Which Bumper Shims

He Fellas,
I'm looking to purchase bumper shims. The Coachbuilder's ones are 6061 Aluminum. Boss 4x4 Shims are steel. Which ones you guys recommend ? I know that the aluminum they don't rust. But 6061 Aluminum is very soft metal.

 

They will both do the job. You just have to do the pros and cons.

They are spacer shims. I might make mine in 1/2 high density plastic.

 

People used 3/8 washers too. I might need to do this when ups finds my 4th tire they lost

 

I have the boss 4x4 ones not yet put on but they are pretty nice imo.

 

Also ordered the bmc kit also at the same time they have both listed together I think I paid $99.00

 

They are coated pretty well. What wheels set up are you going to run ?

 

3/8" stainless steel washers.
$5 at Depot

 

How many on a bolt?

 

I think i added 4 or 5. pushed out the bumper about 1/2"

 

Maybe @Coachbuilder1 has some insight. I’d say aluminum due to rust, in general except for skids.

 

I don't know why this is an issue. The bumper has metal, aluminum, and plastic.

 

That's a great idea but would there be any concern if there is a heavy impact ? That's the only thing I'm curious about by doing it that way. With a full plate of seems to cover that part of it.

 

The bumper is really made out of aluminum.

 

Different then my 08.

 

Fender washers are larger diameter if your concern about impact. Remember only the outer wall of the tubing will get the pressure. The center is hollow.

That aluminium bumper will collapse first absorbing the impact.

 

Reviving an old thread but I have washers on mine for now. I may order some shims from Toytec, mainly because I think its the better way to go and also because you can see them from the side with the new bumper. 4-5 washers is less than 1/2 inch. 7 will give you exactly 1/2 inch, which is what I need to align my 3rd gen offroad bumper to a 2nd gen truck.

 

Yeah I didn't use washers, I used these, same size as the washers, 1 per bolt, worked perfect on my 2020 to space out for bigger tires too. Lowes for the win!

 

Did those hex nuts thread on or just large enough to slide over the bolt threads?

 

They slide over. Never had an issue

 

Thanks….looks like I’ll be trying them out. Sure beats spending the extra money on the shims.

Any issues with the skid plate attaching to the bumper plastic since it moved out the ~1/2”?

 

No issues at all. I never loosened them. I loosened one side and left the nut at the very end of the stud, then other side I took them all off and pulled the bumper out enough to slide the nuts on, then put one stock one back on at the end and did the other side. An extra set of hand help, they can pull the bumper out and you can slide them on.

 

Nice…looks I have a project for tomorrow. My tires don’t rub much, but just enough at full lock to annoy me. I had debated on getting the shims but wasn’t sure if it was worth it to me. Now I’ll try this route. Thanks for the info.

 

Easy cheap mod, Good luck!

 

Well I finally got around to installing the Lowes special and they worked great. Thanks for the advice. The extra set of hands was helpful.

 

Awesome!

 

I went to the hardware store today. The 3/8" washers and the 5/8-11 nuts mentioned in this thread are totally different ID in size. I haven't been under the truck yet to inspect the size of the bumper bolts, but I cannot imagine that the 3/8" washers would slide over.

So, I ended up buying 5/8-11 nuts and 1/2" washers both and hopefully one of them will work when I tackle this project tonight.

 

I went with the 5/8-11 nuts and they worked great. Slid right over the bolts. That seemed to be simpler than trying to use multiple washers per bolt, but using the washers you would have more flexibility with how much you moved the bumper out by stacking them.

 

6061 is not soft. It doesn’t matter what you use, it’s just to space the bumper out. Nothing you out there could possibly fail.

 

Yeah I tried to do the 5/8-11 nuts and one washer. It was just a tad too much. Couldn't get enough thread to tighten the bolts down like I wanted. So I took the washers out. The 5/8-11 nuts are perfect. Exactly 1/2 inch farther forward now and my rubbing is GONE.

Only issue with the project was that I went through the bottom instead of the top because I didn't want to risk breaking any more tabs off my new TRD grille. Well, the plastic shields that cover the fog lights ending up breaking on both sides! The tabs that meet up with the metal edge of the bumpers both snapped. What a PITA. Every time I touch this truck something plastic breaks off. Ugh... I did manage to get them all back together but they look kind of silly now with the plastic tabs half missing.

 

I tried to get the job done by removing as little as possible. I’m in the same boat that when I start removing parts something always breaks.