Rear High Clearance Bumper Install Cost?

Hi All,

New to the forums but a long time reader. I've run into a interesting issue. I acquired a dent on my truck (2013 4door 4x4 SB Texas edition) located between the rear bumper and the wheel on the bottom mostly below the light. Got a quote today for 2k to fix it (have to replace the rear bed panel). My thought hearing this was well if I am going to spend some $$ I might as well get a high clearance bumper since that is in the future plans anyway. so I called around to some offroad shops here in Austin Tx and found one shop that said they are experienced in installing these on Tacomas but quoted me an install cost of around $1000. Am I crazy or is this too high? What does that install generally cost? I know it involves cutting the body properly but geeze I have some experience in metal fab and that seems steep to make some careful measurements and straight cuts.

Thanks in advance for any opinions/insight you can offer. Pictures of the dent attached.

 

If you're experienced in metal fab why not install it yourself for free?

If they're the only game in town, they can charge what they want.

 

Its getting awfully tempting but in my mind metal fab (where I can always start over on a fresh piece of material) and body fab of my DD are two pretty different things. It really doesn't seem THAT difficult but I'm feeling a little gun shy of it.

 

.. it's loosening some bolts, cutting thin sheet metal in a straight line through some tape, and tightening some bolts.

Metal fab is completely different and not really related to this at all.. so maybe you should pay someone.

 

That dent is almost perfectly at the right elevation. You should totally do a high clearance bumper!!

If you do the cutting yourself and really screw it up... you can always buy the new side panel for $2k still. Haven't really lost anything at that point (aside from buying the high clearance bumper which you plan to do anyhow).

 

Sorry to hear always get a second quote.And rear fenders bolt on not like old truck beds.

 

@Kyitty Yah kinda my thoughts haha. Really like your build btw. Very similar to what I'm wanting to do.

Im not so much worried about screwing anything up as I am worried that dent might mess up measurements. Gonna get it in the shop tonight, take some measurements, and go from there. This could quickly become a install thread. Looking at this guy maybe: http://www.armortechoffroad.com/2005--2013-Tacoma-Rear-High-Clearance-Wraparound-Bumper_p_336.html

@DCSBFTMFW Little more to it than that but I appreciate the sentiment. I think if I can accurately cut the bad side the good side will be a breeze.

Talked to another shop. They have never done a install on a Tacoma like this but he stated they have done plenty of cutting for other types of installs and quoted me at $300ish. While Im sure they are capable IDK about being their guinea pig or not.

 

First, welcome aboard. Second, I think you're missing the spirit of this site. It really is to help members with the knowledge to DIY a lot of the projects you may want to do on your truck. While I will concede that there is nothing wrong with paying someone to get dirty for you if you have the means, myself and others prefer to do things ourselves. If you do a little research, it really isn't that hard to cut and install a HC bumper. Here's a thread I found with good info with a quick search:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...and-other-high-clearance-rear-bumpers.454052/
I'm sure there are others like it, but that's pointing you in the right direction. You say you are familiar with "fab work"? Cutting the bedside is much less complicated that anything I have ever fabricated so it should be a breeze unless you exaggerated a bit about your "fab" experience. Again, nothing wrong with that. People lie on the internet all the time- hell, my name isn't even Ghost. Worst thing that can happen is you cut a crooked line on an already damaged panel on your truck. Not the end of the world. Most people suggest cutting a "practice" line about an inch under where you plan on your final cut to be. That'll increase your confidence for the real thing.
If you are still not sure of your abilities or would like some help you can always reach out to local members in your area with the reward of beer and/or food. It'll cost you a hell of a lot less than even the $300 you were quoted. I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that would love to cut your truck for you, myself included. As was mentioned above, the rest is just bolts.

 

Of course there's more to it than that. But.. bedsides have been cut by people who don't have a clue.

I guess I'm just confused why someone who keeps referencing how they are experienced in metal fab is having issues with the idea of installing a bolt on rear bumper and cutting some 20 gauge sheet metal.

That doesn't jive. But that's fine. Good luck. There are a lot of fabricators on this forum. You should throw some pics up of some of your projects..

 

@Stoneymcc - If you don't mind paying a little more for quality I'd highly recommend one of these for the rear bumper:

@Pelfreybilt http://www.pelfreybilt.com/_p/prd1/3544145921/product/05-15-hi-clearance-rear-bumper
*Pelfreybilt is who made my bumpers. I've met these folks, off-roaded with them in Moab, and they're amazing folks. Really good customer service too!

There are a couple other vendors that support the TacomaWorld community and are just awesome people.

Bay Area Metal Fabrication (BAMF http://bayareametalfab.com/) is great for Tacoma mod stuff. @RelentlessFab is awesome too.

 

Forget the dent. Measure from the top down and take the dent out of the equation.

Cut the good side first. If you wish, make a poster board template of that side and use it as a guide for the other side.

Buy or rent something like these.

Caveat: I've never hacked up my truck. But I've watched a lot of goobers who can't make a whole sentence on TV do it just fine. You can too! Well, at least I could, if I wanted to.

 

I didn't get my hands too dirty on this one, but was there to help @goblue82 install his high clearance rear bumper.
Of all those who helped no one had done a high clearance rear before, but all are pretty decent with a set of tools. I can't recall exaclty how long it took, maybe 4 hours start to finish with plenty of BS throughout.
I'd recommend to have at least one person (ideally 2 or 3) there to help because these things are heavy! We used two or three people to hold the bumper while one was under to bolt it on. Really, the only challenging aspect to it was cutting the bedsides, and that wasn't difficult just stressful. Buy extra plastic clips as they're very easy to break when you're taking things apart.

 

Couldn't jack stands and a couple of floor jacks be useful for this? I put my hitch on by myself this way.

I mean I know the bumper is heavier, but that's a lot of legs and hands to get coordinated.

 

I installed my bumper with some friends a couple of months ago and its really easy. Need to make sure to measure correctly and draw the line but the actual cutting is really easy. I just used a $14 harbor freight angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and had both bedsides cut in a few minutes. It took me longer to get up the courage to cut up a perfectly good piece of my truck than the actual cutting. The rest is just unbolting the old bumper and bolting on the new bumper.

Stands and a jack definitely help but its much easier to have at least another pair of hands with you, helping you to maneuver the bumper while you try to line up all of the bolts.

 

Fabricator.

 

Those installs usually go like this:
"Go left! No my left! You're good on your side. My side needs to come up another 1/4 inch. OK I almost got it. No go back. Wait, let me try something. OK, I got it. Wait, my finger! I can't get the bolt in! OK. Come forward. A little more. Now back a little..."
Etc, etc...


We've all been there.

 

Yep, jack stands and a floor jack would have worked well too. We had the people so we went with the many hands make light work technique. I'm pretty sure it was one person where the hitch is and one person at each end of the bumper. It helped so we could make small adjusments to the angle of the bumper so it fit properly once tightened down.

Also the bumper was shockingly heavy 140 lbs. Pelfrey hi clearance.

 

Woah I don't remember you being there!
It went kinda like that, but being friends there was more coloful language

 

Looks like you can push the majority of that dent out from the back side. Just reach up under it. Wont be perfect, but should make the measuring and cutting easier. Like previously mentioned, get some tape and make a lower practice cut.

 

$300 is not a bad price for a shop to install IMO.

I just recently got rid of chrome bumper and factory hitch. And cut my bedsides off. I spent time properly filing and deburing the bedside cuts, then paint the edge. Make it look nice, you know?

The funny thing is... after cutting the bedsides, I'm realizing I should have just cut them off years ago and had some square tubing attached for a rear bumper.