Okay, so I finally put my bumper on last night, took about 4 hours, finished by flashlight at about 10:30 with wiring and putting the license plate on. For the most part, a pretty easy install. I had to adjust the brackets with a mallet to get the bumper to slide in, and it seems to be sitting a little low, based on the gap between the fender and bumper, so I may loosen things up and try to adjust it a bit higher. I didn't like the little blue thingies for splicing the turn signal lights, so I just spliced with a wire nut and taped things up good, will go back and heat shrink them at some later date. For the license plate, I had to drill new holes in the plate, then mounted with large washers in the pre-existing holes for the winch, covered up the gap nicely.

Anyways on to the pics:

 

The old bumper:

 

Brackets again from side:

 

Prepping the vehicle:

 

Finished (10:30 PM)!

 

From the side:

 

bump

I think people are all TJM-ed out!

 

looks good. I just drilled two 3/16" holes in the bumper for the plate. did you happen to measure the change in height before the old bumper was removed and after the new bumper was on? just curious to see how much height was lost. you got lights on the way? I do, I got the LightForce 170's with black covers. should be here this week sometime I hope.

oh yea, you should edit your posts to combine all the pics links onto one post like on mine, click below.

 

Wow!

Man, those TJM's look sweet. I want one! I can't beleive I've been missing out on these past TJM and slider group buys! Bummer. I really like the look. Thanks for the pics! Peace.

 

Good suggestion Keiser- do I just paste in the links and delete the old posts? I'm not sure how to do it.... BTW, did you see the collage pic I made, its on the original group buy thread.

You know, I didn't think to measure the difference before and after. I think the shipping weight was about 165 lbs, but I don't know if that was an approximation on the shippers part. I'm going to get lights at some point, probably wait until after the lift is in, SAWS should be getting here some time soon.

 

If it's any consolation, I was almost sucked in by the slider buy until Mike made the bumper deal. then the sliders got scrapped and I got the bumper. now I have more time to think about whether I want a set of Roger Brown's sliders or not. I like his square tube look better.

 

yea just open two windows and edit and cut from one and paste into the other. once all are pasted onto the first post, then delete all the old ones. I just cut and paste the actual picture url into the post and it auto formats to a link. that way you don't have to name every link.

I think the 165 includes the pallet and the box and shipping materials.

 

well, slight problem, mines so skinny, my runner in the pic I mean, jeez. let me send you a better pic. what size do you need it so it's not squeezed?

 

Nice Mad,
I can't wait to check them out this Thursday on our run.
I gone back and forth between the ARB and TJM. Looks like I may have missed out on the group buy so it looks like Im going with an ARB. I may be buying here real soon.

 

Wow!

I wrote 'picks' instead of pics. Wow I must have been tired! Lol. Anyways, I have a question regarding the TJM and the ARB bumbers. The TJM mounts with brackets that are entirely bolt-on correct? Now, does the ARB require cutting of the frame/body to mount it? I've looked around, but I am still a little unsure. Thanks for the help. Peace.

 

Glad to see you got it on man! now thats determination! Do you have a body lift? I don't see how it could be sitting low, or on mine anyway, Its currently at the bottom of the mounting hole and the top of the bumper is basicly touching the body. (if my memory is correct...) I got my lights on! Still need to take some pics though...

 

Nice pics!

Got a question for ya...
I'll be installing a T-17 very shortly. My problem is that I slid down on a rock a few years ago and bent the tow hook and tweeked the frame where the hook was mounted. Consequently, my stock bumper doesn't quite fit right (nothing wrong with bumper, just the mounts). Do you have more close-up pictures of the brackets on the frame rails? I noticed you removed the tow hook. Does the TJM bracket use those holes for the mounts?

Thanks!

 

man that look sweet i need to look into one for my 95. good work mad

 

Mad Chemist - Nice looking install!

I have the Tacoma ARB bumper on my 97 runner. The ARB install is pretty straight forward. It involves just a little bit of grinding to remove the edges of a plate at the front of the frame (at least for my 97). The stock bumper CAN be reinstalled if desired. There are multiple posts on this over at 4x4wire:
http://www.4x4wire.com/cgi-bin/ultim...;f=13;t=016169
http://www.4x4wire.com/ubb/ultimateb...;f=13;t=016122

 

Thanks for the compliments guys! To answer questions:

Haveblue: The TJM does use the pre-existing holes on the frame rails for the bumper. After putting the brackets on, you re-install the tow hooks in the same spot, same hole. Once the brackets were on, I need to tweak them out a little to get the bumper on, and I would assume you could do the same if the bumper sat weird due to your previous damage. I've attached another picture of the brackets pointing out the four bolts that are used, its a cropped version of the other pic- let me know and I can go out a take a better picture if necessary.

turboale: No, I don't have a body lift, but didn't make an effort to "lift" up on the bumper to make sure it ended up as close a possible to the body, but there is about a 1/2" gap at the moment that I'd like to try to minimize.

Orangeman- the TJM is completely bolt on, no drilling/shaving of frame rails (unlike the ARB) is required.

Keisur- send me a hi res pic (I think I pm'ed you about this already) the skinny is from tweaking to get the borders lined up, didn't notice it until you pointed it out- my bad!