Demello LB (LightBar) Baja Bumper Install / Review

Oh, one more thing I'm doing. When the stock bumpers come off, there are these little bolt-on frame horns sticking out.



They look weird hanging out all by themselves and let's face it, without the crashbar, they probably won't serve their intended purpose anyways. You unbolt them and they look like this-


The opening is 1.62"h x 2.76" w. I went on McMaster and found plastic bumper caps that should fill these holes in nicely for a finishing touch (Part

$9 9474K56 (Pack of 2) Snap in Rectangular 3" x 2" Cap Plugs | 10-14 Ga Steel Pipes/Rods | Fence Post Finishing Inserts | Fitness Equipment End Caps

9474K56). I'll report back when I get them in. I might use a little adhesive to make sure they don't pop out, but I think they should fit fine.

 

Most people just leave those things empty. Mine are so bashed up now that the rectangle plug wouldn’t fit if I tried! Does this truck see any off road use? If so, I wouldn’t waste your time with the plugs.

 

Wow, those seemed pretty tucked to me. I do recreational offroading, nothing too technical tbh. You must go on some gnarly stuff!

 

I got all of the lights aimed and dialed in. Here's how that turned out.

 

The little caps worked perfectly!

Before



Cap



Hammered in gently with rubber mallet, super snug fit. Looks much cleaner.

 

@dal3_gribble how did you mount the light bar? I grabbed a cheap Amazon NiLight, it came with 2 brackets for mounting, but I dont know how I'll make it fit the Demello LB brackets...

 

Looks great, love that bumper. Super sexy.

 

The bumper has side mount brackets welded to the LB opening; it's made to bolt a light bar right up. I think I had to grind it down a tiny bit to clear the RC light bar but it wasn't much effort.

 

Yep I've seen this

But the light bar doesnt span the whole thing. U just bolted straight in without using any RC brackets? I gotta pick up longer bolts and some kinda spacer if thats the case

 

Oh my light bar did span the whole thing. I didn't use any RC brackets.

 

Heck

 

I have a demello bumper minus the hoop. These holes always bothered me too. Thanks for the suggestion I’ll be ordering plugs for mine too

 

What you doing with the open splash guards since you had to cut them? Seems like water would ruin the headlights

 

Nice job and documenting everything OP!!!

 

Well shit ... I remember when I installed the bumper I had to bend the AC lines and there was something I didn't like back there. Came back to bite me, something must have rubbed and vibrated and wore through. Dealer wanted $900 to replace one damaged line. No thanks.

 

Here's the follow up to the AC line problem due to the bumper-

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-your-ac-line-clearance.705417/#post-25025814

 

I just bought one of these from somebody local does it need any additional brackets or hardware? I literally just got the bumper itself and fog lights

 

You should have the bumper AND 2 frame horn mounts (inside the red circles in the post #35 above). If not you need to contact the seller for them, you will not be able to mount the bumper without them. Well you can but it will not be properly supported for a winch out.

 

Yeah definitely didn’t come with that and demallo wants $350 seems steep if I’m not installing a winch should be good to go?

 

They are put there for a reason, but that's your call. I wouldn't put any load on the bumper, as in pulling you or anyone else out of a jam for fear of damaging the frame horn crumple zones. Try to find a welder to fab up a re-enforcement piece and see if it's cheaper. The price of steel is high as hell everywhere. Good luck.