Victory 4x4 Bumper - Final Prototype.

Just ordered front and rear on 01/29 - look forward to hearing your stories.

Shrockworks sliders on the way too....

 

@excentryk

I got notification my mid skid plate shipped today and should be here Thursday. Hopefully the hardware for the front will show before then too and I will have skids installed by the weekend.
-M

 

Contacted them today for an update, and they quoted their 30-60 business day lead time. I'm sure they're doing the best they can though.

I'm 40 business days in, so 4 more calendar weeks to go

 

@jayrome @excentryk

Surprise Surprise! I called yesterday to ask about my Skid door; long story short they didn't have any in steel fabed and aluminum doesn't fit (thicker) so they are working on it next week. They did get the hardware in the mail for me though.

So, while I had them on the phone I asked about strike bumpers. The guy said "Well you probably got a ways to go but they are starting to work on some of the Tundra versions so I imagine they will work on some Tacoma parts too."

This morning I woke up to a FedEx Shipping notification! My bumper is being prepped for shipping. I imagine it will be at my uncles place in a week. Unfortunately for me I won't be able to get to his place for a while, I wasn't expecting it to be shipped a month after I ordered, so when it arrives I will share the photos that he sends me. At this rate I am guessing it will be no less than a month before I can install it. I might try to sneak out there for a long weekend though after it goes to powder coat. He is in Tucson so its a drive for me.

Have hope! I bet its close!
-M

 

@PilotMM - I guess aluminum ships quicker, or maybe they just have less orders? Ordered 2 weeks before you. Congrats, you'll have to post some pics!

 

Ok guys! I have an update. The bumper shipped 31 days after I ordered. Then it took me about a week to get it to powder, then because of my work/family schedule it was two weeks before I finally installed it. Here is the final product.

The only thing I didn’t like about the bumper (minor if you have hardware laying around) is the size of the washer they give you for the frame support piece. It’s a washer that is suppose to plug a rectangular hole. I wasn’t super comfortable with how small the washer was for the size of the hole so I used a larger fender washer between the frame and the supplied washer. Really a plate washer should be back there instead.

Other than that the install was super easy (once you get past the cut ). I think they quoted 4 hours install time and if you don’t spend as much time being anal about measuring I think you could do it in less time. I didn’t take too many install photos but here is a quick shot after it was finished. Now time to pick up a light bar and a winch.

-M

 

Mine is set to deliver today (ordered late December, about 3 months ago) How is your sensor in the grill doing with that bull bar in front. I'm considering the pro grill to relocate, but won't it it still works.

Any tips on cutting. I don't like the line that Victory achieved. Yours looks more in line with the line of the bumper:

 

Now noticing the differences in the "wing" of the bumper. Not quite the same as the product image (still looks good)

 

I actually think your bumper looks a little better than the product image - a little cleaner looking.

Can't install for a couple weeks yet, but received my Blitz bumper and winch - waiting on rear. Was first looking at Body Armor's HiLine until seeing complaints about workmanship and coming from China. Decided on Victory's American fabrication, and the workmanship looks absolutely outstanding - can't wait!!

 

These are the two differences I can see (not a big deal, but my eye catches these things)

 

Hey I am working ATM. I took some closer photos for y’all and have some “suggestions” on cutting. Let me reply again tonight when I can get in front of a keyboard and am not using my phone to post.

-M

 

That would be awesome. Mine arrives in about an hour, then I'm headed to pick up the winch

 

Ok I hope these photos help. Please don't mind the dirt, it rained for the last 3 days in the desert so I haven't had a chance to wash it.

As for cutting the first thing I did was level the truck laterally and longitudinally. I have a little "stink bug" stance because when I am loaded I sit level. I leveled it by airing down. Then I measured pretty much the way they suggested. When you rip out the fog light trim there are little "slots" that the push tabs for the fog light trim sit in, I used that as my reference point. I shot my line and marked it off. I cut it using an angle grinder with a cut off wheel like they suggested and then test fit the bumper. Only using the outer nuts I snugged it up and realized that it wasn't even. I think my frame is "kinda" strait LOL. The PAX side looked exactly how I wanted it and the drivers side was a little low, lucky me. I measured at all the body line bends and transposed that from the PAX side to the driver side. It was about 5/8ths off in the front and around the curve and 3/8ths off near the fender. I marked it all up and then removed the bumper and then cut again. I was a little conservative (cut under my line) and checked again. It was close enough for me.

When you bolt up the bumper know that you move it left and right a little and have a little (very little) up and down adjustment. I found that if you tighten the top nuts first it would move it up a "c-hair" (technical term), conversely if you tightened up the bottom buts it would move down a c-hair. Like I mentioned before the only nit I had was the washer for the frame bracket, it really needs to be a plate washer so get an assortment of fender washers before you start. The last thing you have to do is cut the extra material off the cross-member thing that ties the ends of the frame together. You will know exactly what I am talking about. I haven't painted mine yet so you can see the fresh aluminum where I hit it with the sawzal.

All in all I am SUPER happy with how it turned out, I love the look, the clearance and how it holds the extra equipment too. Oh as a side note if you have Diode Dynamic lights you can use them in fog light hole if you have the "universal bracket" they sell. They fit perfect. I need to put in some extra work for my side hustle so I can get a light bar and a winch next.

If you have any questions LMK and I will try my best to answer them.

Cheers and Congrats!
-M

 

Got it. Not super stoked to have waited 3 months for something that has design changes not reflected on their site, but we'll see. There are also a few small plates not described in their video, and the reversible fair lead bracket described in their video is not in play anymore (maybe they changed the winch mounts?) I don't know, in the video they seem concerned about "making sure you get use of all of your winch cable".

What criteria did you use to confirm your truck was level before proceeding, the bed rails?

 

Yeah the design changes were a head searcher but I think it looks better. The reversible plate thing caught me off guard but I choked it up to the winch they used in the video are not available anymore. Didn’t they use the non EVO series?


Anyways as for leveling it’s a pain in the butt. I used both door sills (24” level) the cross member by the radiator (left and right 24”) and then a 48” on the bed rails. I have an RLD canopy so I actually used it on the rain gutters because I couldn’t get it to fit inside with my hardware in there.

I didn’t use 5 levels, I just went back and forth a bunch of times until it was level. This took the majority of my time.

Hope this helps. If you want to send me a DM I will give you my number and I can reply faster via text.
-M

 

Also do you think there are minor differences in Aluminum vs Steel? FWIW I have an aluminum bumper

-M

 

Thanks for the info. Installed it and the bumper itself seems to be crooked (you can see this best in this photo if you compare the bottom line of the grill surround with the bumper) We've checked and double checked the cut, even had it looked at by a shop, and it's just not level in relation to the mounts. Kind of a bummer to wait so long for it to be crooked.

 

@jayrome I can see you're a little crooked. Just as a suggestion I would loosen your bolts, hold the low side up, and then have someone else try and tighten the bolt behind the grill first and see where you end up. I do know that most automotive frames, if they are within 1/4" inch they are considered in spec. So if you left portion is 1/4" up and your right is 1/4" down it will cause that (what looks like) 1/2" gap.

I tightened the low side first with someones help and then did the other side. It seemed to me like the bolt behind the grill offered more "adjustability."

Hope this helps! Looks good nevertheless. What light bar did you go with?
-M

 

Circling back on this:

I was disappointed when the cab of my truck and Strike front bumper weren't level with each other. We confirmed the cuts were perfect, and lifting the bumper when loosening and tightening different bolts did nothing. It's just been an annoying mystery ever since, but replacing the destroyed OEM front cab mount bushings leveled the cab, fixing the problem.

I purchased the Energy Suspensions Body Mount Bushing Kit through the group buy (link below) and just replaced the front bushings and the 4 cab mount bushings.

Before (Driver side plastics sitting almost on the bumper)



After - almost perfect, and having since driven it, it's totally even now



Driver side (the side of the cab that sat close to the bumper - trashed internally, but also just smashed flat



Passenger side (not as bad, but internally the bushing was internall shot)



Hope this helps anyone else out there wondering why things didn't appear level!


Link to the Group Buy - round two is open (not affiliated with the seller in any way with them other than having purchased the set)

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...dy-mount-kit-group-buy-round-two-open.763759/