The Does Everything, but Sucks at Everything Build

Post pics of the fix.

I’ve been paranoid about my bumper mounts. My core support looks nearly the same

 

Had to do a bunch of unplanned and unwanted overtime and set me back several days on where I wanted to be with repairs.

Though it did pay for most of this....


Wish I had taken more photos but got distracted being behind where I was intending with the time I had....

I ended up making a plate out of 1/4" plate for the forward bumper mount reinforcement.
I kept the original sheet metal mount, ground out the cracked areas and put a bead over them.
I cut rectangular tubing and made gussets/backing plates for the bolts.
I sandwiched everything and tied it all together with welds.
Drilled holes in the middle area for some plug welds.
All bolts upgraded to Grade 8 1/2" so there are a total of 8 larger bolts holding up the bumper.



I don't know if the sheet metal reinforcement is going to help anything or just make it worse, but at the rate it was going it was going to crack through before the end of the year and potentially seriously fuck something up when it does so I added some additional metal on the front part of the wheel well.

Photo of the add-in piece.



driver side cleaned up, welding on this stuff would be a lot easier if I could get it cleaner, with all the nooks and crannies I can never get all the fucking paint off the surfaces.


Add-in clamped in place.


First time ever welding sheet metal. What a pain in the ass.



And adding some sheet metal to the battery area that holds my dual stage ARB compressor. Hurray for welding dirty sheet metal! (and sucking at welding)

 

Nice work man. If you drill a hole at the end of the crack it wil stop the spread. Just a little tip. Have you had a chance to test out the brakes?

 

didnt help stop the spread of mine..

 

Haven't installed them, still waiting on back ordered calipers.

I don't know how much good the hole drilling technique works on the stress cracks in that area due to the vibrations the areas see when driving through the desert. I'd definitely be interested if anyone has had success with it there. I've been told nothing will stop the cracking in those areas, I'm crossing my fingers that the extra sheet metal in there will at least delay it.

 

Well that's lame. I've never had to do it to a Taco but that's similar to the repairs I do on our bucket trucks about once a month.

 

Gonna upload photos from recent trips, this set is from my most recent trip to the San Rafael Swell. Been up here several times but before but this time went to check out some areas I hadn't been to before. I had planned on screwing around for a couple days at a bunch of little visited overlooks with my drone but wind was really bad from Friday morning to Monday morning with 40+MPH gusts so I just drove out to them, checked them out and continued on. ....then I lost one of my MTRs after a sidewall gash finally let go Monday afternoon. Called it quits after that and drove back to Socal Monday afternoon/evening.

 

I want to go to the Swell so bad. There is a ton of good rock climbing there in addition to all the offroad.

 

Damn that's a badass truck.

 

Damn straight, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the San Rafael Swell is Utah's best kept secret

 

shit.. well hush hush

sick truck man. love the views

 

I suppose, if you overlook all the half broken shit and the still untuned suspension

 

This one right here is the calendar shot.

 

Drop it by my house on your next trip and we'll trade.

 

Looks awesome. Sucks that you lost a MTR. Was the sidewall lost due to a hard hit and snake bite or cut it on something?

Also--- i see you got new shackle hangers...

 

I think it was a gash from somewhere else that finally let go. I was in wide open wash without any thing that could really slice into the tires. I was trying to use the active track feature on my DJI Mavic and started hearing a swoosh-swoosh-swoosh... I thought it was wheel weights got loose and was hitting my calipers but i came to a stop and it just keep making the noise, and decided yep, pretty sure that's a sidewall.

 

Back in February I went to Canyonlands The Needles and The White Rim Road. @Tacoma_1192 met me in Moab and we ran Lockhard Basin to The Needles and then ran the Elephant Hill loop over the sunset and into twilight. After that we met his brother and stayed in the touristy campground at the needles and then spent all day saturday driving around the back country of the area. On Sunday we hauled ass out through Beef Basin and they took off and I continued on the White Rim Road from Mineral Bottom and out Potash Road. Screwed around a lot on it and stayed for 3 nights then proceeded home.

 

Back in January headed out with the wife and the dog to a bunch of mountains on the California/Arizona Border. Went to some areas I have been to before and checked out some new ones.
Went to the following:

Turtle Mountain Wilderness
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge
New Water Mountain Wilderness
Black Mountains

 

Just stop. Because I wasn't jealous enough from the first and second set of pics.

 

HAH! Yeah, last year I didn't do much other than work on the truck and local trails. Didn't trust it on long camping trips with how much I was changing things, but now pretty much everything is done, so its travel time again.