2x4 to that length. I set the aluminum piece on the 2x4 and marked the mounting holes, then drilled through the wood. I measured from the face of the frame mount to the front of the valance. That's the distance I needed to clear the winch when it's in the receiver.

I leveled the hitch and measured from the hitch face and cut both side pieces, clamped those pieces to the 2x4, and drilled out the 6 mounting holes. I had to do some grinding, but was able to clamp it all together. My bro-in-law is a welder, he did that for me, then I sprayed on a few coats of flat black rustoleum. It bolted up with no problem, I slowly fitted the valance, and cut it a little at a time until it fit around the reciever. This photo is not great, but shows what it looks like from below...

Froggy93

Semi-hijack: Did you do it the same way for your T100? End hijack. Looks good. very clean install. looks almost factory.

Pigskin63x

Thanks Froggy, the T100 was easier. I just turned the tow eyes backwards and had a universal receiver welded on (same bro-in-law). I drilled holes, and bolted it to the frame extensions also.

It looked like this:

Froggy93

Awesome, thanks.

elbandito

I haven't checked the site for awhile. Thank you for all of the input.