JAKEJAKE'S Big Thanksgiving Week Bumper Build Extravaganza (Pic Heavy)

All right boys and grills I've decided to take the week off of my normal schedule and fabricate a bumper for the truck.

I low speed (30-35?) T-Boned a 2021 Tiguan about 6 weeks ago, resulting in damage to the entire bumper assembly all the way to the radiator. Works out great really, they gave me a pile of cash (almost 3x what I paid 6 months ago) for the truck, and I bought the salvage back from them.

Enough of the backstory, I am fired up, and looking forward to bringing you along with me.

Todays goal was to clean up the frame horns, and get a crossmember Fabbed to build the bumper off of.

We started with some crushed oem bumper brackets, and slightly bent frame ends.

After a cutoff disc to the (nasty) factory welds and a little cleanup.

I CNC plasma'd a box assembly to eliminate the factory crumple zone, and give me a good platform to build off of. A 3/16 Plate was cut for each of the four sides of the frame rail (x2)

It was about this time I realized that the passenger frame rail was deflected out around 1/2".
I did some redneck frame machine work, and managed to get it back within 1/16th of the unaffected drivers side rail.
https://youtube.com/shorts/RRaXY7lb0QE?si=V38G4MseGA5KnTHm

From here I wanted to test fit the Factory skid plate. I've noticed many of the aftermarket bumpers don't run a skid plate or run an aftermarket option. I figure that I already have the factory skid, I might ass well make it work.

The crossmember is a piece of 3x2x1/4 rectangle tubing I had in stock.

I did have to remove the two locator clips/pins from the skid plate with where the the new crossmember lands. I drilled the single spotweld on each one and may re use them by moving them to a better spot. They do make the skid plate install much easier when in place.

Happy with how the skid plate is going to work I moved on to capping the ends of the frame. They got a CNC'd 1/4" Plate that will also tie into the crossmember. I salvaged two of the weld nuts from the back of the original brackets and threw them onto these plates as well. As of now I have no plans for them, but they may come in handy in the future.

Dale the shop dog, being unimpressed.

Not bad for a leisurely day in the shop, without any real plan. Tomorrow I will burn this stuff in and move onto the bumper itself.

Im still undecided if I want a winch or not. It would be great to have if needed, but the other 363 days a year its 80 something pounds out over the front wheels. Harbor freights Badland ZXR12k goes on sale tomorrow for $279. They are decently reviewed, other than having one of the slowest line speeds on the market. For occasional use it would be fine. I may have to flip a coin...

 

Excellent frame work!

 

Make the winch & mount removable. Problem solved for 363 days of the year.

 

I considered that. Plenty of meat on the crossmember to mount a receiver tube. I think the reality of that is you will only need it when you leave it at home

 

Good on you for getting rid of the flimsy horn caps that are barely cobbled on. It seems like almost all the manufacturers use that as a mounting point.
My addicted offroad basically requires what you did to make it all work, which leaves a lot of room for fitment and that’s always a good thing

 

So true! I once had to call up a friend and ask him to go over to my shop and grab my winch and deliver it to me...in a mudhole...after dark...where i wasn't supposed to be.

 

The addicted plate bumper is probably my favorite of the options available on the market, this crossmember was definitely influenced by the photos on their website. It made more sense to me to run the tubing with the strong (long) dimension in line with expected forces, and gives a little more airflow to the radiator too.

 

I don’t love their plate bumper but I don’t hate it, I went with the tube front no hoop. I looked at sooooo many of their pics online to try and see exactly how it mounted. Old pic

 

I finally admitted to myself that I only wanted a winch for the cool factor. My bumper would look better if I added one, and I would like to have one, but I doubt I'll ever use it and I'm not trying to add more weight. If my lifestyle was different and I actually had a use for a winch, I'd do it.

 

@FrenchToasty I like a tube bumper on most trucks, but damn the tundra frame/suspension is fugly to me. Cool to see how it ties into the factory bumper bracket mounts on the outboard side of the frame. Thats a nice feature!

@FirstGenVol I think that is where I am at. 80%+ on road 20% halfway maintained BLM or forest service roads. I don't really see the need for a winch other than it would be nice to have if that time ever came. Some traction boards would probably suit my needs much better.

 

For being pic heavy, I want more pics!

 

I like the idea of reinforcing the crumple zone. Gonna have to copy this

 

It could be an issue in the event of another front end collision, the next crumple zone is aft of the core support and would lead to some big time repairs. I guess it'll go full tube front play rig if that ever happens.

 

I mean, let’s be real. You could engineer a crumple zone, or use a honeycomb absorber if you really wanted to. I have zero doubt you’re capable and can probably utilize something from another Toyota model. Just sayin’. You’re the type of resourceful dude I think any of us would feel pretty confident being stranded with on a remote island. Make it happen, where thought flows, energy goes.

 

Day two.

Decided on no winch. My intended use of the truck is majority on road with a little dirt road and very little no road driving.

Instead I will be adding a front receiver, and two shackle mounts for recovery points. As well as buying a kinetic rope to keep on the truck and potentially some traction mats/boards. although they seem somewhat gimmicky.

The day started with removing the passenger side fender flare, both fender liners, and installing the snowflakes for the first time. I hadn't ever bolted them up and figured it would be a good thing to verify fitment and build the bumper to suit. Tire size 265/70/17 I picked up off a buddy for dirt cheap. 1" larger than stock, and likely the size that I will run for the foreseeable future. Pizza cutters are tempting though.

Next out came the cardboard. I typically prefer poster board for making templates, but this was within arms reach and worked out fine. Measure/trace/cut/check fit/ repeat.

Keeping the 90 corner on the template helps with eventually plotting this curve in Autocad.

Cut in 14ga as a test

I threw the base/sr5 grill on to help figure out some of the details. its interesting to note that the base grill will not work with the limited headlight trims. I quickly chopped out the offending corners with the portaband. This clearancing can be done much cleaner without sacrificing the integrity of the grill if you wanted to run this grill with the limited trims. I will probably do this as I prefer it over the limited grill.
The base grill hits this flange near the top. thinking about it now a guy could also trim the headlight trim itself.

After double checking all the fitment criteria I was ready to cut the final pieces. I opted for a two piece assembly for the ability to dial in the fit. Also cutting four pieces nested together uses much less space on the 4x8x12ga sheet

Tacked and fit as a whole for the first time. Very happy with how it fits.

Cut the center strip, and prepped everything for welding

Heres a concept paint drawing as to what I'm working toward. its going to be more air deflector/skidplate than bumper, but low profile, and plenty strong. all the pictures today are the uppermost box section below the headlights.

Got pulled away a couple of times today, and had to make a run to the weld supplier for a few things so I didn't make as much progress as expected. The curved box section is ready to go together in the morning and I should be able to start sussing out the skid plates tomorrow.

 

Thanks shifty! I would have no issues hacking the front off this thing if the time ever comes, But I wanted to clear the air for anyone else considering plating over that area. Toyota engineers=smart. jakejake=caveman.

 

Nice, the front and frame does flex a bit, I’d give a pinky finger gap(I’ve got sausage fingers, so your mileage may vary) at any point near contact of something important

 

Good call. The box section has ample clearance where it protrudes under the fenders and grill. I plan to have a 1/2 gap below the bottom of the headlight trims and fenders. Its much easier to mock things up tight to them when trying to line up a long unwieldy piece to check the fit.

 

This^^^.

My BFF bumper has no gap and I'm pretty sure that's what I hear rub at times. It's annoying. I initially thought the lack of gap was an advantage to the BFF bumper because it looks clean.

 

I’ll try and take some pics tomorrow for you of how I tied into those side mounts(which if I had thought about it and had your skills, I would have beefened them up more before I tied into them)
I also ended up making my own custom skid out of 1/4” aluminum cnc bent, front lip tied into the face of the cross member and rear factory holes with spacers

 

Seeing those side mounts really unlocked a great mounting solution for me. I plan to use them combined with some plate and tube to support the upper section of the bumper. I would love to see some more pics of that area!

Edit. mmmm aluminum, cant beat the stuff. thanks for the pic!

 

They didn’t from addicted, I didn’t like how the only mounting point was right at the frame horns, that’s a lot of force to absorb in one/two spots if something were to happen, I figure get more support further back and hopefully help with downward deflection based on the overall impact angle of the bumper. But again that face of that mount is tacked on with skittles just like the front frame horns, one day I’ll go back and reinforce it.

 

A lot of production welds are meh to look at, but damn these tundras look like they were welded by some first timers.

Nice addition to the addicted bumper with those mounts. The factory brackets are quite cheesy. If I cut some reinforcing plates for them I'll run an extra set for you.

 

I’m not the greatest welder nor photographer, if you need any other angles let me know

 

I left off with the curved box section ready to weld. Jumped into it first thing this morning.

Heres some questionable fixturing

This thing took a while to get dead true and square. I really wanted a corner to corner fitup on the weld so that down the line it polishes out nicely. Total PITA but worth it.

Finally a complete assembly ish

1/2 spacing below the body panels.

Body panels. Body panels kicked my dog and slept with my wife today. I decided to gap the hood to the fenders and make sure I could get everything to look right first. The passenger fender still has painted seam sealer so I started there and first adjusted the hood to that and then the drivers fender to the hood. I ended getting them close enough to more forward, but not without 3 hours of chasing ghosts and nearly driving myself insane.

The factory hood bolts have a taper built in and provide no adjustment. I found a few old threads about adjusting hood gap here and nobody pointed this out.

I didn't want to mess with finding hardware today, so 3/8 washers it is! I swap these for proper bolts at some point. Maybe.

Finally happyish with the panel gaps and body lines I could get the bumper in position for making some mounts.

This is where I left it for the evening. After scrutinizing the fit of all the panels It was a good time to cleanup the shop and walk away. Dialing in that final placement will be way smoother with a fresh set of eyes. I'll get a few hours in tomorrow morning, and I hope the gets some mounts at least started before I get together with the family.

One more quick shot of the tape (er) into the fender. This will be a nice detail.

 

Thanks @FrenchToasty!

I took a good look at the mounts today and jeez, they are a mess. luckily the factory plate on the front overhangs the sides so Im thinking ill design some plates that land there. Also thinking a lower cap with access hole for the core support bolt and bushing if a guy ever needed access to that. It'll need a drain hole too since the bracket tapers in towards the frame.

 

Mount time.

Cut some plates for the OEM bracket locations
Holes are slightly oversized for adjustment
Tube standoff
More tubeage
Nothched these guys to tie the sides in and give everything some triangulation. They will land on the backside of the bumper.
Tomorrow I'll plate the back of the bumper, taper the ends nice, and get everything boxed in. I'll also make the final fit of the side supports, and hopefully move on to making some skid plates. I think it only gets easier from here.

 

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