Bored Clerk's Rear Bumper Build

You should leave a much larger gap between e top of the bumper sides and the bottom of the cut bed side. The bed flexes a ton, a 1/4" gap minimum is recommended.

 

I cut it tight just so I had wiggle room in case something drastic happened on my first cut attempt. I'll trim it up to have somewhere between 3/8" and 1/2" to be safe. Good lookin' out, though!

 

Looks awesome. Well done!

 

Several things conspired to me not having much time to work tonight. I did get a little done and had a nice evening as well. It was a win all the way around.




I tacked in two more pieces of metal and bolted both wings to the bumper. Overall, I like it but I'm running into the same problem I have with pretty much every aftermarket rear bumper...the corners. It's hard to resolve the corner in a way that's attractive from all angles...with plate steel. And 2nd gen tacomas don't look good with tube corners in my opinion. I have a few ideas I'll think on before I finish this up for good. In the meantime, I'm going to work on the bracing from the wings to the frame.

 

Some Rigid SRQ lights would fit perfectly there! Pricey, but nice.

http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/98003

 

$260 per pair. Hmmm... I kind of like square or round lights better. Either way, I'd have to wire stuff. I really don't enjoy wiring anything.

 

Man, tonight was slow going! I worked on getting the braces done that run from the frame to the wings. It's not a straight shot which makes it much more difficult than it needs to be. So, that was quite a bit of time for no progress. I have a plan now...just need to actually do it!

So, when I realized that wasn't going anywhere fast, I moved on to other stuff.


I bent, cut, fit and tacked in this piece of tubing. Yep. That's it...that's all I got done. Well, I also bent the piece of tubing for the other wing too.

Back on it tomorrow!

 

Sub'd

 

Got some really good work done today! Finish welded all but a few inches of seams, got the frame mounts hooked to the wings, and, generally cleaned up issues.





One last design issue to wrap up: should I add a second diagonal piece of tubing in the open area you see in the side view above. It would match my sliders but may look too busy. Not sure... I'll test fit a piece tomorrow and see what I think.

Either way, this should be done tomorrow and off to powdercoat on Monday!

 

Oh, and I measured...not enough room for a Rigid Dually in the corner. No biggie. I think it'll look much smaller when it's powdercoated black.

 

Looks great!

 

Thanks! I can't wait to get the fender flares and wheel well liners back in. I think it'll look pretty good then. I still need to deal with the area under the tail lights. I have a few ideas but it may be a while before I can work on that.

 

I'm sure you'll figure it out! Thanks for posting all the little details, don't remember why you're going to run without a tailgate though.

 

Next project is building a custom camper. No tailgate needed

 

Ready for powdercoat!

 

The last pieces are out for powdercoat. Ten day turnaround. They are busy right now. I was hoping for a quicker turn but I guess it's no biggie to wait a couple of weeks. Now I can start on the camper build while I wait!

 

Waiting for powdercoat. They said about 10 days. Ten days would be tomorrow...I called for an update and they said a day or two. I was really hoping to wrap this bumper up this weekend but it may have to wait until next week. It took me MONTHS to build this thing and now I'm impatient? Classic Bored Clerk! Haha

 

Shop delivered! Just picked up the last big pieces for my bumper. I'm going to get on this first thing in the morning. I can't wait for my truck to look way less ghetto. It's depressing with its cut sides, half a bumper, and no rear flares!

 

So is that it?! It's done?

 

For the major fab? Yes. I still have all of the final fit (trim fenders, flares, wheel well liners). I also still have to wire the license plate lights, mount the backup camera, and the 7pin trailer harness plug.