Redeemed: rngr's Trail Taco w/side of T4R

Negative, good buddy. Haha. I’ve only been working in this since Wednesday, but I have a ton of hours in it. I can now somewhat appreciate why bumpers cost so much. Would be so much easier if you had all the parts pre-cut like they do though.

By the way, currently at...

$56 in steel
$13 for the hitch tube

$69 total.

 

Yea, I was the same with my front bumper. My thoughts where that we'd make a couple bends and notches on saturday night, weld it up Sunday morn and be trying it out that evening. 5 full weekends later I realized how wrong I was. If you wanna make it fit right you really have to take your time on it and triple check all your measurements.

Most of mine was made from scrap off job sites. Tube was the only thing I really had to buy. All in all i paid $44 for tube, $20 for some 1/2" d ring mounts and a maybe $6 at the harware store for new bolts. So less than $75 for the whole thing if you don't include the money I would have made working Saturdays instead of messing with a bumper.

 

It's way quicker and easier to build a bumper if you don't care what it looks like.

Looking good man!! I like how you did the 45s for the wings.

 

Thanks!

Probably half of my time spent was because I have no clue what I’m doing, and I want it to look good. Measure, measure again, mock with cardboard, measure again, and so on.

Stole the 45s (and pretty much the entire base design) from a google images search.

 

Good work dude. Gussets all look great. Those shackle mounts are gonna suck to cut in. Haha

 

Thanks man.

Nah. Plasma.

 

Haha you right.

 

It's insane how much time fabbing stuff eats up. It would take me 4hrs+ to make one damn gusset when I was working on my axle swap. My steering box mount took me two weekends to build and it consists of maybe 8pcs. Welding it is the quickest part!

 

Any plans for a swingout on this build?

 

Holyshit! Longest stretch without being on TW ever.

Haha no joke. The short pieces that make the corners 45s instead of 90s took me forever to figure out and make. Lots of maths.

No. Nevarrrrr!!!

I am in and out of the bed all the time. Since I have the shell and can’t go over the side of the bed, a swingout would make accessing the bed miserable. Heavy swingout, shell door, tailgate. No way Jose.

 

22.5° is the answer.

 

Hope you never get near my bumper with an angle finder.

 

Life happened and I haven’t been able to finish it up. I am learning to like the high clearanced no-ass look though.

I did order some shackle mounts today. Had a local guy going to make them, but he got super sketchy and stopped answering my calls.

Also found a local guy with a bender. Muffler/exhaust shop for the win! My steel guy is closed until after the new year though so no tube to bend for now.

So close, so far.

 

Also changed my AC tensioner pulley and the PS tensioner. Same part for both. No more whine!


Was actually the PS tensioner whining, but the AC had all kinds of slop.

 

This little girl showed up the other day. No collar, scared to death. Long story short, she has a new home and new humans. She loves to ride in the truck and wants to go everywhere I go. We’ve been cutting/splitting wood all day. Think she’ll be a good wheeling partner.


Feist, I think??? Probably a little of everything else too. Been calling her “Pupper” for a week. My son has since named her Sue, but I’m having trouble making the switch. Haha.

 

Outstanding!

Always great to see someone give a pup a good home.

 

It’s funny... I’ve been nearing the point of getting a dog. Had decided on a Boykin spaniel for a hybrid pet/duck dog. This one is far from that, but she was so sweet I couldn’t resist. My kids love her so there was no decision to be made.

 

Still haven’t received any tracking info on the shackle mounts. Figured it was due to the holiday, but then I noticed several recent seller reviews on eBay where people never received their mounts.

 

Stopped by Eesntially off-road in Murfreesboro. Not sure why I didn’t think of them sooner. They have shackle mounts!!!!

But... they’re closed until Jan 2nd. They were literally 5 feet from me, hanging on a shelf, on the other side of the window.



Really want to finish this bumper.