My 1999 Taco TuRD Build - I sold it

Awesome thanks. Out weak little power steering systems can use all the help they can get so definitely adding that to my list of mods to do.

 

How're the bumpers coming along OP?

 

Front is done and installed. Rear will be another couple weeks still as I'm out of town visiting my brother in Denver.

I'll finish up the write up on building the front when I get back.

 

I'm back and will finish the front bumper build write up this weekend maybe. Meanwhile, I managed to get these pics on the drive home from Denver. Just because.

 

Enjoying your build thread man! Good stuff, digging all the custom fab bits. Keep it up. Question for ya, I just picked up a set of those method nv’s 16x8 4.5bs and zero offset which appears to be the wheel you’re running. I plan on putting 285/75r16 cooper stt pros on em. Any suggestions for spacers or not? I see you have 1.25. Is that much necessary ? Can I get away with less? My truck is a 2003 so first gen like you

 

Thanks!

I honestly don't know what the backspacing is on my rims. They were on the truck when I got it and I never measured them. Without the spacers, I was getting rubbing at full flex so the 1.25" spaces actually helped in reducing that rubbing.

On your truck, try them without the spacers and see how it does. Easy enough to add them later if you decide you want them. That's basically what I did.

 

Awesome thank you

 

It's hard to tell in photos but in person do they seem like they stick out obnoxiously far? i like the idea of a more aggressive bulldog stance and the stability that comes with it, I just don't want it to be too much or to the point where the tire doesn't clear the fender? Any noticeable wear/tear/strain on steering components or wheel bearings?

 

No, I don't feel they stick out too far at all. @Ace115 has front long travel and my wheels don't stick out as far as his do. They are about an inch or so past the stock flares on my 99. With your 2003, they would be less, even with 1.25" spacers. I actually have some 2003 front flares and they cover as much as my stock flares with the garage door seal on them.

No additional wear to the steering or wheel bearings from the spacers. The heavy 285/75x16 tires would cause more wear than adding the spacers will but it's really negligible IMO.

 

Well sounds like I should just go for it when I install! I'm sure the 285 stt pros are gonna rub like a mother if I don't...

 

Yeah, you will probably get some rubbing no matter what. Bash in or cut the pinch weld at the back of the wheel well while you are there, that will help a bunch. I also had to cut some of the plastic wheel well crap as the tires would catch on the lower lip at the back of the wheel well at flex.

 

Front bumper build, finishing up

To grow it's wings, I had to get the fairlead plate in place. Pretty straight forward, just had to grind down the weld from the winch plate a little so the fairlead plate was sitting flush and level.







On to the wings. Set them in place, level them out as best as possible and tack them in place.



Then start adding the rest of the pieces until they are complete, working from the inside out on each side.















And finally, you have a complete bumper. Almost. Still have to do all the finish welding at this point, both inside and out at all of the seams.







At this point, before all the finish welding, I wanted to get an idea of what the finish product was going to look like.



Decided that I wouldn't use the headlight hoops after getting some feedback from other members and would only do the center grill hoop with kickers coming off it.

 

Finish welding done and then it was the tedious task of smoothing out the welds on the face of the bumper to make it look pretty. I can't recommend using 60 or 80 grit flap wheels enough, maybe even 120 grit if you can find them. It takes more time with the finer grit wheels but the finish is much better and getting the lines straight easier.





Threw a coat of primer onto the finished front to get an idea of how it would look once painted. I still needed to finish grinding the ends of the wings here.





Cut and welded the front hoop into place. I still haven't added the kickers that I'm going to put on and I still need to decide what I'm going to do with the holes at each end of the bumper for the headlight hoops that I'm not going to use. I'll probably weld a filler tube in them and cap them off and grind everything smooth so they don't show they were ever there.



My welding definitely improved with all the practice I got putting the bumper together. Using gas didn't hurt either.



Shot of the back of the bumper showing the structure that gives the whole thing it's overall strength.



All the splatter on the lower most part of the center is from using flux core wire. Everything else was done with solid core and gas, leaving it much cleaner.



I also weighed the bumper since I know that is an important data point for a lot of people. 96.5 lbs, not bad in my opinion.





Once I was done with making all the welds pretty on the front, it was time for primer and paint.











Gave it some time to dry. Fortunately, the Rustoleum Bed Liner paint I have been using dries pretty quickly. Installed it on the truck after a few hours of the paint drying. Used new 10.9 spec bolts to attach it.









Final step was to remove the forward most fender supports that also supported the OEM bumper ends. I also removed a little of the radiator support that was hanging down below the line of the bumper.

 

And a few beauty shots showing off the bumper.

 

Rear bumper build - Part 1

Took the initial steps to start building the rear bumper. Nothing fancy here, just removed the OEM chrome rear bumper and relocated the license plate to the tail gate. The new rear bumper doesn't have any provisions for the plate and since it's going to take me some time to build this one and the tailgate was already damaged and I need to be able to drive the truck during the process, that's where it went. I might change it later and move it to the spare tire mount but we'll see.

This is an older pic, before the rack was installed but this is how the ass looked with the OEM bumper.



Bumper removed and plate relocated. I installed nutserts in the tailgate and positioned the plate to cover up some of the damage that was already there.



Marked the lines for the trimming that needs to take place for the new bumper.



Got the passenger side cut out today.







Cleaned up the cut lines, primed and painted them and installed some edge trim to make it all pretty. This is the stuff that I am using -

$15 Edge Trim Black Small, 1/8" Fits Edge (10 Feet Length)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KG9BAY0



Lopsided for now, Driver side will get done tomorrow.

 

Rear bumper build - Final Trimming of the Bed

Finished up trimming the driver's side of the bed so now I can start putting the rear bumper together.

 

Rear bumper build - Technical Difficulties

I finally started putting the rear bumper together on 3/22. Almost right away, I ran into some technical difficulties with the mounting brackets that bolt to the frame. The side brakets needed to have an extra notch cut into them to clear the corners of the rear spring hangers.









With the side plates cut, I could bolt them in place and start fitting the bottom plates. Once again, I ran into technical difficulties.





It might not look like an issue but the problem is that the lower mount plates are too far to the rear of the truck. They need to sit about 1.5" - 2" further back. I don't know if there is something different with the 98-00 frames in the rear or if it's just my truck. With that lower mounting bracket sitting back as far as it is, it screws up the alignment of the main face of the bumper.





So I pretty much stopped here and shot email off to Coastal to see what they thought and suggested. I had a good idea of what needed done but wanted to get some feedback from them first.

 

Rear bumper build - Back in business

After exchanging emails with Brandon at Coastal, he confirmed that my game plan to correct the issue was good. He also wasn't sure why my frame was different and was checking with other customers to see if anyone else had run into a similar problem.

So I ended up chopping about 1.5" off the bottom mounting brackets, about 1/8" in front of the rear most mounting hole. Then I had to drill a new mounting hole almost exactly between the 2 original mounting holes. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures specifically of that but you get the idea from these pics that I took later in the build process.





Now that the side and bottom mounting brackets lined up properly, I was able to get the main face of the bumper lined up and started tacking everything together.



Detail shot of the mounts inside the frame rail. The nuts are welded to the inner mounting plates so they are easier to get the bolts started and tightened. I welded the inner side plates to the frame as well.



From here, it was follow the build directions and slowly piece the center section of the bumper together.







The built center section before final welding.







The only thing that was left to add here were the inner structure supports that go between the receiver and the frame plates.



I did all the finish welding on the center section, using the tailgate as a welding table with fire resistant fiberglass cloth thrown on top.



Finished welding up the center section and started on some of the grinding. I'll start on the wings next weekend probably.

 

Rear bumper build - let there be wings

Finished grinding the welds on the center section and then started assembling the wings.















With everything tacked together, it was time to pull the bumper back off and start finish welding. Those wings really add some weight to the bumper. Not an easy task to remove or install it by yourself!

Once again, I used the tailgate as a welding table.









Finished welding the top side on the passenger side and then started on the driver's side, I wanting to get that done before flipping the bumper over to finish all the welds that I couldn't reach otherwise. Got almost half way with the drivers side and my 11lb spool ran out of wire and I had no spare on hand. Then I check the gas and see that the bottle is almost empty again. So, I was done at that point. Saturday evening and welding supply stores were already closed and none open on Sundays. Oh well, I got enough done that I bolted it to the truck again (that was a bitch by myself!) and I'm not worried about it falling apart when I drive it.







Hopefully I can get it finished next weekend.

 

Is the rear a kit? THat's one of the best looking plate bumpers I have seen for these trucks so far...