Can anyone tell me what would be involved in order to retrofit a front plate winch mount bumper intended for a 1995 Tacoma to a 1981 Hilux? I am trying to decide if it is worth the time to get the bumper I want (http://www.addictedoffroad.com/index...roducts_id=669 ) and modify it to fit or try to make something similar. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Depending just how perfect things have to be !!

You just want that bumper !!

Make mounting brackets for your truck bolt it on might be a little trial and error but myself a piece of cake a few hours of work

I put a first generation pick up bumper on my 2000 Tacoma

 

ok, well that's really good to know. Thanks!
I definitely want it to look tight and right. I spoke to the folks at AO and they stated that it would be to costly in "R&D" for them to fabricate one to fit. I thought that was a bit odd since they advertise fabrication but I understand its probably a PINTA.

 

It depends on what you definition of costly is I could see a easy to 4 to 6 hours labor plus the bumper labor and materials

They might have to source a truck as well hard to R&D a new design without the vehicle .

So push the price of the bumper up another $300.00

At this point it might be more cost effective to build your own

Have it priced to build local ??

 

Yeah, that's what I figured as well. I just reached out to a local shop to see what they would charge to build one made to fit.

 

i think you would be better off finding a bumper made to fit the 81.
I swapped the bumper from my 81(it was built off the T-G winch plate) to my 94 4Runner, it works but it doesn't work if that makes sense.
Spending $900-1000 on a bumper (w/shipping) and than trying to make it fit is gonna be an exercise in frustration both in time and additional $$

NW Trail Innovations makes a plate bumper kit for the 79-83 that looks pretty good, $380 or so plus shipping
http://nwtrailinnovations.com/Toyota...r_id=11&page=1

A friend of mine was going to charge me $50/hr and he estimated 2-3 hours to mount/weld the kit

 

That is perfect! Thank you very much for the link!!

 

Question: I was also interested in the "old Aussie style" brush guard/winch combos that mount over the existing bumper. Any thoughts on how to come by one of those? I've looked high and low and cant seem to find one.