It would be hard to make that strong enough not to flex into the bumper. If it could be made stout enough to offer real body/bumper protection without decreasing the departure angle too much, it would be really cool to go that route.

 

If the little "Chemistry" correltaion with quality of advise that Flygtenstein mentioned on the OT board has ANY merit to it at all, then I'm the freaking KING of Toyotas and I RULE this board....

3 Quarters of General Chem: A, B, B
3 Quarters of Organic Chem: B, B, A
2 Quarters of Physical Chem: B, B
1 Quarter of Qualitative Chemical Analysis: B

Plus a Sh*#LOAD of Chemical Engineering Classes that make Organic and P-Chem look like English 101.

Obviously, I don't necessarily give good advise, so the correlation is hereby disproven and shot directly to HELL.

lol

 

quote:
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Originally posted by Robinhood150

Here's a couple pictures of my rear sliders. They plug into the opening of my hitch.
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That is a great idea, although the rear bumper already has terrible clearance and this makes it worse. Still, I have pushed the side bumperetts into the rear quarter panels a couple times and at least it would keep that from happening again. Its worth a try until I get an entire new rear bumper fabbed up.

 

A guy on 4x4 wire just did a really cool mod that addresses the low hanging factory receiver. He flipped the factory receiver to raise the hitch! Simple and effective. All he had to do was unbolt the center section, flip it, and trim a section out of the factory bumper. It acts as bumper armor and improves the departure angle dramatically. http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showfl...5&o=14&fpart=1

He doesn't have any pics, so here's my updated mockable mock-up:

 

Looks like someone flunked "works and plays well with others"...

 

Oh YEAH?! I got you all beat because I make the BEST BBQ RIBS IN THE WORLD! I make George Foreman weep and throw his grill away! So if making a rear bumper is anything like cookin' BBQ, I got you all beat! (hey, it's gotta be more relavent than organic chem)

 

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet but if your looking for a rock ready rear end, keeping the stock rear "3 mile an hour" bumper is not the way to go.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the stock tin is NOT actually connected to the frame! Good for banging the shopping karts at the local Wally world, but no good for hunks of earth. You can try various orientations of the tow bar and add ons but it's still modified and covering a useless bumper. I think you'd be much happier going with a replacement steel piece that's actually prepared to hold some weight. I've seen some great rockware replacement rear ends on a few of the rigs here in CO, I'm just looking for one without the tire rack right now.

 

The vulnerability of the stock bumper is the main reason we're throwing this idea around. I'm considering the armor option because the big steel bumpers add a lot of weight and are very pricey. Plus most 3rd gens are not extreme rock crawlers and do not really need bulletproof rear bumpers. But it sure would be nice to have some armor (that IS connected to the frame) to protect the rear end for the annual pilgramage to Utah.

 

I've got a Hidden Hitch on my 4Runner. It is made out of 2.5" dia tube of some sort. The hitch receiver is at the same height as the tube - not below it. If one had that sort of tube running along the length of the bumper and could somehow bend it or bring it around the sides back toward the wheels, it could then be anchored back to the frame about where the hitch mounts to the frame now using the stock tie-down bolts plus some added ones. Seems like that rounded shape would skid over a lot of stuff without tending to dig in too much. One would have to deal with the stock exhaust somehow which would be in the way.

The most clearance would be gained with something made out of plate like a skid plate that would fit just under the stock bumper. That could be made to come up at an angle ahead of the bumper so it wouldn't be so likely to catch on things. Might have to be mighty thick though. Maybe one could make a support that would wrap around sort of inside the rear bumper and along the sides toward the rear wheels kind of like what I described above, only not so far below the stock bumper. Hope this makes some sense! Haven't looked enough to know if that would work though - I can't remember what's behind there. If you wanted to have a hitch, you'd still have that down below bumper level unless you made a removable hitch receiver that could be trusted on the road.

 

I've seen a rear bumper guard on Performance Products for 3rd gens but I don't know how strong it would be.

 

That would really take away from clearance and is probably overkill.

That's more like it. I am thinking about using 1/4"-1/2" steel about 3/4" below the bumper that is cut to match the curves of the bumper. The plate would be mounted to the receiver and the frame using round tubing and 1/4" plates. A vertical support bracket would go to the body mount. An option would be to add a tube to the outside of the plate to protect the sides of the bumper. Here's kinda where I'm going with this:

I already see problems with the design (that lower arm might not be needed and the plate will likely need to be wider).