Trail Gear front bumper mounting plate

Digging through some old pics on my phone I found a few of the trail gear bumper plate. At this point, I already relocated the turn signals and removed the lower 1/2 plastic bumper piece. I removed the rest of the bumper to complete the install. Of course I didn't paint it and now almost a year later it has some surface rust i need to address but it looked good unpainted for a little while.

Install was pretty strait forward. I did have to tap one side with a mallet but it wasn't too bad. It came with hardware which was nice as a lot of my factory stuff is a little rusty to say the least. I did this so I'd commit to the trail gear low profile bumper which I still haven't bought yet...hopefully soon. Maybe I can paint the mounting plate if and when I ever get the bumper....
Trail gear claims it stiffens the frame and I think it rides a little better as a result. The 2 factory brace peices were pretty weak and fragile looking.
I think it looks great as is but be warned your girlfriend will most likely disapprove and bust your balls for months to come....

 

Doing the same! planing on building off the mounting plate can't decide if I want to weld directly to it or make it bolt on.

Looks good! You can always paint all the exposed grey under the lights and grille

 

Trail gear low profile bumper comes with the mounting plate.. did you really just buy them separately?

 

Ya I didn't realize the bumper comes with the plate until after I bought it. You can build a custom bumper off the plate if you wanna take that route. Also lets you mount a winch although it seems like you'd have to cut the front bumper a little to get it to clear the plate and winch.

 

So when you buy the low pro bumper I'll buy the mounting plate from ya, problem solved

 

I already got my bumper installed last month. Pretty straight forward. Everything bolts right up however, you may want to get a universal windshield reservoir and relocate it somewhere in the engine compartment.

 

Since it has been so long and I haven't bought the bumper yet I considered building a custom bumper off the plate. I'd be fine with 2 D ring mounts welded on and a winch. I think it would look good.
Right now, I have no place to attach a tow strap. I wondered if someone makes a bolt on D ring mount. Woulda been nice to have on there when I went wheelin' a few weeks ago. Luckily I only needed the D ring mount on my trailer hitch to pull a full size chevy out of a ditch.
I think I'd like to paint under the lights black at some point. I relocated the windshield fluid reservoir and rerouted the horn wiring through one of the AC holes and it looks better. I've seen pics and it looks like a lot of the silver would show through. I think it would be better painted black.
I had to remove the cruise control actuator to mount the new reservoir. I don't miss the cruise control much. Don't think I ever really used it at all
Pretty sure the reservoir was a replacement for a 2nd gen Taco' base model. The filler neck was cracked and I got tired of the dealer telling me about it every time I took it in for an oil change.

 

Great minds think alike...if I ever get to 50 post so I can list a few things in the for sale section!

 

Bumper looks great. The original reservoir and plastic cover piece looked pretty terrible hanging down after I cleaned up the turn signal wiring and horn wiring also. Don't have a part number but the reservoir mounted up to factory holes in the engine bay after I removed the cruise control actuator. I was happy I didn't have to drill any holes. Almost looks like it came from the factory that way.

 

There's another post saying pelfrey is finally going to be making bumpers for our 1st gens very soon if you want to wait.

I bought the same reservoir as you from eBay. I still kept my cruise control actuator by mount the reservoir with one bolt lol.

Never heard of bold on d ring mounts. Sounds unsafe.

 

I think I'd be super happy with the low profile trail gear bumper. I'm kinda surprised I haven't just ordered it already on eBay with my PayPal credit.
I saw some pretty beefy weld on D ring mounts on Amazon not too long ago. I haven't welded since high school so I'd just have my buddy do it for me. He used to weld professionally and I'm sure he'd advise against a bolt on shackle mount instead of welding it.

 

Here's how I mounted my reservoir with my cruiser control actuator still attached.

 

I'm a little concerned as my reservoir is right on top of that electrical connector. Maybe I should move mine closer to the fire wall like yours.

 

Totally up to you. I think it should be fine where you have yours at. The eBay one doesn't have any openings on the bottom compared to the oem resorvior and the pump is on the other side and it's not directly aiming towards the connectors. There wasn't any other hole for me to screw in the second bolt for the reservoir but it did make it easier for me to tilt the reservoir down a little bit on the otherside so it doesn't hit the hood when I close it. Overall it was a win win situation lol.

 

Ya the new one did not accommodate the float valve thing to show me on my cluster when my washer fluid level was low. Not a big deal to me at all but some people might wanna know they are most likely going to lose this feature if they decide to relocate their washer reservoir. It also does not hold as much fluid as the OEM unit that sits behind the bumper. I didn't exactly lose any sleep over it but I think it's worth noting for some people.

 

Are you able to move the CC actuator forward to free up room to level out the reservoir?

 

There weren't any larger mounting holes big enough for the actuator bracket. I can drill bigger holes and work away around it but it requires more work. I think what I have now is pretty stable. I hand tightened the single bolt really tight so the reservoir is pretty sterdy where it's at right now.

 

I've seen where people use a metal bracket to attack the the CC actuator and one hole off of the bracket to a factory hole so it it reversible and you don't have to drill holes that maybe an eye sore later if someone ever wanted to return it all to stock. I like the idea of not drilling holes if I don't have to

 

So I finally pulled the trigger and got the TG low profile bumper.

 

You gonna do the light hoop as well?