GT's Ultimate PepBoys chrome isle collection with considerable BS

Schedule looks like Expo is going to be a no-go for me. I was getting ready to make the plans and when looking at the calander I realized that it was going to happen during my wife's birthday so I changed gears and made plans to attend the Lone Star Jamboree in Texas the weekend before.

With that said, I'll definitely take you up on your offer to take pictures for me.

@GHOST SHIP, thank you for the compliment, and stay tuned.

 

If at all possible would you be able to get a picture of your fenders from the rear? I'm interested to see the body line where the front doors meet the trailing edge of the fenders and how the bulge was accommodated for. I am strongly considering these now since they aren't as "excessive" as other fiberglass fenders I've seen and still provide plenty of clearance. No rush, and thank you for a well thought out and documented build.

 

Will do tomorrow afternoon-ish as I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my family to arrive. I drove her car because drivers in this city are practically suicidal.

If you scroll back through the the thread you should see some pictures of them still gelcoat white and I put my hand up to that seam to help highlight the difference. The change was intimidatingly violent looking then but now that it's painted it looks fine.

 

@GHOST SHIP, I took a few more pictures that I'll gladly share if I missed the target, but I think that these show that transition fairly well. That last one hopefully shows my frustration with the factory bumper. Patiently waiting for my @RelentlessFab bumper so I can be rid of it.

 

Thank you very much! That's exactly what I was looking for. I see what you mean about the bumper and I understand your frustration. When I had ordered my Pelfreybilt bumper- even though they were right on target with their lead time, the wait was torturous. Quality parts take time and I'm sure you'll be happy once you receive your bumper. Will change the whole look of the truck and really show off your S/T Maxxs.

 

Rear bumper planning:

I know I want a high clearance rear bumper. I also know that I want to keep my spare on my bumper as I intend to use all of the bed-space for the camper interior. I'd like to keep the spare under the bed in the factory location but since I am using 35" tires and have already chopped out the factory spare tire mount I know that it's now too big and that the point is fairly mute with no carrier there to hold it anyway. Besides, I'd love to hang a potable water tank in that empty space.

I know as well as many of you that there is a list of highly skilled people that frequent these very forums that can facilitate me with an extremely high quality bumper, and I want to business with them, but there is a hitch. The common design of tire carriers on these bumpers require the spare be lifted up to the mount which for most is not an issue but for me, is a deal breaker. See, I have extremely limited use of my left arm and will not be able to lift my spare to that height.

This is where the brainstorming starts, and your opinions are gratefully welcomed.

So far the best solution I can think of is having some type of "swing-down" assembly that the tire will bolt to. With that said, I'd still really like to have a way to mount at least one 20liter can and a LPG bottle. Imagine an inverted 'V' with ends that are bent in and hinge off of the main bumper body to the left and right of the center license plate and tow hitch. The wheel mount would be part of this. Like a rear facing stinger that bends upwards with the wheel on the inside facing the truck. Once swung down I could roll the spare wheel up to it and lay it down onto the mount and attach it. I saved the factory spare tire lift reel in case there was a possibility that it could be used to help draw it up into the secured/closed position.

Even with all of that hanging off of the back of the truck, I still want to have either a single or a dual swing out with the aforementioned carriers. Because of the additional weight that I'm intending to hang off the back I've already taken precautionary measures by having a set of @jeffz0rz rear frame box plates welded in. Something else to take into consideration is the fact that I have a 1" body mount - so that I have more space to clock the transfer case at a later date - and that might allow a manufacturer some additional wiggle room when developing this bumper.

I really like this @RelentlessFab bumper as it has side protection as well as a dual swing-outs with small flip-down workplace tables.



Taking Eric's spare tire mount assembly out of the equation and adding my spare tire assembly idea poses an obvious problem. Would/could it be possible to beef up the recovery points to allow that new spare assembly to hinge off of them?

I found out that this is also a @RelentlessFab bumper and what caught my eye was the marine potable water intake port on the left side that could feed the tank I have planned for the factory spare tire location. The port would be offered some protection by the side protection bars seen in the earlier pictures.



This is where you come in, before I try to take this idea to a fabricator I really want to know that it's possible to make this modification/addition and if it would work in a real world environment and not just in theory. Thanks in advance!

Tagged because I know that you are all a hell of allot smarter than me and while I know that you all stay intensely busy, I would be very grateful for the time you take to offer your advice.
@RelentlessFab
@Socalduckslayer
@ArmorTech
@CBI Offroad Fab
@JDEMELLO

 

Check out @Whitecloud build. I think his spare tire assembly is just what your looking for.

 

Ive seen tire gates that flip down close to the ground for 2 tires but yours would need to be mounted OO not [][] because of the camper.

Quite a challenge indeed...

Im to see what gets built.

 

Check out this post in @Whitecloud build. He made the bumper himself but this assembly was something he bought/found can't remember. .. he can tell you I'm sure.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/whiteclouds-build-and-bs-thread.171110/page-2#post-5055903

 

Haha @G.T. were sitting their with all those crazy ideas and you could just use a HWWMV spare tire holder like whitecloud. Not sure why neither of us thought of that, seems like an easy design to replicate

 

I agree with @ERMB . @Whitecloud 's bumper would probably be a good solution for you. I really like the idea of the flip down tire carrier and it really shouldn't be too hard to fabricate actually. I even believe I have seen it somewhere before (possibly on ExPo). The challenge will be (with your limited mobility) getting the tire to flip down without it falling hard to the ground and the picking it back up once you've tired yourself out changing the tire. Unless your right arm is extremely built! (see photo below) Not to mention that once you're off level ground the working conditions could make it even harder to do both of these things. Adding some sort of pulley system or strut to aid lowering and lifting the flip down adds another fab dilemma.

 

I believe his has a gas shock assist to it. So it comes down with little effort

 

Sorry, I meant with the flip down idea. On whitecloud's bumper, I believe the hinged components were sourced together with the gas shock as an assembly. Oh and I went hunting for ideas. This fellow on a Jeep forum did what you were going after:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f37/swing-away-swing-down-tire-carrier-1128388/index2.html

 

Exactly, I still want the wheel stored in the same orientation as seen in the pictures I posted.

Nice, I like it.

Feel kinda stupid for not thinking of using "Big Green Machine" stuff as a solution. I still like our idea of using the fold down inverted stinger carrier as a step to enter and exit the camper.

I saved the factory spare wheel carrier reel that bolted to the crossmember that was under the bed just in case I could use it in a situation like this as I've been pondering this for quite some time. Another issue is if I am incapacitated or simply not present and my wife needs to change a wheel.

That's what I'm taking away from it as well after reading his thread notes.

This is the closest manifestation of my idea I've seen yet, thank you.

A quick web search for HMMWV spare carrier gave me this obviously new, yet awesome device.



I can only imagine what it would cost to replicate this one so I kept searching and found this one that in my opinion is even better as it's a lot simpler looking design wise. The only problem is trying to buy one new is not exactly economical. Which leads to the question at hand, could one of the tagged fabricators duplicate that design for me in a more economical fashion knowing that I don't have the DoD's budget behind me?

Here is the install PDF for it along with a couple of exploded views.

Please keep the ideas and sharpshooting coming, I'm liking it and I can assure you that I am making notes.

 

Yet another option, and more grist for the mill...

http://www.aluminess.com/toyota/toyota-tacoma-2005-2011/rear-bumper/

 

Those locking storage chests are sweet. I wonder how much stuff my wife would demand be stuffed into them before the frame would bend...

 

That would be a dangerous option. I've seen the bumpers in person and they are impressive.

 

I wonder if I had sourced a surplus carrier like these that we are talking about if a fabricator would be willing to accept it to be added to their work?

 

Kewel build.

 

Got it from a buddy of mine.

^^^Used that..

Nope. It is actually a huge turnbuckle with a rachet in the middle to allow it to swing vertical.

Only thing that got changed from when I installed it was that I took out a bunch of extra material and changed the stud mount plate to accept the bolt pattern for the Taco instead of the 8 lug HUMVEE.

The rear bumper is actually for sale if you want it? Tire carrier included.