Considering an ARB bumper

Headstrong used to carry them. Wheeler's has them as their T1 coil Different color from Toytec http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/112-620--ToytecEibach-front-coil-lift-springs_p_14.html

 

MikeyMcFly was running the Eibach's in his truck before someone totaled it. His truck looked really good and wasn't very tall.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bilstein-suspension-questions.384241/page-2#post-10557847

 

Here's Eibach 620 / Bilstein 5100 @ 0.85 / Icon AAL on TSB w/overload removed.



Here's the same truck stock.



No issues with handling or ride before or after suspension was added. I didn't find any issues with topping or bottoming out. Admittedly, the OR's sensitive brakes coupled with BFG AT KOs made braking sketchy on slippery roads, but that's not a function of the bumper weight as much as it was a function of tires.

The bumper holds up amazing in head-on offset collisions as well, ask me how I know.

 

Nice truck. Wow she is gorgeous. I love the pre-cap light bar.

 

Thanks.

Unfortunately that accident totaled the truck. The frame ended up getting swayed enough that I didn't want it pulled straight and repaired. The cap was a $370 CL purchase I couldn't pass up for winter. It beats shoveling snow out of the bed. I was probably a week away from yanking the cap and putting the bar back on. It just doesn't look right on my 2016 sadly so I've got it for sale. Might as well funnel what it was worth into something else for the truck.

I miss the truck daily.

 

Wow, that's some impressive damage, Mikey. That the ARB held up so well after such a hard hit is confirmation of my choice to go with this bumper. Very sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose a beloved truck. Also, I agree about that awesome light bar! I've always wanted one, but I'm afraid I'd rip off the lights coming into the garage shortly after I installed them.

Thank you VERY much rjbiii and yeos for finding those coil links for me! And thank you, randomguy, for posting that link to the suspension thread; I saw from Mikey's post there that the Eibach/bilstein combo still lifted his front end 2", and I really don't want any more lift if I can help it. Isn't the 0.85" setting on the bilsteins just the next up from zero? There's mention of a spacer too, though, and I have no idea what that's about... I've read so much about the OME coils now I have a good feeling about them, but now I'm a little torn.

Thanks very much for all your guidance, guys! Choices, choices! I'm going to be on the road to pick up my ARB in about 36 hours! I'm so excited!

 

Gorgeous truck @MikeyMcFly. That's the stance I'll be going for, installing the bumper first.

 

Yeah, it was definitely a hard hit. You could argue having it take the frame out is almost worse where it totaled the truck, but outside of a sore shoulder for a day, I was completely okay.

I had 2-3" of clearance on my lights and I had a standard garage door with my setup. The only time I truly came close was pulling into the garage when there was snow on the driveway.

I lost ~0.75" of front end height when I added the ARB if memory serves me correct on the stock suspension. My reasoning for going to the 0.85 setting was simply because I wanted to see lift if I were to add it. The OR has progressive coils so using 5100s on stock springs @ 1.75 would have been about the same height, at the expense of ride quality.

I spent some time speaking with @TXBulldawg on his lift setup prior to working on mine. Here is his truck with 5100 / Eibach @ 0, stock TSB 4-leaf.


This is his truck running the same front setup as me, with a similar rear setup.


So pick what you like best and go from there. I loved how his truck looked with the 5100 @ 0, but I had thought about having something that looked a little more lifted like he did at the second time.

Hope that helps.

This was actually my second ARB bumper as I loved my first one so much, I decided to do it again. Gratuitous old Toyota Pickup Photo:


I guess I have a theme with my trucks, huh?

Thanks! I truly loved how it turned out and was basically completely content with it. There was very little, if anything, left to do.

 

McFly! McFly! Hey McFly! You have great old school taste in truck setups.

 

I agree! I absolutely love Mikey's old truck beach shot. No tan lines!

Well, I've ordered the bilstein 5100's for front and rear and went with the OME 885 coils I'd been leaning towards, from Headstrong, so I'm hoping to see them next week. (Fantastic prices there! And free shipping too!!) I'm leaving very early tomorrow morning for a 4 and a half hour trip to Ohio to pick up the ARB... should I post the before and after shots here? I wonder if OP would mind...? It'd be helpful for future forum searchers to have this all lumped together, I think.

Again, I can't thank you guys enough for all your helpful input. You rock!

 

Absolutely! I'm on my way in a little over 11 hours...

On a side note, and I don't want to hijack this thread elsewhere but, I've been looking through GsxRtaco's bumper build thread.... my God, there's some amazing talent! But the ARB is just going to have to do for me.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2nd-gen-bumper-build.391397/

 

A quick post before I head to work.... I took my truck in to my shop on Thursday to have installed the bilsteins and 885's along with the new ARB bumper. After most of an afternoon battling getting the springs on, the guys there decided they didn't want to tackle the bumper, so now it looks fucking absurd, with it's nose up in the air. The Bilsteins are at 0, but it's still easily 2-3 inches higher in the front; I'm not sure exactly how much because I forgot to measure before I took it in. I'd take pictures to show you guys but it's too embarrassing. I'm mortified. It reminds me one of those hooptie car/sleds from the 80's or something where the guys who built them made the front end bounce around. I immediately called around once I got off the phone with them and arranged with a different outfit to have the bumper put on this coming Wednesday.

In hindsight, I probably should have tried to have the bumper put on FIRST, but I was worried about it bottoming out with the extra weight in front and damaging tires. Now I'm probably going to be damaging my front tires over the next five or six days driving it around all hiked up in the front. It doesn't look like the tires are tilted inwards any, but I read here on the forums that not replacing the UCAs when lifting a truck, you can screw them up. Not that I'm going to be doing any distance driving or anything, given that it rides like I imagine the old Deusenhalf personel carrier trucks my ol' man drove in the Army.

I think you had it right, Wade, and I should have done just that.

Some consolation would be great, guys, but if you want to laugh, I totally understand.

 

Well lots of stuff has happened since my last post. I finally got it back a few days ago, and I could not be happier. It's only verrry slightly higher in the front now, certainly not like it was. First, some pix of the happily finished product!






Here at this last pic, you can see the 5100's (at 0) and the new 885's. Yes, the new springs actually DID work out.

The first shop that I mentioned in my last post royally fucked up their attempt at an install of the front shocks/springs. They put the the spring seat/cups on the bilsteins the wrong way, which was why it so much higher in the front and looked so incredibly stupid. Here's a pic of them off the truck again, taken by the shop #2 mechanic, before they were re-assembled correctly:



And here's a picture of the goddam installation instructions which came with the shocks, and were left on my passenger seat so I KNOW the geniuses at shop #1 saw them. What does a circle with a big frigging X in the middle of it mean, do you think?



Shop #2 mech emailed me and said, 'I really don't know how they assembled them like that without someone getting hurt.'

Here's the big turd on top of the sundae: Shop #1 stripped the bolt out of the bottom of that strut on the passenger side, which was discovered when everything was being fixed at shop #2. Of course, this bolt cannot be picked up at your local hardware store or at NAPA; it is some proprietary bolt that can only be found at a Toyota dealership, or at a scrapyard (if you can get it off a wreck), and of course, there wasn't a bolt to be found anywhere in the central IL area. This was the day before Thanksgiving when this was found, and nobody would be able to get one until the following Monday. With some printouts of the evidence above and a statement from shop #2, shop #1 cancelled out my bill.

So I got off work this past Monday and sat in shop #2's parking lot waiting for it to get back from the alignment, and then cried when I saw it, I was so happy. It's been a miserable couple of weeks, but I can finally put it behind me. Shop #2 had not installed an ARB bumper before, and were very impressed with the quality of it. It looks fantastic! All the guys at work envy my truck now.

 

Glad to hear you got everything figured out and are happy with the new bumper.

 

Good God... melting the lens. Great. At least it's wintertime! Maybe I've got a few months to worry about it yet, but with my luck... *sigh*

Thanks for the heads up, rjbiii; would you have any leads on the threads you found this info, and where to get these replacement LED's?

 

Do what I did and run a DRL kit in there. I used a Philips Daylight 4. It was pretty awesome actually.

 

Thanks for the tip, Mikey, I'll definitely explore that option. I kind of like that portion of the current set up with the turn-signal though, too. I wonder what kind of wattage bulb they have on the running light side that a standard replacement 1157 bulb keeps from overheating.... strange. Thanks for the info again, rjbiii!

EDIT to ask: The round fogs that came with that bumper that are covered; would the H-11 lamps that are on the stock bumper fit in those ARB housings?

 

Just for laughs I did a search on Amazon to see if those ARB fogs were there, and they WERE: https://www.amazon.com/ARB-6821201-Light-Deluxe-Bumpers/dp/B004P9FFAM

Some of the reviews are not good though. I guess it's a pain in the ass to change out the bulb without disassembling everything. I may do a little searching as one reviewer suggested, to see what other 4" lights might work.

 

I love my color matched arb, however I still haven't wired the led marker lights because I'm scared of splicing the factory wires