lookin good Lee, keep it coming!

 

and the aftermath of a quick wheelin' run after we got tired of working on the bumper yesterday
[/QUOTE]

Is that mud from the Ted Williams Tunnel?

 

kewl. i understand. i got bashed continuously for hanging a spare out back from the crowd that's converted from tire carriers back to a stock location.

i like my carrier and it's staying.

anyway, i see where you're coming from, and i'm just trying to help ya out. also, when you first started, did you ever think that you'd have 40+ hours in it? i know i didn't. i didn't explicitly keep track, but i think i had around 30-35 in my bumper plus another 10-15 in the tire carrier before it was all said and done. i still have a couple small things that i need to "tidy" up on it before i paint it red - if i ever get the time to do it.

i don't doubt that the body will hold when the bumper comes up into contact with it. i mean, really, where is it going to go? however, you will get some sheet metal damage there if it does come into contact - you can't really compare the touch of a tinfoil bumper on the paint/metal to one made from plate steel. that's all i was trying to point out and i'm glad that you already have that on your punch list for things to work on.

 

HAHAHAAH

if that was a joke it was a good one!

god, no. never did i expect this much time! we thought 1 weekend would do it, and were surprised at how little we could do in 1 day!

now its just like "oh this shouldnt take long, i just need to grind the outside welds down... oh and weld in side supports... and fab up hoops.... and and and and and and" hahah

by the time we had it to this point we were so tired of it, we almost wanted to cut it up into little pieces... thank god we ran out of cutting wheels

 

As I said, I had a TJM on my tacoma, plate steel bumper, and it would flex until it came into contact with the fender, then it would stop. I could jack the truck up off the ground on that corner, which I did numerous times, I hit it on trees and dropped it on rocks and never once had the fender dent and it wasn't braced on the sides like Lee's will be. Like I said, is it possible that it could cause damage, sure, but you could say the same for sliders, I don't honestly think it will.

 

did you ever see the damage pics from shazaam's (at the time sdsgt1) sonoran steel bumper? they are rock-solid. he beat the chit outta it, and it bit him where it counts - in the wallet.

 

I just noticed that my location is not in my avatar...I live in Worcester, so I know all about Big Dig drama.

Your buddy looks pretty well set up. Does he fab/weld for a living or a hobby? Need to keep people in mind for when the time comes.

 

as a hobby

you should join NE4ROC

 

due to us getting sorta sick from a bad run in the rain, we held off on finishing the bumper.

we did put d-ring mounts on though

 

I probably beat the heck out of my rear bumper harder than anyone

While on the Rubicon, I drove too fast off a ledge, the bumper took all the impact and flexed up high enough to contact the body. I have 1" of clearance, horizontally and vertically. The good news is the bumper took all the damage and did what it was supposed to.... protect the body from getting damage. The reason there was no damage is simple, I took into account how much body flex was possible. the top plate is made of a thinner 14 guage material, with rubber trim. When contact occured it bent downward and the lower wing bent upward. If I had made the bumper out of a thicker material, there would have been body damage. To remove the dents, took about 15 minutes of pounding with my body hammers.

BTW, there is a huge difference between Tacos and 4Runners when it comes to frame flexing, I know for a fact that the 4Runner can have upwards of 2" of deflection. A taco's bed is separate from the body, so the flex is absorbed differently.

 

good stuff! thanks for the input bruce

your bumper is great, and its been fun believe it or not, making my own version of it!

 

like i said, its not done yet, but i wheeled it anyway

 

What did you use to bend your 3/16 sheet? Did you have a brake or did you score the bends with a cut off wheel? Thanks!

 

we cut the pieces, welded on the inside and outside, ground down the outside welds and sanded it smooth.

 

side protection hoops are on

 

get this thing painted lee and go back into a civic and show us the pics! i like your bumper, getting jealous

 

those hoope are sick lookin! Are you going to run a tube from the bumpers to your sliders for fender protection?

 

cant run that with the two piece flares ala LTD's which it looks like lee's got. the flare part that fits on the door actually comes flush to the line of the wheel arch on the door. i wanted to do this too..but unless you either a) take off the flares or b) go under the flares (which makes the protection useless), it cant be done. fronts are fine for putting in some tubing. have a look at this runner (from BCC's website) and you can see how theres about an inch+ of room at the trailing edge of the door/quarters on the non flared variety...



bumpers lookin good lee! are the side wings supported to the frame as well?

 

Wow, that is a tough looking 4runner. I love the integrated back-up lights in the rear bumper. Any pics from front bumper?

 

wow i forgot about this thread

its painted and the pad is on, its basically complete. i painted it semi-gloss black which i actually hate a friend thought he had used that but it turned out it was semi-flat or flat.

ill be changing it to semi-flat soon.

pics to come.