So I'm more or less a jackass (Story inside)

Sell me your stock bumper!

 

It's perfect time to replace your OEM parts with better aftermarket parts.
Good luck man.

 

The bumper is actually in great shape! I may consider doing that down the road, for the moment I'm going to keep it though just in case.

I am upgrading to the BF hybrid shortly, I have to figure out how to correct the alignment of the body parts issue though, whether it be a core support replacement or the BFH mod.

 

Will you sell it when you get the plate bumper?

 

I'm not sure how you can straighten a radiator support without removing it and beating on it.

New ones don't look too expensive (don't know about shipping):


Looks like a lot of work.

Good Luck!

 

I'll consider it, but no guarantees.

that's not bad at all. I don't mind buying one, but I hope it doesn't keep happening is all.

 

So if I replace the bumper with the BF all steel one, should that alleviate all of my bumper fitment issues? Any tips on what to do to get my fenders to the height of the hood short of core support replacement?

If I was to replace the support it looks more or less tack welded and I really don't want to get into cutting that crap and removing 5 million pieces to do it. I'd rather try and realign what I have on the truck as it sits.

Edit: Just talked to Mr Jerry Lee at BAMF. He gave me a couple suggestions, I can either A remove the stock bumper and see what is all bent in then take the BFH to it. Or I can do an engine cage. What I'm thinking I'll do later today is bumper removal for the moment to see what is jacked up and depending what needs straightening I'll take it in to him this weekend, to see if we can get it back to normal. At that visit I'll also see how much and what I would need to do to get an engine cage accomplished without butchering up the truck too much. Lol. Ahh.. jumpers problems. Learning real early about them!

 

Are those bolt in or spot welded?

 

That's what I'm wondering too. If they are bolt in I do not by any means mind paying out for a new support, unbolting the old stuff and just simply bolting in the new one, that of at which point I would change out to the hybrid bumper and get some super beefy skids to protect from it happening again.

 

If you have a heavy beam in your garage - you could try blocking the core support to the beam and jacking the frame rails evenly from the bottom. Of course, I've never done this and that could f#$k some serious shit up. /disclaimer

Have you adjusted the hood levelers down all the way in the front?

 

You got a pretty big job there if you are going to tackle straightening things your self. I've been there. My present project is replacing the core support as well. I buy wrecked Toyota trucks and put them back together, so I know what you have going on there.

That part may cheap to buy, but replacing it is a bitch! There are close to 50 spot weld that need to be removed before you can get the old one out. Not to meantion, all your stuff bolted to the core support will have to be removed. Hedalights, bumper, A/C radiator, regular radiator, transmission cooler, horn, hood latch, grill. You won't be doing this on a Sunday afternoon.

If it was a truck that I had purchased, I would be visiting a reliable body shop that has a good frame machine and a frame machine operator that knows what he/she is doing. They can put your truck on the "rack" and make some decent pulls to get your body lines back to where they were orignally. This job would be considered a "gravey" job to a frame shop. they like it when they can return a vehicle to original condition without having to replace and paint parts.

Some of these guys are just amazing. They have the ability and tools to "unwreck" an accident. Lot or it is skill and a lot of it is imagination.

Whatever you do, you will be paying a "stupidity tax". It happens, learn and grow from it.

 

Oh yeah, you can physically where it warps the bumper if you look at it closely.

 

DAMN Roberto! Sorry to hear about your front-end man, but that's part of off-roading (learning what to do and what NOT to do ). I can definitely empathize with you, since I hydrolocked my engine after misjudging the depth of a small "puddle" on our last wheeling adventure

I hope you can get it put back together pretty easily and not break the bank!

As far as my skid goes - it was constructed of 3/16" A36 Steel, and reinforced at the seams. Total weight is 86lbs (or 83lbs, I can't remember for sure). It CAN and HAS taken some abuse and solid hits and has no signs of failure. I have a few more pictures, PM me if you want to see them.

I took it off recently to re-paint it with some PlastiDerp:

 

Also, here's some good CL finds that might help you out :

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/4385416153.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/pts/4376116912.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/4381067984.html (probably not your thing, but meh)

 

I do not know about the 2nd gens, but the 1st gen tacoma core support i replaced was spot welded.

 

I'm thinking 2.5" shocks are in your near future...

 

I'm pretty sure the core support was bolt on. The fender aprons (the piece the fenders bolt to) had to be cut off with a sawzall. You also have to drain your A/C condenser as the lines are ran through a hole in the firewall.

At least you still have them!