" BUT ITS FOR A JEEP!! "
Yes.. well 3 or 4 reasons, I've never had a functional bumper before. ... 2) it Looks better on a Yota... 3) although my rear bumper is made completely from scratch... it actually matches the jeep one... but possibly most importantly... I saved anywhere between 400 and 1000 by doing it this way... but See My truck was a salvage vehicle from the start, or it was the PO's parts truck. When he got the parts he needed from it, (which was a lot!! Including the entire interior! And everything related to the bumper.) He was Later able to get it running (by removing the thermostat) and sold the truck to me.. the guy without a clue... the damaged bumper he gave me, came from his runner which had previously been in a minor accident, and the damaged one was just laying in the bed of the truck. Ironically, He used the Nicer bumper and mounts from this pickup on his runner.. and the runner looked pristine afterwards. But I need the turn signals working, so originally I mounted the damaged bumper with the heaviest zinc Shelving brackets. ... it worked... and looked decent too, but was only cosmetic... 2 accidents later (my neighbor didn't pull his parking break and it Rolled into the front side of the pickup, the bumper straightened out... for the most part.. kinda.. but then, I rearended someone..... a much larger SUV.. Ford Excursion or something) .

the entire grill was crushed, headlamp doors and corner lights also. (Corner lights didn't do much much in the first place). The fenders were damaged, hood bent a little, radiator brace bent. But The entire front was pushed in by about an inch. Even more on the passenger side. The Hood hasn't close properly ever since, so I added hood pins.. and The front chassis cross member was twisted and bowed too

.. I pulled the shriveled twisted and mangled, raisin of a bumper off and Started using LED Strips for turn signals... I had been driving it like THIS for several years.




.. Eventually I was able to saved up a bit of money... and slowly acquired the parts and tools for this project.. I finally decided to kinda restore the front end, BUT... with some upgrades.

(I was having running issues for while there too, so this, being deemed mere cosmetic, any bumper ideas had to wait.)


A month or two ago I purchased a welder... one of the super cheap ones on eBay.
After several weeks of teaching myself how to weld... sticking and or burning Electrodes.. vaporizing metal. And otherwise sticking pieces of metal together with "bubble gum."

I can honestly say I almost have welding down as a solid skill.

And Today, this is what my truck looks like.

(I Also, went with a Full LED Conversion up front. .. I filled the corner lights with LED Strips. They didn't come with bulbs or even sockets..) the combination corner lights allow for DRL and turn signals... though the LED headlights I got also include DRL. Turn signals not being on the bumper.. Allowing for a different bumper. (I think I'm going to get some Turn singles on there anyways.)




... my brackets are strong enough to lift the v6, axle and wheel off the ground by the recovery points, (using the DRing shackels.) I've already tried it.. and quite pleased.







I did buy a front cross member chassis brace also, so I can eventually get a winch too.. I thought I would need to weld that up first, but I decided to mount the bumper a little different... . waiting to buy the winch too... so I guess I didn't need the cross member brace just yet... but I did anyways.

The "TJ/YJ Crawler" bumper is held up with some Heavily modified OEM-Remanufactured Bumper brackets for the 88 toyota pickup I got them before deciding to get the TJ bumper... couldn't figure out how they are supposed to go either.. ... my crazy twisted bumper didn't help in the matter.. that's when I decided the Jeep crawler winch bumper would be cooler better, more functional... and cheaper, because I later found out there are more parts to support the bumper!?!?!? Parts that I don't have and/or couldn't find anyone to purchase them from! THIS One sells for less than ANY bumper for a yota weather that's used, remanufactured, aftermarket, On or Off road, weld it together yourself or complete. Winch ready or not.. .. this bumper nearly winch ready, was $160.00 Free Shipping! My welder was another $100. ... ... I might have spent $350 - $500 on this.... but I get to keep all the tools... and use them for other projects too... like my highlight jack... rear bumper. Built a Lug wrench.. Cuz the tire changing tool kit with a 19mm lug wrench for a 2nd gen pickup was 3x the price then the one for a tacoma... ... and that's how much I bought my Arc Welder for... ... So.. WIN WIN!

I bought the kit for the Tacoma.. cut the socket part of... grinded the end down to 1/2 square.. hammered a 3/4" impact grade socket on the end... and welded it in place.. that was my first welding project ever.




But I really got the welder to work on the bumper project(s).

A few problems tho: the $60 - 1988 (I think is for 86-88??) style brackets i found on ebay, (Rock Auto only had 1, and not the pair) don't fit the cross member brace.. I think maybe the brace is made more for 89-95?? But this is not a bumper made for Toyota either... so.. where the Brackets "would" mount the bumper.. the bumper has no supporting material. It needs to connect to the chassis near the recovery points. I also want to leave the middle area for the winch plate brackets. But also I Really didn't want to modify the bumper. (Which May end up doing anyways just to stiffen it a bit tho.. by adding thickness and gussets to where brackets attach.)

So I swapped the brackets left for right. And instead of being in a vertical position, i mounted them in a forward position... this set the mounting holes farther forward a little lower, and bolting the brackets to the body-mount-tabs on the chassis. (there is 1 threaded and one open hole that fit... "near" perfectly.) This also sets the brackets much farther apart... ... almost perfectly aligning to the mounting holes on the Jeep Bumper.. the proper location, right behind the recovery points.

I had to bend the brackets a tad, but it bolted up pretty nice. I tacked some welding rods (not electrodes) to the brackets so they hold the new shape.

The brackets WERE .009" thick and die pressed for strength from a piece of sheet metal about 6x9 " .. .. Maybe about a half pound to 1 lb of sheet metal each? And I've Added at least 5 to 7Lbs of steel to that on each side, mostly 3" angle iron. I basically took 6' of 3" Angle iron and 3' of 3" x 1/8" thick flat bar and a 1/4" thick and 1/2" flat bar, cut em up into several small pieces. Turning the die pressed brackets into Full C Channels with box ends... finally i also put a plate on the bottom where the Towhooks mount, so there are 8 bolts on both brackets.. 4 bolting to the chassis, 2 on top 1 in front and 1 on the bottom. Inhibiting motion in any and all directions. And 4 holding the bumper. I Tacked them together with the bracket while the bracket held the bumper up. Unbolted everything and finished welding. I think I probably mounted the bumper 10 times.


Progress pictures.
In order for the brackets to work the way I want it to.. I just had to cut the tabs of for the body nuts.


how they are supposed to be mounted??? I think.. or thought?? (I don't know) Vs how I'm using them.


near perfect placement for the TJ/YJ bumper.


Some AWESOME bubble gum welding.
(The Driver side bracket is the second thing I've ever welded. The First was the lug wrench. And I've been teaching myself.. So give me a break.)




This is when I decided to get some more better practice welding on the rear bumper... (I'll show that after)

THE significantly better welding of Chassis front cross member brace... (first time welding upsidedown)




Finally, (but not exactly finished) I decided to add 2 more pieces of angle iron. For the lower bumper mounts.. and then connected them to the upper brackets. Drilling another hole for the front.








I changed the Toyota emblem to CoyotE. Everyone has to customize the Toyota Tailgate. Right? I'll probably do that too.. but... I decided on something a little different. (I found a coyote, or more probably a Wolf Skull, that, for a few years i had been using as a hood ornament, it will soon be reinstalled.)

I decided on just playing along, with the already beaten up look of the truck and shooting for a kind of, post apocalyptic, been through hell and Back, type of bad assery... it's Mad Max meets Marty McFly





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The back story of the rear bumper is that the PO, was cruising in the desert. Saw a pretty big piece of angle iron.. and said to himself.. "is that my new rear bumper? I THINK IT IS! " Simply cut out a slot for the tongue receiver used a plasma cutter to cut the ends to an angle and welded on the mounting tabs... I don't know where he got the mounts but they seem stock... it has held up for the most part... but he towed something that was a bit too heavy.. probably another Toyota on a trailer.. haha.. the tongue weight was too heavy and twisted the thing down pretty severe... ...after I bought it, ive never really needed the rear bumper, but I left it ok on.. ... and ... I had an accident... ironicly, I didn't pull the parking break and it rolled back hitting a car.. the bumper twisted even farther, leaving the tung almost straight down... ... I used the high lift jack and tried straightening it out.. got it back, nearly the way it was when I purchased it... but still far from actually straight.. the weight of the vehicle off the ground wasn't enough. I lowered it enough get grip on the ground with the tires but high enough to also use the weight of the vehicle... I had to use a chain from the hitch pin to the jack foot, also welded together a custom chain adapter, for the jack, to hold the inside of the tongue receiver down, and with a MAP torch to heat it up. And the bumper straightened right out...

(I don't have any pictures of how badly it was twisted. But.. finally have a straight bumper.)


not the greatest welding but I'm definitely getting better.





Looks more DIY than the front... but.. kinda matches. ... one of the main reasons for purchasing THIS front bumper. And pretty happy.

 

Nice work getting stuff built! What welder did you end up getting?