Fitting old style gen 1 Tacoma bumpers on a new 2018 Taco.

After searching for a good deal on a used Tacoma I decided to go for a new 2018 SR 5 at a great end of year price. I really like the truck which replaces a 2005 rusted out Ranger.
Except for the flimsy half plastic rear bumper, front one is plastic, too, except for its center beam, but it’s the rear one I want to replace with an old school real step bumper like the ones on 1 gen Tacomas. I’ll probably try to do the same with the front one at some point.
I know there are lots of aftermarket bumpers available, but how hard would it be to fit an original old style one to the new truck? Are the brackets similar or can they be made to work with some welding? Anyone ever done this to theirs? Any pix. Thanks, Cylinderhead.

 

Highly doubt you’ll get a gen 1 bumper on these trucks since none of the dimensions are the same. These trucks are the size of a 1st gen tundra

 

Our trucks are wider than a 1st Gen, bumper is not goona fit without alot of fab

 

Front ARB. Rear, a high clearance.

 

Good luck.

 

I don’t mind a lot of fab, welding and bending. Probably take off the original one and search some junkies for good fit ups. Thanks.

 

no you won't be able to fit a first gen bumper on a 3rd gen, as they are much wider than 1st gen. Also, first gen stock bumpers were prone to rusting out

An oldschool rear bumper the type you want and that I could see fitting would be 80s ford pickup bumpers. This is what I have on my 1st gen, a rear bumper from a 1985 F250 (had to do some fabbing, though).

But I can't guarantee what it would look like on an non-oldschool truck... Bumpers now generally follow the body lines and curves while back then they didn't (meaning you could kinda swap out whatever truck bumper you wanted without it looking too out of place)

 

I meant more like that’s a lot of work and chrome for it to not look so hot.

But I’d like to see the process if you do it.

Most people don’t do shit around here except loosen bolts and tighten them again and call it building.

 

2nd gen bumbers are 10× better than that crap thats on the 3rd gen. Wonder if 2nd gens would fit?

My 2nd gen was steel and color matched...

 

I like the old Ford bumper idea. I loved my ‘86 F-250. Never should of sold it...
I look into 2 nd gen bumpers too. Thanks. I’ll post what I end up doing.

 

I like the 3GEN rear bumper design than any other GEN, The fact that it comes in separate pieces makes sense when damage occurs for those of us who like everything to be perfect instead of living with a dent because to replace it costs a whole lot.$.02

 

Just get a steel plate bumper, they’re all plastic on everything now.

 

Say what now?


Op just build your own bumper. It’ll end up being less work than retrofitting a bumper from a different truck.

 

Never ceases to amaze me. Had an old Tundra pull up to me yesterday and actually felt like my 18 Tacoma was just a tad bit bigger.

 

Optical illusion...

 

I can’t imagine how hideous and how much work it would be.

There is a few aftermarket solutions, why not save time and probably money and just go that route