The die is cast: DIY weld rear bumper and tire carrier (True North Fabricatiions)

[Bob98SR5]

Gents,

I just happened to talk w/ Kryptoroxx one day and started talking about trucks and all. Told him I was looking at bumpers and he clued me into this little outfit that he patronizes named True North Fabrications. (https://www.truenorthfabricationsllc.com) I was instantly sold on their philosophy of DIY weld your own bumpers. Many years ago, I said that the company who can do this right will win the bumper wars (sorta). I know, not everyone has or has access to a 240v welder, but if you do you are in great shape.

So today I received a single box weighing 141lbs, according to the writing on the box itself. I took work off a little early because, well, it was like Christmas in October. I drug it into the garage, went to dinner, took care of some honey-do's and then I opened the box.

All metal pieces and parts bags were fairly neatly wrapped. While I had no intention of welding, I wanted to touch and see the metal to get a sense of the quality. Some pieces are thicker than others, but all are professionally cut. The company designed the pieces to fit into each other with a series of tabs and female holes in others so they can join and be welded together. Unfortunately TNF does not have any videos online, but I did see a competitor's *front* bumper in two YT videos that gives me an idea of the level of expertise and effort it takes.

Of all the designs out there that are DIY weldable, this one caught my eye because the lines are much like the venerable BruceTS bumper that started this craze.

This will be a very sloooooow build because of two reasons: 1) I barely have Ar/C02 gas left (under 500psi). Maybe enough to tack weld most of it, 2) I come home later at night and I'm freakin' tired (getting older lol). Oh and 3) the cheapest place for gas out here is only M-F from 8-5 and I take the miserable BART into the city to work. And no, I'm not going to f@#$g Airgas. Thieves, all of them!

So tomorrow is inventory day. No packing slip, so this step is important.

On another note, the owner of TNF put on the company's Instagram page that he's sold the business to [url=https://www.srqfabrications.com/]SRQ Fabrications[url].

[4x4mike]

Cool Bob. It looks like you'll have a nice project to get building on.

[Kryptoroxx]

I can put you in touch with the former owner pretty easily. I can help a little as I took some pictures of the install as well. Here are some below. Not sure if it helps but hopefully it does https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/c039e3536844de714b50c2591ff8a5a3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/30a9209cbf9eab7a59777c9d61feab49.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/d8e7990dc3384ae73c3273ecfdea0e6d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/9a4c48986942202f6f4f0b2dd5e5d4e2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/2aa4b66c0c812779ac5524090439cedd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191012/d79e9c23ee8588276ba12853c89ceab5.jpg

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[Kryptoroxx]

Not sure how that last photo made it in but I'm on my phone lol.

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[Bob98SR5]

I can help a little as I took some pictures of the install as well.

Hey John,

Thank you, I'll let you know if I need the owner or your help. Right now I've only had a few mins every night this week to check on the parts vs the diagrams. I'm not even done yet lol.

I've looked over the diagrams and some of the inner welding (between tight spaces) concerns me, but I'll worry about it when I get there. One thing I know I'll do outside of the instructions is to weld a flat piece of stock across the two main bumper halves so it gets welded perfectly straight. Nothing will drive me more crazy than a bumper that isn't perfectly horizontally flat.

Did you use a 220v welder?

[Bob98SR5]

The missus had a little impromptu jewelry show yesterday (2 days notice), so my Sat was shot. However when we returned, I did get a chance to study the next few steps a bit more to plan out what I'd do this late morning and early afternoon. Part of the day too was setting up my stations. Inside the garage was the welding station and outside my rear garage door was the cutting and grinding/flap disc station. A few notes on tools:

- There is no way in hell you're going to weld this this without a 220v welder. For this and possibly future stuff, I bought a Harbor Freight Titanium 220v welder (the green one). It can do aluminum w/ an optional gun and TIG too. But I'm MIG'ing this one.
- Clamps are a must. So far I've been using C-lamps
- I have an old cheapy Black and Decker fold out workstation that I've neglected. The wood has rotted a bit from absorbing water, so its not flat anymore. But the station itself works and its *perfect* for this kind of job.
- A vice has been really handy especially the first step (welding a nut onto a holed plate)
- Eye, vapor/dust, and hand protection. And stupid me always finds a stupid excuse to do all these things wearing shorts. I burned my calf today when a piece of metal came off when cut and it bounced off the station and hit my leg. Yes, I branded myself.

Ok with all that said, I only completed two steps today. Mainly because of the set up and also because I want to properly sand down the parts w/ a 120 grit flap disc to get the parts down to bare metal. Those of you who remember the Biodiesel Benz knows I incessantly talked about grinding down to bare metal. The results will be night and day. Meaning, the welds will come out nice and you'll hear that sizzling bacon sound when you make the welds.

I'm following the manual (mostly), so if you have it, this will make more sense.

Fabrication Step #1 calls for grinding off any holding tabs. I haven't found any. Next bullet is advising to chamfer edges where they are butt welded together. Got it. Third bullet was advising to remove any oils or rust. Flap disc'ing will do the trick too.

Fabrication Step #2) One pre-welding tasks that needed to be done was to cut some of the mounting pieces down based on whether or not you have (or will) a body lift. Since I don't plan on a body lift, I cut down the maximum amount of metal down. There were a total of 6 pieces. One of the pair was quite long. I took the flap disc to the pieces and cleaned the metal of all shavings, metal splinters, etc. and made sure that all of the edges has bare metal showing. The parts that needed to be cut were 10, 11, and 12 (2 of each)

Fabrication Step #3) The next thing that needed to be done and welded was to run 4 bolts through 4 plates and secure the accompanying nut onto it. Next, the instructions called for welding the nut with a few tacks. For the first one I tacked 4 spots. The next 3 I thought that 3 were enough. I may go back and tack along all sides but it appears I got some really good penetration on the ones w/ 3 tacks, so I'm hoping this will be good enough. Expert welders: how's the penetration look? If not good, what's the adjustment needed?

I'm really glad this step was first because it allowed me time to get used to the welder and make sure the settings were on point for the thickness of metal. Also, and something I'm trying to get used to, is this Titanium welder has this odd (to me) delay before the wire comes out. Someone on YT explained (or theorized) that the delay is because the machine is shooting out a little of the shielding gas to allow the spark and ignition to have proper shielding. It's definitely not as predictable as my old 120v Lincoln. Like I said, just will take some getting used to.

Fabrication Step #4) Next step was welding the two halves of the bumper. I had to think a bit on how to ensure that all three faces of the adjoining points could be perfectly held together. But first the adjoining edges per instruction needed to be chamfered. Chamfering is much easier when the metal is nice and thick, so I didn't sweat it *too* much. I just made a few passes on each of the sides on as many places the flap disc could fit. Then I brought it back to the front of the house and laid it on my brick patio and a long flat board. I C-clamped in strategic places, ensuring that it was flat. I decided to tack from the inside part of the bumper because I was able to C-clamp the top piece down the easiest. Mercifully I tacked the inside so completely flat with all edges perfectly aligned. Woo hoo! I let the metal cool down a bit for about 5 mins and then returned and tacked the top side too w/ a few tacks and let it cool down as well. Note: I wasn't tacking for penetration, but for the purposes of aligning the two pieces as perfect as possible.

Oh some tips: I used the metal I cut from the first step and ran it across both halves of the bumper to make sure it was flat flat. This technique worked out pretty well. Also when chamfering, make sure you don't chamfer too much material off to the point the flat surface is no longer there. I took a 120 grit disc and make a few light, even passes. You can see in the pics how I did mine. That should be plenty.

Just for grins and giggles, I wanted to see how well I chamfered the adjoining, butting main bumper halves. For a guy that hasn't welded anything significant since about 2010, I think I did pretty well :)

Pics attached.

[Bob98SR5]

Ground down tacks to show what my chamfering looks like on the top side of the now tacked bumper halves.

[Kryptoroxx]

Looks good to me so far! I'll be watching.

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[4x4mike]

Looking good Bob. Even though they're tack welds, you're getting good heat through the plate.

[Bob98SR5]

I made a little boo boo. Fabrication Step #5 called for tacking the frame supports, which will fit and be welded into the bumper. I admit: I was totally careless here as I was in a rush to finish and take care of some home stuff. So this Step #5 clearly states to make mirror copies of the mounts. What I didn't do is orient the bottom piece correctly. The bottom plates have 1 rounded corner. That side should be on the interior side and be facing each other. What I did was have each of those rounded corners facing towards the right side. So the right mount won't fit.

The second thing I could've done better was to shave one of the vertical pieces a little bit more. Things like this you won't realize until you start welding the pieces together. I took two pics to illustrate that one of the pieces I cut off a bit too much (but still workable) while the other side I didn't cut enough. For the side I didn't cut enough, there's not a whole lot of free space for the weld to bond to both adjoining pieces. Luckily this is the side I need to redo, so I'm going to shave a little more material off of it so there's adequate space for the weld. Note, the second pic is in the following post.

[Bob98SR5]

So here's a shot of a vert piece that I shaved a wee bit more than necessary. Notice there's more space for the weld to sit in for the two adjoining pieces. Any more than this is a bit risky.

I've attached two pics of how these mounts fit into the bumper. The interior left side's mount (facing the bumper from the back) is welded correctly. The right interior side is an example of what NOT to do.

[Bob98SR5]

A little progress today (no pics) as I Dremel'd off the mistaken tack welds. All pieces are now separated, but the uncut portions need to be ground and flapped off. As I got home late from work and a sushi dinner out, I only had from 8-9pm to grind the tacks off and quit so as to not piss off the neighbors :)

Hopefully I'll get home at a decent hour so I can grind off the spot welds and tack on the pieces in the right orientation.

[Bob98SR5]

Today's limited work consisted of tacking the mis-tacked bumper mount and tacking both bumper mounts to the bumper itself. The tongue in groove laser cutting is pretty precise, but still allows for a wee bit of wiggle just in case you're not completely 100% precise.

I also learned my lesson and made smaller tacks just in case I messed up again :)

By the way, I love this welder. Nothing wrong with these newer style and definitely higher quality Harbor Freight welders.

[Bob98SR5]

Worked from home today which gave me about an hour's more time to work on the bumper. However it was more work with the flap disc and set up than anything else. But this part is crucial as retaining right angles.

Part of today's work was busting out one of my favorite set up tools: the Rockwell Jawhorse. I keep forgetting I have it because I have it folded up w/ a bag over it. But this was a pretty important tool to use as I clamped a flat board to it so I had a completely flat surface to work with. The instructions call out that the hitch receiver and the interior support arms have to be completely flat and flush with the bottom bumper mounts.

However one of the steps I missed was in Step #4 where it calls to weld the inside of the bumper halves. You have to do this because once you tack in the hitch receiver, you cannot get your welder tip in there. So I took my Dremel tool and ground down the metal and welded the interior side. I'll do the exterior later. This was my first time using the welder to do more than a tack. I still have to get used to the higher amperage and the speed by which the wire comes out. I found I was welding much slower like I was welding with a 110v welder.

Anyways after setting the bumper up on the jawhorse, I took the time to use the flap disc to clean down the parts of the tack weld that were extending above the bottom of the bumper mounts. I also did the same for all surfaces that will need to be welded. One tip is to always wipe down the dust and then spray it down with brake cleaner. Guaranteed good results when it dries for welding.

[Bob98SR5]

After cleaning off all the metal, I set up the hitch receiver w/ some of the little magnetic triangles. Now here's one small nit I have about the kit (which has been flawless): the receiver hole is a bit bigger than it should be or compared to all the other holes and tab combos. I mean by a hair or two. It was noticeable enough. Anyways I set up the piece and make sure it was on a flat surface and flat/flush with the bumper mounts. After that, I made two tacks (a little heavier than the others due to the ¼" metal) to secure the hitch. I can tell though that the gap and angle isn't perfect. I mean it is off by like a hair. I believe it's because of the pulling effect of welding. In any case, it is what it is and I could remove the tacks to make it perfect.

After tacking and checking the measurements (which were almost spot on. Off by probably 1/32"), used the flap disc to clean off the ends of the two interior arms on both sides. After doing so, I set up the interior arms and clamped it down with the longest damn pair of wood clamps in my garage. However after inspecting the cleaned metal and aligning the pieces, I realized that it would be best to chamfer down the sides of the receiver. See the pic. Because there's barely any room for the weld puddle to rest at the edge/corner where the back of the arms meet the back of the receiver. Since it was time to make/eat dinner, I stopped for the night.

Tomorrow will be some more flap disc'ing metal and then tacking the receiver and arms. I may just grind down the tacks on the receiver and make it 100% perfect since I'm chamfering the end of the receiver. I'll see if I can find some washers on the very thin side or some metal to slip in on either side of the receiver to prevent the weld from pulling the receiver to the first weld side.

I'll also switch to 0.035 wire and welding tip as there's more welding of ¼" metal coming up.

[Bob98SR5]

Had a lot of time today to help the wife w/ her stuff as well as the bumper.

In the morning I shot the owner an email asking about a little structural/technical detail on Step 7. In it, there's two angular pieces of tubing that prevents lateral movement of the hitch receiver and I imagine overall support of the bumper's rear side mount. The tubing is long enough to cut to have 90 degree ends. My question is why not weld these pieces at a right angle? Which might allow for the tire to be mounted at the bottom as well. He hasn't replied, but I'm curious if it's still possible to use the bottom stock tire mount.

Step 8 was pretty easy. This step called for spot welding two vertical pieces called 'hatch shields'. As always clean off the metal as well as setting up the metal as prescribed with 90 degree magnets. Oh since I moved up to 0.035 wire, I find this wire definitely more controllable and more forgiving than the thinner gauge 0.030 wire that came with the machine. Anyways, two zaps each and it was done. Since this piece was crucial for the next step, I made sure that the metal was equidistant inside the gap as prescribed and tacked away.

Step 9 was a little bit more complex setting up as this was a multi angle piece that had to hit all sides juuust right before tacking. I bought these adjustable angle adjustable magnets (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087GAEDM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) just for this purpose. Unfortunately these barely held this piece of metal, but it did hold it just enough so that i could use one hand to support the metal and the place small tacks where needed. The instructions call to make sure that the part where this piece meets the previous vertical hatch shield piece are colinear with each other. Meaning that the interior corners are touching each other before tacking.

Oh a pro tip: Always or try to tack on the outside surfaces. Why? Well just in case you need to undo things. There's little room on the interior side to grind out or Dremel out a tack weld.

[Bob98SR5]

Step 10 was a pretty exciting step in the process as this is the most recognizable part in the process. However doing this single handed was an incredible bitch. The part is heavy and following the instructions unfortunately didn't help. So I ended up using physics and just stood up the bumper on the face side and used gravity to help me align the bumper wings to the ends of the bumper. Unfortunately the end tabs on the end of the bumper didn't quite fit so perfectly in the slot in the side of the bumper. In fact if I were to do it over again, I'd chamfer the bottom side of the end tab on the bumper. That way it would slip into the slot easier, which it isn't quite doing. I need to fix this more on one side and perhaps a dead blow hammer will help the tab fit better into the slot. After making 3 tacks on each wing, I decided to lay it down on the board to make sure things were flat and take measurements per instructions. It was off by a half inch. I was not happy with my work, so I realized that the rear most support pieces might draw in the bumper ends. It did and it came very close to perfect on the width! Well maybe off by 1/16th-ish, but not more than that.

Now that everything is so nicely tacked up, I really don't want to remove it unless I get the bumper mounted and the wings are misaligned. I'm eager to see if the way I tacked it will line up perfectly onto my 4Runner, but I have many more steps to go including welding the tire carrier.

[Bob98SR5]

Here's some pics of what the tacked up bumper looks like. Oh, I finished welding the middle seam that adjoins the bumper halves and then taking the flap disk to it. Looks like the bumper is coming out nicely so far, but the real test will be when it gets mounted on my 3rd gen.

[Kryptoroxx]

Man that's looking pretty good! Loving the progress and I can't wait to see it all finished!

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[Seanz0rz]

Nice!!! Looking really good!!!

[Bob98SR5]

So one of the crucial check points in the process is Step 10. There's a previous check where the instruction ask to check one angle (15 degrees). Step 10 asks you to check 3 different ones. I rechecked the 15 degrees and saw that I was about a degree off on both sides. The next one I checked, I was curiously on point at 85 degrees (outside of the wings to the theoretical flat face of the front of the bumper. Using a piece of wood that I cut many months ago (perfect in fact for the job), it hit 85 degrees. Sweet. This was the one that concerned me the most. I checked the rear most measurement of 69.25" and it was off by about a 1/16". Whew! While not 100% perfect, I think and i hope that a degree or two or 1/16" won't make the difference between being happy or having to redo the whole thing again---which would NOT be fun.

So I'm confident at this point to make a few more tacks to make sure this thing doesn't fall apart on me if I drop it when I test mount it. I'm still waiting to hear from the TNF about my question about bracing the hitch receiver at a 90 degree angle.

Speaking of test mounting, this thing is getting heavy. I watched a Timmy the Toolman vid where he mounted a CBI bumper and sure enough: transmission mount and two extra helpers. I need some more friends up here lol!

[Bob98SR5]

Rear measurement was off by a 1/16" of an inch. Considering the hell it was putting this thing together solo, I'm totally cool with this.

There was one more measurement that I didn't take, but will do tomorrow.

[Kryptoroxx]

Rear measurement was off by a 1/16" of an inch. Considering the hell it was putting this thing together solo, I'm totally cool with this.

There was one more measurement that I didn't take, but will do tomorrow.I'm just sitting here eating popcorn. Looks good man! Makes me wonder if my Hobart will be up for the bumper challenge. I think I'm going to go with the coastal offroad set for the 4th gen. Front, Rear, and skids total just under 1500 buckolees

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[Bob98SR5]

I'm just sitting here eating popcorn. Looks good man! Makes me wonder if my Hobart will be up for the bumper challenge.

Thanks for the compliments! I've not had time to work on the bumper and I need to figure out a way to make something that will be able to secure the bumper on a hydraulic jack. Or else find 2 people for a few hours to help me fit it to check for correctness---and then remove it so I can weld everything down. And then another time to refit it.

I'd rather make something as you can see :)

I tried welding 5/16" with my (old/sold) Lincoln 110v and it was an exercise in futility. Gotta get the 220v. If you're not opposed to buying a HF welder, the one I got (Titanium 200) has been really great. When I switched the spool to 0.035 wire (thickest wire it can handle) and moved up the dials accordingly for welding the ¼" steel, it was pretty sweet. And it more than easily handles the thinner plates when you make the adjustments.

I don't blame you: Coastal makes some nice stuff. I'll probably get the Coastal front bumper next year. I really like their front bumper designs.

EDIT: corrected from jack stand to hydraulic jack

[4x4mike]

When I built a 14 bolt axle for my old truck I built a rolling stand out of 2X6 lumber. It allowed me to work on it off the ground and roll it into place by myself. Jack stands would work but are hard to move around when they're loaded.

[Bob98SR5]

Mike,

I realized that I mistakenly wrote "jack stand". I meant to write "hydraulic jack".

But your solution is a better one. Glad I have friends who are more imaginative than I am. Thanks for the tip!

[Bob98SR5]

So last night I changed out my 99 OEM Toyota rear coils to a used set of OME 906s, which I wrote about here (http://www.ultimateyota.com/showthread.php?10998-OME-906-rear-coils-install-(tech-and-measurements)) in this sub-forum. Gained about 1.5" from the stock 99 OEM coils, so that's a big positive. Oddly enough, the stock coils were taller by about 1.0 - 1.5". I was freaking out. But I read later after the install that the 906s are some of the shortest coils, but with a heavy load rating and a moderate spring rate of 330lb, which I believe will be perfect for the rear bumper and tire carrier w/ tire. See pics. Daylight is old 99 coils. Night time is tonight after finishing up installing the wheels (OME 906).

Also I purchased Sonoran Steel's rear polyurethane body mounts (http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=10) based on his website's recommendation on replacing them for heavier rear bumpers to prevent bumper to body deflection and damage. They're coming in the mail tomorrow, so if they arrive before I get home, then I'm going to install them that night.

I have an appointment to install new tires on Saturday. I'm going to stick with Bridgestone Revos. Now they're up to Revo 3s. I still like the original Revos vs the Revo 2s. They lasted a helluva lot longer too. As much as I'd like to go for the "look" and get some muds, I really can't justify burning a few hundred more for my truck that only really gets driven now on the weekend.

So trying to get all of this done so I can test fit the bumper on Saturday or Sunday so I can do the final welding over the course of the next two weeks.

[Kryptoroxx]

So last night I changed out my 99 OEM Toyota rear coils to a used set of OME 906s, which I wrote about here (http://www.ultimateyota.com/showthread.php?10998-OME-906-rear-coils-install-(tech-and-measurements)) in this sub-forum. Gained about 1.5" from the stock 99 OEM coils, so that's a big positive. Oddly enough, the stock coils were taller by about 1.0 - 1.5". I was freaking out. But I read later after the install that the 906s are some of the shortest coils, but with a heavy load rating and a moderate spring rate of 330lb, which I believe will be perfect for the rear bumper and tire carrier w/ tire. See pics. Daylight is old 99 coils. Night time is tonight after finishing up installing the wheels (OME 906).

Also I purchased Sonoran Steel's rear polyurethane body mounts (http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=10) based on his website's recommendation on replacing them for heavier rear bumpers to prevent bumper to body deflection and damage. They're coming in the mail tomorrow, so if they arrive before I get home, then I'm going to install them that night.

I have an appointment to install new tires on Saturday. I'm going to stick with Bridgestone Revos. Now they're up to Revo 3s. I still like the original Revos vs the Revo 2s. They lasted a helluva lot longer too. As much as I'd like to go for the "look" and get some muds, I really can't justify burning a few hundred more for my truck that only really gets driven now on the weekend.

So trying to get all of this done so I can test fit the bumper on Saturday or Sunday so I can do the final welding over the course of the next two weeks.Hey that looks pretty good! I enjoyed the 906 springs a lot. The only time that I didn't is when I was towing. The handling was fine but they would dip quite a bit under a nose heavy trailer.

I keep getting tempted to drive her a couple more times before @BattleWagonActual comes to pick her up lol. I know I will miss her.

Anyhoo definitely waiting to see more progress pics on the bumper. I'm not super shot in the head about a new welder right now since I have zero access to a 220 plug but I welded my welding table together and it was all .25 or better. I'll think about it but that little Hobart can throw some heat. I was able to lengthen the alternator arm on the 3rz with a little bit of creative grinding prep and that was .5 thick.

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[Bob98SR5]

So I got the Sonoran Steel rear body mounts yesterday, but forgot to check the mail until about 9PM. I did though prep the install by removing the appropriate panels and plugs out of the rear cargo area. I saw this Timmy the Toolman video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR93p44MhOU&t=626s) (around 14:20) and I don't think this is the safest way to do things.

I'm going to attempt to do this by removing all of the body mount nuts (except the front) and jack the body up from the pinch weld about dead center or closer to the front side of the rear tire. What do you guys think?

[Seanz0rz]

When I did my body lift, I did the drivers side then passenger side. there is enough give in the mounts that you dont need to worry about bending anything (unless you go really overboard). I used a 4x4 from the jack to the body to lift it.

looking at his video, id at least screw all that together so it acts like one piece. It looks sketchy, but I've done way worse!

[Bob98SR5]

Sean,

My god, that looks like a torture device! Seriously, which part of the wood did you use to jack up the body? :)


So in between the neighborhood rug rats coming for candy (nobody says "trick or treat" anymore---entitled shits except my neighbor's kids), I got a little work done. I removed the nuts from all body mounts except the ones near the engine, the side bumper flares, the stone guards, and the top plastic bumper piece. I didn't remove the bumper just yet because I wanted to see if I could remove the rear body mount without removing the bumper. i don't think it's gonna be possible because there's very little hand space to remove those 14mm M8 bolts that sit on the bump stop plate (x2 bolts). So I called it a night and the plan for tomorrow is to do remove the rear bumper (only 4 bolts holding it on right now) and then try jacking up from the side with my Type R body seam body lift device. AS you can see, I channeled it w/ my table saw so the wood will fit nicely (and it does) over the seam. I did give it a dry run and I believe I'll need to screw in another 2x4 beneath it---maybe a 3rd. We'll see. It may lower the 10 rwhp though by about 2.4. Just guessing :)

With all that removed, I only makes sense to test fit the bumper. I may have to postpone the tire install to next week, but we'll see.

On another crappy note, my damn Napa (or the hoses) power steering pump has a slow leak somewhere. This is driving me CRAZY.

[Seanz0rz]

My piece was about 18" long, I think I wedged it between the frame and outer pinch weld so it was more or less captive.

Try some ATP205 in the power steering, might be a shrinking seal or something. Worked for my rack seals.

Moving the mill was sketchy and it only almost fell face first once. It worked well.

[Bob98SR5]

Sean,

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give it a go re: ATP205. I'll see if I can find the source of the leak first, tighten up all the hoses, and/or replace the non-pressure hose coming off the P/S pump.

[Bob98SR5]

Gents a question for you all:

I believe I can mount the carrier on the left driver's side too just by flipping and welding the main mount. I would think the biggest advantage to having the tire carrier on the driver's side is that the tire would be behind my head. The biggest con though would be that if I opened it up while parked along the curb with traffic on the left side, it presents a risk to the tire carrier and inattentive motorists who might bash into it. But really from MY safety standpoint, having the tire behind on the driver's side would allow me to have a full view of the right passenger side.

Thoughts?

[4x4mike]

I would think behind your head would be best. I drive everyday with my bike on my rear rack and while it's small and only the seat post in the way, it's right in the middle and distracting. Perhaps estimate the size and placement of the tire and use a piece of cardboard to block that portion of the window and take a look through the mirror.

It's kind of a tough one and a trade off for having a rear mount carrier.

[Bob98SR5]

Mike,

Yeah I'm gonna have to find some pics online to see how far this swings out. That will definitely be the deciding factor. As you can see from this diagram, there's only two lock outs. Some of the other designs I've seen have multiple.

[Bob98SR5]

...have my fingers!

Ok so if you thought the link to Timmy the Toolman's method of jacking up the rear end was dicey, let me describe the things that I used in my garage to make my install of Sonoran Steel's rear body mount happen:

a) Hydraulic jack (of course)
b) a board
c) 2 x 45lb Rogue Fitness rubber plates
d) 15lb solid core dumbell
e) 2x4 cut perfectly square

I am NOT going to describe what I did to make this work. Use your imagination!

Now there's a reason why I didn't attach the pic of it either: because what I did was downright crazy stupid and I don't want some younger dude with less experience (errr more common sense) than me to do what I did. Jacking up by the middle of the body didn't work because my wood blocks weren't tall enough and I didn't want to cut them in the middle of the evening (I started at 645PM). Type R lifting block = Fail.

So long story short, using the above combination of Macguyver garage gym assets, I managed jack up the rear from the rear by the two mounts on either side of the locking latch, which allowed some room to undo the 14mm bolts on both sides of each body mount with the longest wrenches that I had. Pro tip: put a block in between the body and the top of the frame just in case things go south. I could easily see fingers being lost. Anyways another pro tip: with the side bumper pieces off, you have plenty of room to work from the back side where there's a huge pocket of hand space to work from, which is infinitely safer. So work from behind the mounts.

The mounts FYI are one piece, so you have to get the body mount up fairly high to lift the mount out of the pocket. Make sure you remove the bolt first though from inside the rear of the cabin.

Installing it was a scary proposition because I was watching my lift contraption while installing the new SS parts. First thing is to push the sleeve from the top so that it's flush w/ the top. Place the diamond shape plate on the bottom and through the sleeve. Then drop it in to the mount hole. Place one of the provided washers on top of the rubber mount. Then drop the factory OEM bolt and make sure the two bolt taps (wings) are in the slots so that they lock when you wrench on the bottom nut. After dropping the bolt down, secure the two 14mm bolts from the top and through the diamond plate. I would do what Timmy did and lift up the rubber piece and secure the 14mm bolts down so that the mount sits on top of them. I secured the bolts about 3/4ths of the way.

BE CAREFUL AND WATCH YOUR LIFTING apparatus while doing this. And work from the back side!

Finally put the 2nd rubber piece on from the bottom, followed by a washer. Finally wrench on the 14mm nut. Done. Lift up the other side and repeat.

Sorry, no pics of the body mounts or install. But frankly because it's not as exciting as...

[Bob98SR5]

Well thank goodness: all those expensive Rogue Fitness bumper plates and other gym equipment helped save the day (and my back)!

So after removing the bumper, I had access to the two frame rails with nothing in the way, which allowed me to properly measure the lowest point of the frame rail. That was now 22.75" with the OME 906 coils. So I looked around the garage and lo and behold my gym bench was the perfect solution to get me most of the way there. The bench height is about 17" high and then I used the 45lb rubber bumper plates again which got me within about 1.5 - 2.0" inches. So I placed the bumper on the plates that were on top of the bench and slid it towards the back of the 4runner.

One of the things I forgot to do was to unhook the 3 holed rubber bushing that holds the exhaust pipe and the two metal holders. After sliding that on, you have to push the exhaust pipe out of the way. Unfortunately one thing that I learned after I got the bumper down pretty close to what I'd like it to be so I'll mention it now: after clearing the pipe out of the way, you need to get the rubber back in to place again before tightening down the bumper. Else the back center support is going to get in the way.

It took some finagling before I got the holes and bumper lined up. The bolts that come with the TNF kit do NOT fit my 98's holes at all. Or at least mine didn't. So I reused the 4 bolts from the old bumper and bolted the bumper in. And the best part? My welding was pretty spot on! I'd say its not 100% perfect, but about 98% there :) . The top of the side flares to the bottom of the body is about ½" or slightly more. But I think that's because I'm only using the 4 stock bolts. In the early steps of the fab work, they have you spot weld 4 nuts onto 4 small plates. These are used to put down the rails and then to use their bolts to bolt them in. The CBI kit as seen on TTTM's video shows that CBI tack welded a little thin piece of rod to their nut tabs so install would be easier. I think I'm going to do that too. But for now, this is only a test fit to see if everything lined up and also because I am getting new Revo 3s tomorrow and I want them to put those tires on and align them with the bumper on. I will probably have them realign it once I get the tire carrier on as I think the added weight on the back and on one side will change the geometry and weight dispersion. Do you guys think that's necessary?

Like I've said before, I'm really impressed at how right this company got it. Kryptoroxx apparently knows the designer well and spoke well of his design and engineering skills. I see why Kryptoroxx spoke so highly of him now.

I have a lot of welding to finish this weekend and hopefully I can finish by Sunday night.

[Kryptoroxx]

I like it!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Bob98SR5]

Going to take my truck to the tire shop this morn, so I placed some more tack weld in key places just to make sure nothing falls off :) Took it for a ride to the donut shop as I didn't feel like cooking and the road isn't the best quality. With the SS rear bump stops, I definitely can tell it's more firm in the back which I guess is the whole point of installing them.

Here's a good morning shot of how it looks today. The spare tire is in the back cargo area as I'll need it taken off as I can tell the tire has aged with some cracks between the tread. One of my good rear tires will go on the spare and I'll keep the other good rear tire as a back up in case some punk slashes my mounted rear tire. You never know in the crime free SF bay area /sarcasm

Things that I'll have to figure out: 1) rear stone guard/mud flaps. I believe that's law here in CA and I think I can recall someone getting a fix it ticket for that. 2) Rear license plate holder. I think I'll fab something up or buy something to mount on the external rear tire. 3) Top bumper trim. As you can see in the pics (pics pending), there's a substantial and quite unattractive gap in between the bumper's top face and the body's vertical lift gate area. I'm kicking myself because I didn't save the pic of a guy who cut up his old stock bumper cover trim to fit the bottom part nicely and he did something in the back too to cover the vert part. Now this might not work out for me because he didn't have a rear tire carrier. Hopefully I find those pics again. 4) Re-mounting my rear view camera and re-routing my Air bag schrader valve

[Kryptoroxx]

I would say you could easily weld some metal mudflap frames away from the tire that wouldn't take long to remove the flap on.

Look in the trailer section of a local farm store (not sure if those are close by or not) and you could find a metal license plate frame. Easily welded on so you don't have to do anything further or try and drill the bumper. I'm sure Cramazon might have some offerings as well and there is always zip ties! lol

[Bob98SR5]

I'll check out the trailer section out, thanks for the tip. But now you've probably made my choices more difficult. I betcha Tractor Supply has the back to back chrome buxom ladies facing each other. My mind was almost set on the Yosemite Sam "Back Off" flaps lol.

I did do some homework late last night and I saw that a few people cut up some rectangular mud flaps for big rigs with all kinds of different ways to ake sure the flaps don't hit the tire, usually with a wire of some type.

Oh so here's the CA law. In short, there's a requirement for both width and height/length of the flap...sorta:

Code 27600 of the CVC states, "No person shall operate any motor vehicle having three or more wheels, any trailer, or semitrailer unless equipped with fenders, covers, or devices, including flaps or splash aprons, or unless the body of the vehicle or attachments thereto afford adequate protection to effectively minimize the spray or splash of water or mud to the rear of the vehicle and all such equipment or such body or attachments thereto shall be at least as wide as the tire tread."

Height:
Law 27600 CVC does not give any specifics on mud flap height requirements, other than saying that they must provide sufficient coverage to block anything rotating tires can kick up. If you drive a raised vehicle, you are still required to have mud flaps that are low enough to the ground to stay in compliance with the law.

So the stock flaps are 6.5 inches tall and 9 inches wide as measured from the top of the flap part (where it meets the bottom part of the bumper). So since my lift is about 2", then I'll need to account for the lift AND also for the decreased height of the new bumper. The new bumper though has very little material horizontally to support the flap, so I may need to make a custom flap hanger (bolt on) to make this happen. I've attached two pics of what I'm thinking and the diagram showing how little material I have to work with.

[Bob98SR5]

Well I decided to remove the bumper after the test fit to do welding the nuts that secure the future tire carrier to the bumper. This step is advise prior to welding all the seams as according to TNF, the metal gets harder after welding. So I decided to do both sides as I'm still undecided which side to mount the carrier.

However I thought I could save some time and use jack stands and lower the bumper. What a mistake. The right side (passenger) got hung up on the exhaust pipe and the driver's side wing jerked towards the passenger side and moved backwards at the same time. I heard that metal on metal scrape and I just cringed. I got out from underneath very carefully and saw a 2" gashy gashy >:(

The other side got a little bit too but not as bad. I got wise and put some microfiber towels in between the body and the bumper. I kicked the exhaust pipe out of the way like the mad Korean ninja that I am and it all came loose.

Some other things:
- Yes, there's NO way you can mount the spare underneath. Not by a mile. So time to weld in those diagonal braces tomorrow.
- I took a stab at practicing my welding skills. Oh boy, I need to improve my welding game stat!
- I am so bad at welding vertically

I heavily tacked in the nuts on the back of the rear bumper ends per instructions. I was planning to put the bumper back on and call it a day, but I had 2 hours so I did some additional welding. Not everything turned out perfectly.

Advice sought: as you can see in the pics, there's some small holes and some gaps in between weld start and stop points. For the bigger gaps, I'm going to fill it in with the welder and regrind/flap, but for the smaller ones, can you just put bondo in it and call it a day and sand? I'm trying to minimize the welding and flap disc time.

[4x4mike]

Structurally you'll want to make sure there is enough weld in the gaps to hold everything together. The bumper acts as the bridge to your frame which will support the tire as well as recoveries. One thing I wouldn't want to have to chase down are little cracks caused by the rear tire carrier. Burn it in good then grind down. If there are small pits you could use bondo but make sure you've got enough weld.

Are you welding from both sides? Or do the instructions specify for a given section? "Provide sufficient coverage to block anything rotating tires can kick up" I feel speed and substrate have a lot to do with this. In some instances a short flap could do the job.

Bumpers looking good there Mr. Korean Ninja.

As for the mud flaps, it's good that you looked it up. I thought part of the rule was that the flap had to cover at least half of the tire. Like it couldn't be too short. Say the OD of your tire was 33", I though the top 16.5" had to be covered.

[Bob98SR5]

Mike,

Good advice, thank you. The instructions are pretty specific on where to weld (inside or out) and where to grind or not grind. The vast majority of welding is done on both sides.

Thanks for the answer on the bondo. I think I'm going to bondo then. I just didn't know if it was possible or not. There's a few places where its just a teeny tiny hole and to add a tack and then flap would be just overkill for the effort.

Re: flap length, I compared what I read to pics of the stock 4runner plastic mud guards. All of them end about the center of the hub, so that's the length I'll cut it down to. I bought this on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002MBHPS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I opted to buy the thicker rubber kind vs the cheaper plastic kind, which many people said is akin to the flexible plastic cutting board material you can buy at IKEA for like $4.99. I'll definitely need to cut it down. Thinking out loud, I'm gonna weld some nuts on the other side of that triangular piece of metal at the end of the bumper wings in 3 places as mounting points so I can hang the mud flap off of. At least that's the plan for now.

[Bob98SR5]

After welding in the little odd shaped triangular piece (Fabrication step 11), it was onto the flaps.

I had to do something REAL quick tonight to get flaps on the new but unfinished bumper before we hit the road south this weekend for one of Casey's shows. Hit Ace after work, got a 12 gauge 1" flat metal bar and decided to bolt it into the bumper as I want to be able to remove it later to make something more professional. I bought some ¼" self drilling screws to mount through the bumper and then some regular nut, bolt, washer, and lock washers to secure the side that extends into the body cavity.

I ended up cutting the flap 12" long and 10" wide. 13" would've been a little below the center of the hub, but 13 is an unlucky number. Now I scoff at superstitious hokus pokus bulls@#t, but this one and the number 4 are ones that I do have some belief in as unlucky numbers.

Getting late, so here's the pics of how I first tapped the holes 1/16th smaller than ¼" for the self tapping screws and the other 2 holes for the nut/bolt combo that secures the rubber mud flap to the metal bar.

My only concern at this point is if the looseness of the flaps with slap incessantly against the bumper. I know that some flaps have a wire that attaches to the end of the flap to the bumper, so that might be an option of this doesn't work.

I ended up spraying it with some satin black just to give it a head start as it'll turn black from road grime soon enough!

Edit: I didn't weld in Step 12 in order, but here's a shot of what that little piece looks like. Of note when I welded it in, the paint didnt bubble up and fall off at all. I ended up primering and using the bed liner paint. Looked just fine.

[Bob98SR5]

Last weekend was spent down in LA for my wife's jewelry show so no work on the bumper. Surface rust is developing where the water has hit the bumper, so I got to get moving on this as I don't want to rust abate or spend needless time de-rusting before priming and painting.

I'm at the point where I can start welding the tire carrier. The kit by default is for passenger side swing out and there's no instructions on how to flip it to the other side. So I decided to re-examine the pdf instructions and all the parts in the first few pages of the instructions can be flipped to mount the carrier on the driver's side up until one step and part. It's the part that the horizontal pipe of the tire carrier passes through and is part of the latching mechanism. The part as you can see in the pic has only one entry hole for the pipe to pass from the passenger side towards the driver's side (right to left). To mount it from the other way around, a hole needs to be cut in this part to allow the horizontal pipe to pass through it.

So with two $5 off $20 purchase Ace coupons in hand, I went to my fave Ace Hardware store and bought a 1-¾" bi-metal hole saw and the special part that drills the center hole and holds the hole saw (can't remember the name of this part). The hardest part was to center and clamp down the part to my drill press. I lined it up just about perfectly and clamped things down. It took a bit of fanagling, but worked well enough to drill a mirror copy of the hole (which is a bit off set).

That's all the time I had for today (tons of morning errands and my tired ass took a nice 2 hour uninterrupted afternoon nap), but tomorrow will be devoted to tack welding the rear tire carrier, fully welding the bumper per instructions, and flap disc'ing to make it purdy.

Pro tips: do not apply too much force down in the very beginning. Make sure the drill bit centers well and that's 90% of drilling a hole through metal perfectly. Also make sure you use tapping fluid to cool down the bit. Finally, don't rush and burn the hole saw or the centering bit.

Idiot move: since I was in a rush, I wasn't thinking and didn't put the part on a piece of sacrificial wood. Stupid me gouged my drill press platform.

[Seanz0rz]

Evaporust will do wonders if you cannot get to the rust in time. HIGHLY recommended! you would probably want to use the gel stuff since you cannot submerge the part in fluid.

Looking great! I've been busy with mine, thread to come soon.

[Bob98SR5]

Thanks for yet another recommendation, Sean. Oh by the way, do you have a recommendation on a spray to shoot down the tubing? I know what water can do to the inside of metal, so rather than drilling drain holes, I'd rather spray a chemical inside.

[Bob98SR5]

So today was the start of the tire carrier per instructions up to Step 7.

As I had the full day to work on my bumper after a 10am haircut, I set out all the parts and started working through each step. But this set of parts unlike the rear bumper had a lot of flash that needed to be wheeled off w/ a Dremel. The hinge bracket was 3 pieces that needed to be set at right angles to each other and was pretty easy to tack.

Next step was to tack weld the hinge stops part to the DOM vert tube. After doing that (it was slightly off but barely), I ground down the high spot and test fitted it with the DOM vert tube and parts inside the bracket. I tell you, this thing fit in so perfectly that I had one of those 'whoa' moments. After fitment, the next step called to tack weld the T-handled plunger to the top of the mount.

[Bob98SR5]

Fabrication Steps 9, 10, 11, and 12

The outer latch assembly was pretty easy. This was the one that I drilled yesterday to make it a driver's side tire carrier mount. So the work consisted of bolting in the nuts to the one part and then tack weld the other to it. Optional (but I did it) was to tack weld the nuts to the outer plate and then weld the inner part to the outer plate.

Next up was the latch parts which took some time to figure out how to do it properly given that there were two things that needed to be done simultaneously: align the horizontal tube and tack it to the DOM hinge tube and attach the tack the horizontal tube to the latch. The instructions also called to insert a supplied piece of plastic to the top of the bumper deck, align the horizontal tube and tack it, and then tack the latch part to the tube...lots of shit going on and the weight of the horizontal tube made the tube slip and then I'd have to realign, measure, level, etc. So after about 20-30 minutes of going through this, I ended up aligning as best as possible but then making to tiny tack spots on the latch assembly TO the bumper. I stress that they were teeeny tiny tacks. and it worked because it enabled me to focus on leveling the horiz bar and then tacking it onto the DOM vert hinge tube.

Once I tacked all of this, I assembled the latch to the latch assembly. The pic I took is only 1/2 of the latch part.

[Bob98SR5]

Fabrication step 13 and 14

The last thing I had time to do was to tack on the tire backing plate to the tire carrier tube. Just make sure the orientation is of the plate is correct. The square hole should not be angled. The bottom of the square hole should be parallel w/ the ground. The guide says to use "heavy tacks". And by now, if you're not a master at tacking, you're not paying attention lol. So after aligning the parts and flipping the tube and tire plate, I tacked the hell out of all of it. I let the metal cool down and then I stitch welded the back some more. Step 14 calls for welding in the vertical braces which is pretty easy but make sure the inner square hole is not impeded by the vert pieces. Use light tacks and use magnetic triangles to get everything aligned.

The last step completed for the day was to fully weld one piece of tube steel (1/4" thick) to the previous step.

My welds are getting better, but only on parts that are set up perfectly on the table lol

[Seanz0rz]

Looking great!

I have never used this, but the reviews are pretty good:
https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html

[4x4mike]

There are also products like this https://www.amazon.com/Fluid-Lubricant-Corrosion-Inhibitor-11-75/dp/B00PWZ0XNM/ref=pd_sbs_468_4/146-4688271-5252210?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00PWZ0XNM&pd_rd_r=707c5dc6-2ea8-440f-bd7c-90839f71696c&pd_rd_w=RL8g8&pd_rd_wg=4H2EO&pf_rd_p=52b7592c-2dc9-4ac6-84d4-4bda6360045e&pf_rd_r=JTRWMX3GRH5E6MET2DBY&psc=1&refRID=JTRWMX3GRH5E6MET2DBY

Be careful though if you weld around them after spraying. I'm not sure what kind of awful smokes off of products like these after they get hot.

[Bob98SR5]

Mike,

Yeah, I'd definitely wait until everything was welded and all welds had a seam sealer. Then I'd drill holes in strategic places, spray in, then spot weld the holes + flap disc.

[Kryptoroxx]

Man you've been busy! Looks great too. Very nice tacking.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Bob98SR5]

The last bit of work on the bumper was drilling out a hole for my backup camera (even more valuable now that there's a tire blocking your view) and tacking in the rear shackle hangers. I ran into some difficulty drilling the hole because the weld in the middle/centerline was impossible to drill through. So I had to painstakingly take down the weld. Only then did my circular bit go through. Welding the bumper shackle hangers was a piece of cake because they literally fell in like a puzzle piece, thereby making the tacks and later welding easy as all heck. After doing that, I spent a good 2-3 days taking all kinds of cup brushes to the metal to scuff up the surface. I used a few cans of brake cleaner to aid in getting off any scuffing dust along with wiping down all surfaces with acetone and a ton of paper towels.

[Bob98SR5]

Since I had to drive my 4Runner to my wife's shows and it was exposed to the elements (including snow for 2 days in Nov), the bumper started to surface rust in many places esp at the weldgs. To be sure, I used my POR15 kit to acid etch (their Metal Prep product) and then use POR-15 on all the interior side of the bumper where the welds were. For the rest of the interior side of the bumper like the big support tubes and flat surfaces, I just sprayed with a semi-gloss black primer paint from Ace

[Bob98SR5]

On the exterior side I used primer and paint. But on the exterior side I used what Sean H recommended: bed liner paint. It's awesome, lemme tell you. It's almost like popcorn ceiling too as it covers up a lot of pin holes and imperfections. So far the staying hold of the paint has been really impressive.

[Bob98SR5]

Mounting the bumper this time around (3rd) was easier now that I had done it twice before. The hardest part about mounting the bumper by yourself is how the bumper gets hung up on the passenger side because of the exhaust and the exhaust hangers. Sometimes that rubber buffer thing gets in the way or is hard to pull off. Just take your time. Oh and pro tip: place a microfiber towel over the ends when pushing in the bumper. If it tilts backwards, then at least there won't be metal to metal scratching potential. Ask me how I know.

So this was the most gratifying part: putting on the tire carrier. Fitting it in took some effort because it is fairly heavy now, but aligning things took a little finagling but got done. Last step was to take this thick, but pliable. All that needed to be done was to align the plastic properly (I used blue tape) and then use a heat gun to make it pliable. Once pliable and to shape, just peel the adhesive film off the back and apply the plastic piece. Clamp the tire carrier on it nice and tight so it sets. I didn't mess with it til the next morning and I'm glad I did.

[Bob98SR5]

Shots of the tire mounted, side angle, and cover that I bought on Amazon.

[Bob98SR5]

Next steps were to reinstall the rear view camera and custom fab a license plate frame with an LED light. The was the original one I did, which didn't output enough light so I made another with a much larger, wider LED.

[Bob98SR5]

Since the holes on the other side are unused (for now at least), I decided to buy some socket bolts to close up the holes and paint them to match.

Oh, I also added some essential trail and campsite mods as well. Two of 'em.

[Bob98SR5]

Some outdoor shots

[Bob98SR5]

After looking at my truck from behind, I realized that the driver's side brake light is partially obscured by the tire carrier (despite what the mfg says). So for safety's sake, I decided to finally install one of those configurable modules that allow the 3rd brake light to flash/blink. Mine is controllable in two ways: number of blinks/flashes and speed of the blinks. Instead of soldering this in, I decided to make it plug and play by installing male/female connectors just in case the laws change in CA.

I love it. I can tell it get people's attention. If I can see the person behind me texting at a stop light, I'll use it to get their attention by stepping on and off of the brake to keep them honest and to let them know to pay attention.