Rooty's "Tacfroma" Build

No sweat dude, glad I could help. You may want to e-mail you local bacon store though like I did to cover your ass a little in case you run across a prick with a hard on for a truck that's nicer than his They were kinda amazed that I was even asking, so I'm hoping that will work in my favor if it ever comes down to it.

 

oh yeah i will for sure. i've still got some saving to do before i grab a set of the lights, i'm working on getting my stock rims powder coated at the moment

 

gorgeous truck! one thing id do different is put the ipf fogs behind the grill. other than that, mint!

 

Sweet ride!

 

Yah that would look good, I was considering doing that as well but concerns about durability made be go with the Rustoleum Hammered Finish paint job instead. Not that the Rustoluem would hold up better than a good powdercoat job, but if your powdercoat chips then you have to get the whole wheel shot again. If the Rustoleum chips its a 5 min touch up job and you're good to go again. I had my wheels sandblasted, layed down a good zinc chromate etching primer and shot about 4 coats of paint. The whole thing cost me about 90 bucks and about 5 hours of my time. The hammered finish hides any imperfections you get from the rattle can application and I haven't had any chips yet. Your call obviously, just some food for thought. Plus you would be saving money you could spend on your lights instead!

(Oh and make sure the tire shop knows you have a TPMS installed when they are taking the tires off your rims, the douchebags at Walmart broke the sensor on one of my wheels when they were breaking the bead. Sigh* you get what you pay for.)

 

Really? I thought the lights fill out the space inside of the bull bar perfectly, it looks a little naked to me without them. Well different strokes I guess. Thanks for the compliment though! (I like your avatar BTW)

Thanks buddy!

 

hmmm that's thought provoking...where would i go to get them blasted and primered like yours?

 

There should be a sandblasting section in your local phone book. I ended up finding a guy who does it on the side so I just took them to his house and got em shot pretty cheap: 50 bucks for all 4 tires. If you can't find a dedicated sandblaster you could probably get them done at a paint, powdercoat or body shop though it may cost you more. Just shop around and get a deal. You don't even have to take the tires off; the blasting wont hurt the rubber. The guy told me that he even uses old cut up tires to mask pieces off sometimes. It is probably a good idea to leave them on anyways to keep any of the media from getting into the TPMS sensors. Just make sure they know not to take too much off. The alloy on the wheels is pretty soft and you don't want any deep pitting. Just enough to give the paint/primer a tooth to hold onto. You could even just hand sand them if you wanted but for me it was worth the 50 bucks to save the time and hassle. (I was sick of sanding after my grill and BHLM).

For the primer I used some Acid #8 Acid Etch Primer I picked up from http://www.repaintsupply.com

You might be able to pick some up locally instead if you shop around. Its not as good as a two part zinc chromate etching primer (I was mistaken when I said thats what I used before) but its cheaper and you don't have to have a compresser/gun to shoot it. The important part is that it is an etching primer so it sticks to the metal better. I know a lot of guys have even used Rustoleum primer (non etching) with good results and the can on the Hammered Finish claims that primer isn't even necessary but for me a good primer was cheap insurance against having to to the job again later down the line. One other thing I should note is that the paint came out as more of a dark gray than a black. I don't know if that was because of my choice of primer (I doubt it) or if that is just the way it is (probably). It didn't bother me though because it was a pretty good match to my body color anyways but it may bother you. If you are concerned about it just buy a can and shoot it on some cardboard or something and see if you like the color/finish or not. The stuff takes several coats because the way that the paint dries into the "hammered" look leaves little pin holes through to the primer for the first few coats.

 

ah i see, i appreciate all the help man

 

No problemo.

 

I think your setup looks great. Thanks for posting pics.
How is the stock suspension holding up thus far? Any handling, drivability or ride issues? Any changes in MPG? I am seriously considering the ARB (no winch) with the stock suspension for my 09 DC but I have reservations about the weight.

 

Thanks man, my pleasure.

I honestly didn't notice any differences in ride, handling or braking after I put the bumper on though I had only put 1500 miles on it when I did and I only drive it every other month because of my work schedule. So it may be a matter of me not being as in tune with the truck as others might be. I was concerned about the extra weight on the stock suspension as well so I posted about it before I bought and was assured by a couple of guys who were running the same set up that it didn't change it much if at all. The consensus on the thread was you only really need to upgrade the springs if you have a winch with the extra battery installed. There is no noticeable sag as you can see in the pictures (there may be a little but I didn't take any before/after measurements) but keep in mind that my shocks are practically brand new. There may be more sag on yours if your shocks/springs are starting to wear. If that was the case I think a cheap fix if you didn't want to spring for stiffer springs (bad pun I know) would be to install some spacers to level it out (don't quote me on that though, I'm no suspension guru). I suspect that the extra weight may end up wearing the stock shocks out faster than normal but by the time that happens I will most likely be looking to lift or upgrade the suspension so I'll probably be putting in some 885 or 886 springs when I do. As far as MPG goes, it's hard for me to say because I did so much modding to the truck at once. The extra weight will no doubt have some effect on the MPG though I would guess it's pretty negligable. What I can say though (and it's a little bit of a piss off ) is that I am only getting about 14 MPG with premium gas (proper tire pressure, AFE filter, light throttle application etc). I've done some reading about it and quite a few guys are saying their mileage improved around the 5K mark so I'm hoping to have the same results.

So to summarize: In my experience any minor negative side effects of the extra 120 odd pounds up front are more than nullified by the overall awesomeness and glory of this badass mambajamba bumper

 

Thanks for the info. Sorry about your mileage, seems to me it should do lots better than that. My DC LB from the first tank got between 18 and 19 except when the temperature drops then I got some 15 and 16’s or when I use 4WD. My truck is stock except for a JASON cap and 265/70-16 (P series) Cooper ATRS. Just about all my 6800 miles so far have been back and forth to work. The route, near Pittsburgh, is a twisted, hilly 13 mile back road with lots of deer crossings (hence the want for a real bumper). I run nothing but SUNOCO 93 and mostly stay under 2000 RPMS (40-60 MPH). With my cap and a DC LB I easily have a couple of hundred pounds on you so I would expect your truck to do much better than mine. Unless you have super heavy tires, are feeding it gas it doesn’t like, or drive like speed racer I think it should get better than mine. Watch the tire ware, if the alignment is whacked- out it could be dragging some tires around.
Good luck and thanks again.

 

No problem man. Yeah buy the bumper dude, you will be glad you did. I will have to see about my mileage, thanks for the suggestions. I may have just got unlucky or something but it sucks fo sho.

 

i never knew that you could get ARB bumpers with fog lights. interesting

 

Yeah it looks better than the original, plus it's more functional. My only complaint is that they are set up a little high. I can't drive with them on along with my lowbeams without people flashing me. The stock fogs put out a better beam, lower and wider.