Stock front bumper mod

I wanted to share this stock bumper and fender mod with all of the first gen guys out there.
Can you spot it? What’s your thoughts? Also I’m looking to bird dog some fender trim ideas so if anyone has suggestions please let me know. Thanks!

 

If you're going to post about the bumper maybe you could post a pic of the bumper and not the side of the truck. I really can't tell what you've done other than to remove the bottom piece of trim.

 

I was trying to make it a bit tougher to guess what I did and apparently it worked!
Yes I removed the little air dam trim but there’s more. I’ll post another pic when I’m in better service, in the meantime take a closer look.

 

Welcome. What's the specs on those wheels tires - offset in particular?

 

He trimmed the fender edge and cut the bumper for more clearance. I like it, but it does create sharp edges and potentially weak spots if anything does hit now.

Nice tires too. You aren't in southern California are you? IE?

 

-06 offset 4.75 backspace 16X9
There is a bit of frame rail rub at lock out with 285/75 r16 in that configuration.
Gonna try a 18x9 -12 offset 4.00 backspace with 35’s 12.50s after my coil overs get here though because.... wheeling haha

 

Almost got it!
I actually cut off the top 30% of the stock bumper, eliminating the need for that stock plastic trim that used to live between the top of stock bumper and bottom of headlights. It ended up raising the bumper about 6 inches as well as pulling the lines in closer to the grill.
I was totally amazed that the stock fogs still fit. It was as if the Toyota engineers wanted to do this but the safety people made them lower the bumper and they had to add to that silly plastic.
I’ll post more pics of the mod later for ya’ll

 

I agree on waiting until a better fuller angled shot is available before making a call.

 

What’s unprotected under the front bumper now? I’m pretty sure the bottom of the radiator and power steering cooler would be in the danger zone after this mod.

 

Not if he has a skid plate, unless the early models are different than mine. I like it.

 

Yeah as of this moment the stock skid plate is still mounted to the cross member which used to also hold the hidden but “true” bumper (which is gone now)
My plan is to actually remove said cross member, Fab up so new mounting for the stock skid with a 4” wide piece of 3/8 or 1/2 strap which I’ll weld directly to the frame rails (which I’ll cut at 45 degrees or so for both looks and approach angle. Then weld on the old tow hooks from the bottom of the frame rails to the strap and boom!
I did a similar thing to my rock crawler with some d rings but they rattle around too much and I ended up cutting them off and replacing with ford tow hooks haha
I definitely lost a bit of head on collision safety but.... wheeeling!

 

Huh. Why not just make yourself a functional real bumper that gives you the approach angle you actually want? Seems like a lot of screwing around to me to keep part of the crappy stock bumper in place. Take it all off, start from scratch. Make something cool.

This is what I did for my subaru. My tundra is going to get the same treatment soon:

 

Ole Montana! That’s an elk slayer of a bumper too!! Love it

You make a good point but I have a couple reasons:
1.Weight. I’m building this tundra more so to go fast on the 4x4 and unimproved roads I deal with at work so keeping it as light as possible (more like a so cal Baja)
2. Time. I don’t wanna spend a bunch of hours fabing a bumper
3. Looks. I really like the look of the stock and doubt I could build anything better

So I guess I’m only about 10% interested in approach angle haha

 

I like how you took the top cap off the bumper. Stock one hangs too low

 

Yes!!! Exactly! It’s as if the Toyota engineers had an idea about how a truck should look but the safety people stepped in and said “it’s too high, lower it”
The fact that it fits better, looks better and the stock fog lamps still clear makes this bumper mod a no brainer!
Thanks HB Jeff!

 

Here’s a few pics from the process.
I was already set on replacing the rusted out chrome bumper but I’d been looking at how silly the stock bumper was so before I tossed the old one I hacked it up to see if my idea would work. I made a couple cut lines, used bungees and zip ties to test fit and once I was sure it would work went all in!
Thanks to everyone who made comments and gave their opinions!

 

I suspect it has more to do with aero dynamics and MPG.

Ha, well then, it makes perfect sense.

 

Oh yeah...I’ve heard that even removing the little air dam valence thing can negatively effect mpg. I live on the north shore Oahu and it’s only like 40 miles across so.... mpg? Haha

 

It looks good. I wouldn’t do it, but its your custom baby build with a purpose. This is a first I’ve seen and like the idea of using the stock stuff and slightly changing it.

The air dam and mpg were my first thoughts on why the original design was questioned. I’ve actually considered making one for use on long distance trips.

Good on ya Tunbrah.

 

It does look better than factory, this is the area I was referring to where the radiator is exposed. I think he put a cover over this area in another pic.

 

Yes that upper picture shows he used/repurposed a stock piece to cover the lower rad gap? Good idea.

The more I think about this mod it seems one could customize any little piece to go in place of that lower radiator cover. In this case, Tundbrah used some angled piece that works. If someone wanted to get fancy they could really fab a nice piece of trim for that spot.

 

Here’s an update picture on that bumper mod....
anyone got any suggestions on what I can build new splash Guards with? I was thinking the old plastic bed liner might work?

 

That's looking killer! You've shaved the sides and put paint in all the right places, well done!

I suppose any dilurable plastic that's playable would work. Old bed liner should work.

 

What color is that? Your truck looks great.

 

I like it. I've been trying to think of ways to mod my stock round foglight bumper to make it looks nicer. Just something to get me by until I make one. I think finishing my suspension and then rock sliders trump a new front bumper, but I could probably squeeze in some bumper alterations between the suspension and rock sliders. I am already cutting the bumper side of the fender opening for the tire anyway. I just haven't found any good ideas for the round foglight style bumper.

 

Wow. You did a hell of a job on this. Your truck looks 10x better than before. I don't have any advice but wanted to say nice work!

 

The color code is 4e9. It’s a Stock Toyota color from the 80’s.