1. i hope your welder is good to weld on the frame. that's the last place you want the arch either too cool and not get good penetration or too hot and get burn-thru.

2. this is a 2001 SUV worth $15k at minimum. if you weld the bumper to the frame, then you'll SEVERELY degrade the book value. you may think now that you'll keep it til it dies, but 99.9% of the time that never happens.

3. what if the bumper gets damaged (hard offroad hit or traffic accident)? it's MUCH easier to remove it to work on it that to cut/weld on the truck.

4. what if you want to add a carrier later and need to take it off to reconfigure the substructure?

5. what if you find out that it interferes with the body panels and it needs some trimming after you wheel it a bit?

6. what happens if you do something to it like you did your front bumper?

7. what happens if you ever decide that you need a rear receiver hitch point and you don't design one into this bumper?

8. if it's welded, how do you ever get it off? at some point you'll want to do that, and you'll have to grind forever or have to torch it off. i personally don't like the idea of torching a bumper off of my frame rails when i could have just bolted it on to begin with.

etc, etc, etc... ad nauseum.

seriously, just use some Grade 8 hardware - or even metric stuff, but BOLT it to the frame.

 

im weighing my options, but judging by the structure and steel strength, 3 and 5 are not an issue.

as for a carrier, i am not interested in that, i am putting a rollbar inside and strapping the tire in the rear.

as for 2, i have almost paid this truck off. it will soon be simply a matter of maintaining it. so short of somehow totalling it, i will not be getting rid of it. if i cared about blue book value, i wouldnt have welded on sliders, or thrown out my stock front bumper, or my stock rear for that matter.

thanks for the opinions, appreciated

 

trust me. 3 will EVENTUALLY be an issue if you use the bumper. it may be minor and you might not care, but it will happen. if the bumper doesn't get damaged, then #5 will eventually happen since you won't damage the bumper (since it will be super stout and won't give, then the body will). the frame flexes enough that if the bumper doesn't give, then the frame will and then the bumper will make contact with the body. that won't happen on the first trip, but as you get more and more comfortable with it and wheel it harder and harder, it will be a factor.

at some point, one if not both of those will be an issue, unless of course you don't care anything about the body at that point.

 

ive seen bumpers that were structured properly and supported and welded to the frame and they DONT move. barely any movement at all on any impact.... so i dont think it would interfere with the body panels.

 

on a 3rd gen? these frames are pathetically flimsy in the side-to-side and the up/down movement. REALLY flimsy. like wet spaghetti when you get that much weight back there.

of course i don't know what i'm talking about at all...

do what you want, but i just see you having issues down the road with welding it to the frame.

i hope you don't have issues, lee, but i just don't see why you'd want to limit your options like that when bolting is just as strong (if not STRONGER) and easier than welding.

 

gotcha, im not arguing with your intentions

the bumpers im referencing are on a 2000 and 2001 tacoma.

 

nice lee, cant wait to see what the finished project looks like. wish i had your connections, 100 bucks? hell i would have thrown a rear bumper on years ago

 

1. Scott's welder is more than adequate.

2. The value degraded? BAH, no dealer will look to see that it was welded on.

3. True, however, chances of damaging it enough to require removal are slim IMO. If someone hits it, let the insurance cover the cost of a shop to grind it off.

4. possible, but since he has no plans of that...meh

5. I don't see this being a problem.

6. falls under number 3, chances are slim since it is made better than the TJM.

7. Cutting and grinding while the truck is on jackstands seems to be the answer, although with d-ring mounts, why would you need this? I wouldn't tow a trailer off my bumper anyway.

Did Scott weld on his rear bumper Lee?

One thing I do agree with Andy about is that bolting it up will be easier than holding it up and welding it to the frame. When we built the one I had on my tacoma, we fabbed up the mounts, drilled the holes, etc, bolted them on, then using jackstands lined up the bumper with the mounts and tacked it in place.

 

yeah for 7, i have never towed anything, nor will i. i mean, i have literally no reason to, ever. when i move, i rent a van, i dont know anyone who owns a trailer (except 1 person who tows his trail rig using his tow slut f-150), etc. it hasnt come up in 3 yrs of ownership so far

and yeah, scott's bumpers are welded to the frame.

 

lee, I have to side with Andy in that having a bolt on system. My rear is bolted on and I would not have it any other way. I've taken the rear off many times now (cleaning, modifying... you name it) and I'm happy it's a bolt on affair. The bolt on application gives you the opportunity for the unknown. You just never know what may happen.

Otherwise, lookin good!

Good luck

 

Lots of chance for good tech here. Let me try too.

I have seen a couple bumpers welded on. They were on pure rock trucks and I saw them because we were cutting them off. One was smoked from an endo, one was folded from a flop, one needed to get some paint/coat on it because it was rusting.

Resale, whatever. You can still go down that road.

Weld quality, have someone who knows what they are doing do it.

A bolt on bumper that CAN come off, may never need to, but at least there is a choice. A welder bumper CAN come off too, just count getting it off and back on without a big pain in the butt.

1-364265, just bolt that SOB on there.

 

Yeah, if you need to repaint or powdercoat the bumper, it would be a PITA if it was welded onto the rear.

 

taking the easy way out?

 

i'm gonna 47th the bolt-on suggestion. it may never need to come off, but you never know.

i know i've had mine off a few times. and for herculining/painting it, it'll come off at least once more. if i need to pound out some dents, that's another time it'll be coming off the truck. make life easy for youself in the future.

 

thanks guys, im not sold either way yet....

 

strength is an issue. i think you said you're buliding it with 3/16 like mine and bruce's right?

3/16 is strong, but if you hit it hard enough, it will bend. bruce has sure dented his bumper...good thing it's easy to straighten out. while off the truck that is. let me know if you need more pics or something of how my bumper bolts to the frame.

 

Clarification:

3/16's is strong. AFAIR, Bruces denting bumper was 1/8 so it would bend.

Both mine are 3/16's and I have beat the hell out of them. No dents, just some serious gouges.

 

yeah flyg is right, bruce bent his side wing which was 1/8".

but my vote for bolt on stands...

 

yes :pat:
got my numbers off,
i was looking at my parts list for the bumper and forgot about some parts off it

 

I'm no expert at fab work, but bolt seems extremely logical with a rear bumper. And if your anything like me, i used to take my rear bumnper off a couple times a year to "de-mud" my underbody. It just seems to make things easier in the long run even so it will be a pita to fab...