1998 tacoma high clearance front hitch / winch mount build using stock bumper

Wanting to add a winch but not trying to spend a fortune on a aftermarket bumper and pre made front hitches take away alot of ground clearance as well as severly hurt approach angles so I decided to build one myself.


Heres what were starting with- 3x3x 1/4" angle- 4' piece $15, 2x4 3/16" square tube i had laying around and a 12" harbor china reciever tube $14


Pic of my truck with the bumper removed

 

Main support tacked up


Making room for the reciever

 

I finished welding up the main support and had to chop 2 1/2" off the reciever tube to make it closer to the bumper. Heres what we got.

 

Next i added mounts that bolt the assembly to the cab mounts


Had to figure out a way to see where my bolt hole were gonna be so i shot some blue paint down the hole for the cab mounts. Worked perfect!

 

These holes were a pain in the cock.
Using cobalt bits it still took an hour to drill through the two pieces of angle that were stacked equaling out to 1/2" plus having to go through the trucks frame


Next was to pop two holes in the front and use the existing bolts that hold the frame horns on.

 

Now to trim the plastic bumper cover and test fitment.

Fits like a glove-

 

Now just a fresh coat of paint and its done.
Heres a couple more shots

 

Well done.

 

Nice job man. continue to build off of that and you'll have a bumpah in no time.

 

Thinking about buying a harbor freight pipe bender and seeing what else I can come up with but.....
My truck budgets getting low as I bought a a set of 881 springs and billie 5100's for it this week. So- yeah, making a bumper is the plan. I just have to figure out a way to tie this into the factory bumper mounts and it should work pretty good as a starting point after i clean it up some and trim off some of the excess metal.

 

good job, my Tacoma is same year and color

 

Thanks.
I added a couple more mounting points to it, I dont really think they were necessary but its definantly not going anywhere now.

 

Drive up here and you can have my HF bender. Seriously, they take a lot of skill to get decent results. I just take my projects down to the local muffler shop anymore.

KO

 

That's a good idea, I never thought about using the muffler shop.
I've heard bending tube does take some skill I've also heard that the harbor freight ones kink a lot.

 

Started on the winch mount last night.

 

Outstanding! Good for front of back. Now get some quality power disconnects for both ends and you will be all set.

KO