98-00 Tacomas Only

Most all bumpers you are going to find for first gen tacomas aren't going to be "ideal" for the 98-00 front clip style.
And nearly every aftermarket bumper will have to have the bottom frame horn ends shortened and capped.

I have the all-pro baja bumper and I think it looks great even if the top plate doesn't contour exactly with the front end. The extra space actually allowed me to put my winch controller behind the fill plates and still be able to access it so it worked out in my case.

 

Looks EXACTLY like my truck when I bought it!

 

Actually, there are quite a few that don't require any modification to the 98-00 trucks. ARB, Shrockworks, 4xinnovations, Coastal Offroad plate open top DIY and Coastal Offroad plate closed top DIY (just released) are a few the come to mind.

 

Looks a lot like my 99' when I bought it too! Any idea what the name of this funky blue/purple color is? It was actually one of the reasons we bought that particular truck.

 

as others have said, most 1st gen plate style bumpers are going to match up to the 01-04 front end, because it protrudes more, and if they built it to tightly fit the 98-00 it wouldn't fit the 01-04. and 01-04 is the most popular of the 1st gens to be honest. (and you can swap to the 01-04 front end, just a couple brackets to trim, and buy all the parts)

but yeah, it didn't fit perfect

here's after I had to swap back to a stock grill (some jack waggon decided he wanted to try and steal my headlights... got the hood up, started a battery fire, ran away when others came to "help")

 

"Horizon Blue Metallic" is the color. Ironically that was the only reason I DIDNT look at the truck when I was buying it, looked at every other 5spd V6 4x4 in the area for weeks, and avoided this one because of the color, but ultimately it was the cleanest, and it was supercharged... also owned by a girl haha. Although the cab is in desperate need of painting, I couldnt change the color since all my friends know my truck because of it

 

Oh yea forgot about ARB and 4x.
It's been a while since I researched bumpers.

 

Thanks for posting that pic. Darn thieves.

 

Things can change quickly..... and I can forget even quicker.

 

@rybern @betterbuckleup You guys have pretty much the same truck, I kinda miss my 98 with the 3rz and manual hubs, the paint was also one of my favorites, evergreen pearl (the daaark green). love the paint colors too on your guys (im not biased at allll). Really like the new paint on your truck too

 

Thanks Mason. Believe it or not, the paint on my truck is actually original. It has chips on the hood and some mild fading but overall, it's in exceptional condition for a 20 year old truck. If you look at the link to my truck, you can see the picture with the camper still on it. The first two pictures was before I brought the paint back to life. I used clay bar, then compound, then Miquires #2 with a drill and rotary pad, then wax.

 

I might have to do that to mine, your paint looks better than mine I believe but I was saying the new paint about @betterbuckleup . That's quite a number you did to your paint though to get it to change so much.

 

Thanks. I'm sure there's guys on here than run circles around me in the detail department.

 

Yeah but it looks like what you did was top notch for the novice or at least doable for me, there's a lot of area on our trucks to clean up when you fix up the paint and something that is preventative and works well while not taking 7+ hours to do is on the list for me.

 

Thanks.
Paint and detailing takes a ton of work if you wanna do it right.
Mine turned out decent for the price I paid all said and done, but it's far from perfect in some spots.

 

Hey gang. I have an 00 v6. This photo is from 2010. It’s currently getting a new frame and some upgrades.https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/frame-swap.660848/

 

Yeah, I was going to just do a wax, but I should probably polish first and fix it up as much as possible the first time. Also thinking about approaching a PDR (paintless dent repair) person about my 10 door dings from idiots in college dorms who cant open doors properly (I was parked in a dorm parking lot with a bunch of freshman this last semester).

 

While they may not need to be modified to mount the bumper, I can speak to from personal experience that when mounting an ARB, the end caps should be cut out and heavier plate should be welded in place. If you don’t ever plan on winching or using the front recovery points, it’s probably not needed. But, here is the result of using my winch and then not addressing the issue for a couple of years...

 

Did the ARB block break or something?..

 

No, the block is bolted to the frame end cap. It just tried to pull the nut through the frame cap. Also bent the mounting brackets once the end cap failed. I’ve never even used that winch in what I would consider a hard pull. It’s mostly been used to clear trees off the trail and get disabled vehicles into position to be towed with a tow strap. Although, I can’t point to a specific thread, I know I’m not the only one to have this issue on TW.