so i actually bought this truck a while ago but havent had much time to work on it. I finally got the bed finished, which was a major operation (sorry, not many pics). I figured i would post some pics and my future and current ideas and see what everyone thinks. My truck is a 1988 Toyota pickup xtra cab, SR5. Auto 22re, EFI, 4wd, aisin hubs, overdrive, Electronic Controled Tranny, AC.


After some snow wheelin haha


all clean
u guys should have seen what the bed used to look like

 

so yesterday my buddy challenged me to see who could get up this hill with their truck (he has a 1999 silverado) i had to pull him up with my kubota i made it the first try. This hill is like straight up and its been raining/snow melting for a week.

 

Nice truck, keep the pics coming.

 

i tried to take one at walmart on friday i had the front pass. wheel up on a 3 foot snow pile lol it looked bada$$.

 

anyone got any suggestions on things i should do? i got a roll bar and im drawing up designs for s push bar type thing. anyone?

 

haha poser pics

 

5-speed swap

 

yeah i wish i had a 5 speed. my mileage and power suck.

 

brand new (to me) ARB bull bar. picked it up for $500 with the PIAA lights on it.

 

nice start! the arb looks ballsy, post more pictures! hows the interior look?

 

Nice lil toy you got there.

I have a roll bar that I'm going to be selling real soon. Well as soon as I get it off my parts truck that is.

Where in PA are ya?


Edit: I see now you already have a roll bar just not on...

 

So, it all started on a rainy Pennsylvania night. Hanging out in the garage with some buddies, drinkin beer and talking trucks. I was telling the story of how my $500 ARB bumper got killed (40mph into a phone pole, rear end kicked out on ice), and it was decided that I needed a new one.
my old one.
Instead of going online and buying one, though, my one machinist buddy says "If you can weld, we could probably build a nasty front bumper". Long story short, we started making drawings and plans, and went to buy the steel a few days later. We used mostly 3/16 plate, but the main structure is a 1/4 inch thick 5x5 piece of L channel. There were also 2 pieces of 5/16 plate used to mount the thing.

We decided our new "fab shop" would be named "Shmuck Fabricating, Inc."




First we cut notches into what would be the top of the bumper, so that we could heat and bend the sides back at (I believe) a 20 degree angle. The next thing we did was to bend, and then weld, the front/bottom of each side, 6 inches wide on each surface. We did this to make sure the front would be as stiff and strong as possible, as well as protecting the area between the frame crossmember and the bottom of the bumper.



Test fit. Its really really heavy.


How I had to drive to school for 2 days during this whole process. Zip ties.


Temporary "bumper" (in the legal sense) along with new LED turns. This is the beginning of the mounting bracket for the bumper. And yeah, that front crossmember is bent from the aforementioned phone pole incident. We weren't able to bend it back.


Bumper comparison, new vs stock, 150 lbs vs 5 lbs.





Drilling holes is for little girls. We use fire.


Temporary mount. Turn signals on the bumper (very venerable).


And finally, mounted, in primer, sporting LED turns in the grille, PIAA spotlights, D-rings for chain, and of course the Schmuck Fab. Inc. Logo.



The purpose of this bumper is protection from small trees, other cars, signs, animals, people, and anything else that might get hit (kidding) and for something to mount those sexy PIAAs on.. Thinking OD green or flat black for the paint. Suggestions, comments, etc, greatly appreciated.

She claimed a few small trees over at my farm and didnt even dent at all. Woo!