98 tacoma front bumper build

so this weekend i decided to get a sheet of 14 gauge mild steel and make a bumper this is the turnout so far. not completely welded or grinded or even together but this is what i could do for the weekend with the tools i had. i used the bracket off the stock bumper and reenforced it and im going to make a secondary bracket from the spot where the tow hooks where. it should hopefully be done by this upcoming weekend. I think its pretty good for the tools i used. tell me what you think

 

I think once you clean it up it'll look pretty good.

 

That is gonna look sweet when its finished!

 

see if you can add some internal reinforcement to the bumper. 14 ga. is kinda thin IMO, so it would suck if something bumped into the bumper and ruined your hard work

 

Looks good, like the poster above reinforce the inside clean up the welds and your good to go!

IMO I like the raw metal/weld look of the bumper, it would be cool to leave it that way and build a matching back bumper!

 

yea that was the plan, make some gusits probably every 20inchs or so, and just reinforce the welds. Yea i think i have just enough metal from my 4x8 sheet to make a rear bumper. im impressed on how it came out so because when i first cut it out it started to warp because of the thickness but after tacking and welding(partially) it straightened out quite a bit. damn you, thermal expansion!

 

You should post some dimensions of the sheets. I would be interested in trying this myself.

 

That thing is pretty damn big. Got more pics? Agree on 14ga being a bit thin, make sure there are plenty of gussets at least.

 

its actually not that big. the top piece is only about 9 inches out, almost the same as the stock one but without the rounded edge. yea i will post more pictures tonight, im going over to my buddies tonight to work on it some more, i got some fog lights yestarday so hopefully i can put them in. yea i could probably put my blueprint later tonight or so.

 

9" out is alot. My bumpers stick out about 3-3 1/2" from the grille.

 

i mean total its like 9 inches

 

heres an updated picture after todays work on it. its coming along pretty good, tommrow im going to finish welding it and probably add the both section of the bumper finally. i was thinking about making into a skid plate kind of thing too..anybody done this?