The '13 MGM Build.. Built for getting out there.

It's been 9 weeks so my Pelfrey front should be here very soon (estimated 6-8 week lead time). I was hoping to get it on before FJ summit, however, due to some health issues of my gf's I likely won't be getting out that way.

 

Can’t wait to see it man. Sorry to hear about your gf, hope all is well.

Truck looks great!

 

Bummer, Michael at PB told me today that my bumper isn't even ready for powercoating yet.. that was after being told it should be ready to go within 2 weeks on the 7th of June I totally understand that they're swamped tho.

 

Snapped a quick photo to use as a "before" reference to see how much my front dips with the upcoming bumper + winch. Really hoping I can keep my 887 coils and maybe just throw on some strut top spacers if needed.

Seeing this side view makes me wish there was something in between 285's and 315's. The only real option I can think of for the 16" wheel is 295 75 16, and at that size there's only a couple manufacturers that offer anything. Maybe BFG will offer the KM3 in that size like the KO2

 

Random photo from Weston Pass in CO earlier this year. I'm curious what this view looks like now that a fire went through the area.



Still waiting on the front bumper.

 

I may just have to go run that trail and post a picture for you!

 

Do it! Sounds like it's still messy out there, hopefully things improve soon. https://www.9news.com/video/news/flash-flooding-near-weston-pass-fire/73-8191902

 

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It’s on!



Quick cellphone shot parked next to my buddy's 3rd gen.

Super happy with the way the bumper looks and how clean it is. I was a little surprised to see no bracing or gussets in the wings and hardly any in the body, unlike what I've seen posted by Demello of their bumpers. Thankfully I'm not doing wheeling that will really bang it up, but I would put this into consideration if I were.

The bolts on the factory sway bar mounts gave us issues. The welded nut inside the frame broke on both bolts on one side. We were able to fish one out and use a long socket extension to tighten it, but couldn't get the other. Hopefully this won't cause issues when winching, and doesn't indicate my frame is already dying inside .

The hardware that comes with the Smittybilt X2O will not fit the Factor55 fairlead or the bumper. We had to drill out the holes on the bumper and fairlead just a bit and run to the hardware store to get longer bolts (We realized the bolts weren't long enough after we had already drilled). No biggy.

My Squadron Sports aren't installed yet since one of the mounts that came with the OEM kit seized up. We tried everything and couldn't get the bolts out. My buddy is going to work on it this week and try countersinking new holes. Hopefully it's salvageable and I don't need to buy a new one.

I was going to mount my license plate on the bumper but it looks like there's no way to access that inner portion of the bumper from the backside when the bumper is mounted. I don't really want to have to remove the bumper just to change the plate in the future, if needed, so I'm gonna leave it off. There might be another solution I'm not thinking of like mounting a holder of some kind there.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a Saturday. Not sure what's next!

 

Looks good! I plan to run a magnetic plate mount for easy removal when I want to get some pics.

 

How's your 887s holding the weight ? You wishing you had the 886s ?
(I have to choose between the two soon - access cab and arb bumper+winch)

 

Thanks dude! That’s also not a bad idea.

 

They don’t seem to have lowered all that much. My driver’s side has always been a bit lower even with a 1/4” spacer, here is how it sits from both sides now:





I can’t decide if I want to throw on a 1/2” and 1/4” spacer or just leave it for now.

(I think my iphone lens fogged up from the humidity, sorry for the terrible pics.)

If you’re going with an ARB bumper, I think you’ll probably want 886’s. That bumper is ~100 lbs more than my aluminum pelfreybilt if I remember right.

 

Nice truck. Now that I think about it, you’ll probably not want 886’s up front if you plan to keep the rear stock. It’ll definitely be nose high. You might try asking in this thread to see what others think: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...nswers-pictures.258245/page-607#post-18407325

 

I'll lift the back too with dakars.

 

Ah, disregard then

 

I’ll have more to share but here’s a first edit from this last weekend in Colorado.

 

looks good.

 

Thanks dude. I’m definitely happy with it and the bumper already proved useful a couple times when scraping over rocks. I’ll dump a bunch of photos sometime later in the week.