Bored Clerk's Rear Bumper Build

Man, great work! When I cut my bed sides I used a jig saw with a fine tooth blade. I just used lots of blue tape, and the cut was literally perfect. After cutting I smoothed it with a file and applied a little Toyota touch up paint. I've learned that a grinder with a cut off wheel can overheat the paint easily. Check out this product to cover up that raw edge:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/a-better-edge-trim-from-trail-toys.376005/

 

Interesting. I thought a jigsaw would be too cumbersome to cut with. I happen to have a jigsaw...ill see what blades I have...

Fine metal blade is what you used?

 

Yep. I went slow and let the blade do the work. Never even grabbed or chipped the paint. Super clean.

 

Cool! I have fender flares so the transition there may be a little tough. I really don't want to remove those for the cut as they seem to be a pain to put back on nicely.

 

I took my flares off to cut mine, so I can't speak for how well it will turn out if flares are left on. I will say putting them back is very easy. It's removing them that is a pain if you don't want to brake the clips. I pulled the wheel well liners out first then pinched the clips from behind. Worked good.
Either way, love this build. Lots of great info here.

 

Thanks!

I don't mind buying new clips if that's what's necessary to do it right. Heck, I may decide it looks cooler without them?

 

I think it looks way cooler without them, and I left them off for a while. I eventually put them back on though to stop mud from flying in the windows. Haha.

 

I'm running 255 tires on factory runs without spacers so it may be less of an issue for me. I'll pull me just to see what I think!

 

255 on factory rims here too (no spacers). Still had a mud issue. The mud is pretty bad where I live though.

 

Good to know! Flares it is. Haha

 

So, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather after work and go for a ride with my dad. I never take pictures as we go...mostly because we don't really stop. So, this will have to suffice. Haha



I did get a little work done when I got home though.


I cut two of these.


Which will go here.


So the swingarms will match the main bumper.


See how much tension you release when you cut formed tubing? No biggie here as I'll just bend it back to shape and weld it in place. But it's this issue that killed my first attempt.

That's all the work that happened today. Worth it for the 60 mile ride though!

 

Since I didn't do much work I thought I'd take this moment to talk a bit of shop safety...mostly when using an angle grinder.

I'll keep it short and show you what I like.


Upper body gear! Welding jacket because sparks and chunks hurt. At least wear long sleeves of any sort. Really hard to beat leather. These jackets are really cheap if I remember. Plus, you'll need it for welding.

I also wear a full face shield. Don't bother with safety glasses here. Sparks and crap are bouncing off of everything at a high rate of speed. Face shield is awesome! Adjust it so the bottom of the shield just touches your chest if you're looking down on your work. It'll keep anything from coming up under the shield.

Hearing protection. Gotta wear it. I use Glock shooting hearing protection. You can use in ear protection, but I prefer over the ear. More protection from sparks and I don't care for the pressure that in ear stuff creates. It hurts after a while.

I choose to wear a 3m filtered dust mask. Would rather wear a respirator but it's just too damn hot! Grinding creates a lot of dust...metal and whatever cutting/grinding wheels are made of. And, nasty fumes. Do yourself a favor...lots of good ventilation and a good dust mask at least.

I would also recommend a baseball hat...worn backwards. Sometimes sparks fly up and over and land on your head. I don't often wear one but I do get a little burn up top every now and again. For me, it's the heat issue again. In the winter it's great to wear a hat. In the summer? Nope. I'll take a teeny tiny burn or two every few days.


Lower body: jeans or something full coverage that isn't synthetic. Sparks like to melt plastic...don't wear it. Feet? Leather shoes. No vents. Preferably taller shoes/boots if you're welding/grinding at ground level and kneeling/crouching. Not ideal but it happens. Sparks that have made it through or over into your sock really suck! Don't let that be you.


Leave the guard on your angle grinder. Just don't take it off. I've yet to need to take it off to accomplish a task. Don't let your fingers have a good chance of contacting the disc. You WILL be bummed!


Pay attention to the 'drop' (the piece that will drop when your cut is complete). Keep your feet clear of the drop. The piece in this picture will ruin your evening if it falls on your foot.

That's it. Being safe doesn't hinder workflow...it actually makes your overall workflow better because you will be more comfortable and injury free.

 

This isn't going to seem like much to you folks following along but this was a mental milestone for me. I had been dreading this tiny step for some reason. I was sure it was going to totally suck or ruin the whole thing or some such BS. Anyway, I got my head in the game and knocked out these swingarm braces. They're only tacked in but that's awesome in my book.



Got these cut, notched, fitted and cleaned up for welding.



Then I tacked them both in place. Finally!


Now the swingarms will match the shape of the main bumper behind them. Was this fussiness necessary or warranted? Nope. Not at all. I just wanted it the way I pictured it in my head. It's worth the extra time and effort to do exactly what you want when you're doing a project like this. Cutting corners when putting in this much time and effort will make you really bummed every time you look at it.

 

Got a few little things handled today:


Picked up some new lug nuts. I only need three but I picked up six for spares. I should have bought 9 so I had a full set of spares. You never know! Also, there are about $4 new each from Toyota but my local dealership has a bucket of takeoffs that they sell for $2 each. They look pretty dang new to me!

I spent some time measuring and figuring out what laser cut parts I was ready for. Made a list and some drawings. Here's what that process looks like for me.




It's okay to laugh at the sketch quality. At this stage it's just about quickly capturing enough detail/data to replicate in CAD. Which I will be doing in the morning so that I can get my order in to the steel shop ASAP.


Some of you may remember these. These were the first set of frame plates I had made for my bumper. Yeah, the ones where I mis-measured everything except where the holes go. Well, it turns out, with a little cutting, these will be perfect to make the frame plates for my bumper wings or wraparounds...or whatever you want to call them. Stoked because I can get going on those right away and I didn't completely waste $47 two months ago!

 

No pic post!

Hastily designed all of the laser cut/bent pieces early this morning and sent them out to my favorite shop. Should be ready by the end of next week.

Now I just need to pick up a fine tooth blade for my jigsaw and go to town on my bedsides. Hopefully I can find a 30, 36, or 39 tooth blade at Home Depot or someplace like that. I have 24 tooth blades but that's too coarse for thin sheet metal.

 

One pic post!

I ran to Home Depot and picked up some various fine pitch jigsaw blades.

And when I say 'ran', I mean I put on my trusty Salomons and RAN my butt to Home Depot!



Gearing up for a big weekend! I have some work to do tomorrow morning and my wife and I are hoping to get out on the paddle boards (wind dependent). Other than that, I plan to be in the garage or driveway working on this bumper!

 

I would suggest a down cut blade

 

I've only ever seen those for woods and laminates for jigsaws. Never seen one for metal. I got a set of 30 TPI AND 36 TPI Bosch blades for 'very thin metal'. I'm not sure a down cut blade would be very controllable in hard materials. Of course auto sheet metal on modern vehicles can hardly be described as 'hard'.

 

I just assumed they would be available in metal too , could be wrong

 

Shoot, I just learned about down cut blades about a month ago just after I frustratingly finished a bunch of jigsaw work that would have been so much better with a down cut blade. One of those 'you don't know what you don't know' situations.