200 Series Front Bumper From Metal-tech 4x4

[dryrunner]

I saw the Metaltech GX470 stage 3 bumper in person yesterday with the small hoop. It looks amazing. That version, not a bull bar, is just what I'm looking for. My annual Smog shop/garage is now right next to an offroad garage in La Habra that had a nice line of built rigs in front of it.

 

[dryrunner]

Sorry, GX460

 

[Mineral]

Shipment arrived last week.

Finally found time tonight to remove the stock front bumper.

Tomorrow, plan is to install the new bumper.

 

[Mineral]

John at MT4x4 provided some instructions.

So far, they have served very helpful to double check against.

Will attempt to supplement his instructions below. This is using a 2011 Land Cruiser.

Pop the hood and remove the cowl between grille and radiator.

This was pretty straight-forward as it is attached w push fasteners.

Shot w cowl cover removed

Then there are three 10mm bolts holding the grille in place that need to be removed. Note, those fasteners at the base of the grille will also need to come out later, but I see why John recommends waiting a few steps.

 

[Mineral]

Then the instructions say to use a T-30 Torx bit and remove the inner wheel liner.

This step was pretty straight forward, I just found starting the car and rotating the wheels helped with access. Also, there were some push fasteners holding the inner liner as well as the need to manhandle the liner itself. But, don’t be shy and you’ll be fine. No matter how careful you might try to be, you may also have some fastener casualties. Meh.

And then get under the bumper and remove the 10mm and 12mm bolts attaching the bumper in place. Just be aware of the difference between bolts holding your bumper and bolts holding your stock armor.

Then, once the plastic liners are out of the way, you can take the bumper at each corner and begin to remove the bumper.

But, remember, the bumper is still attached by fasteners at the base of the grille. Now is the time I removed those fasteners, although John recommended removing them after releasing the two connectors. I had a hard time finding the connectors before removing the fasteners.

Once those three fasteners at the base of the grille are removed, the bumper came off rather easily, but will dangle by the two connectors. Not a huge deal as I continued to support the bumper with my leg while detaching the connectors.

One connector is for the headlight washer. And even though I didn’t think my rig had a headlight washer, I had the connector and it leaked water when detached, so I improvised a temporary kink and then used a cinch tie to hold it medium term. Am planning to go back and clamp it better.

The electrical connection had a white plastic coupler to keep it secure in place. This was quite the contraption.

Yeah, I broke it. Will find out tomorrow if that comes back to haunt me.

And this is what it looks like sans plastic bumper.

The bumper absorber comes off pretty easily by sticking the 17mm socket wrench through the holes in the front - 3 on each side.

The absorber is attached to the below mounts. Each mount has four stout 14mm nuts.

 

[Mineral]

The absorber comes off and looks like this when detached.

Then, the tow hooks come off. Each was attached w two 17mm bolts and look like the below.

And this is what it looks like now fully prepped.

Will try and document the installation process tomorrow and share.

It really isn’t too challenging up to this point. I did the take down pretty much solo.

A couple guys will come over and help w the install, though. The MT4x4 winch mount that goes on first is not light.

 

[Mineral]

Oh, one other thing. I am holding off on cutting the front bumper.

The MT4x4 prototype rig appears to have been a 13-15 and the bumper mold is slightly different than the 08-11 bumper mold. I may need to think through the cut strategy. Seeing the bumper fully installed will hopefully help that process.

 

[Mineral]

Using a bathroom scale, subtracting my weight, so super precise...

MT4x4 Winch Mount: 60 lbs
MT4x4 Flat Bumper: 70 lbs

 

[Mineral]

And here’s everything that came in the goodie box:

Btw, removing the MetalTech sticker was super easy w fingers. Just don’t rush it...

And after, no cleanup... yet...

 

[Mineral]

The instructions say to remove a rubber plug along the side of the frame. Took a moment, but found it by positioning the winch mount and working backwards...

And here’s the where the winch mount goes...

Pic from below...

 

[Mineral]

Removed the plug and inserted the wedge and then tried to get 19mm support rod lined up. Was fishing and fighting, when realized the back side of the other plug was causing interference. Removed the other plug and the rod lined right up. (Then replaced the second plug.)

 

[Mineral]

Shot of that second plug replaced...

 

[Mineral]

Then just finger tighten the two 19mm bolts (don’t forget the washers) on the bottom where the tow hooks used to attach...

My only gripe at this point is the washers for the bolts above should have had a larger circumference.

And then finger tighten the 14mm nuts where the absorber mounts used to attach- re-using the old nuts, btw. Glad I baggied and labeled everything when disassembling...

Finger tight at this point is important you’ll want to make some adjustments later.

 

[Mineral]

The other side didn’t have a plug, but did have some pieces to dance around...

 

[Mineral]

Uh-oh - minor snafu. Washer for the winch mount support rod is too small. Looking in the goodie bag, there don’t appear to be any larger. Looks like a Home Depot interlude is now required. Luckily, there’s one nearby.

 

[Mineral]

Returned from Home Depot with the following washers. They were a little thin, so doubled up.

Used them on the winch mount rod...

And used them where the tow hooks used to attach...

 

[Mineral]

Then, tightened down the winch mount just snug and attached the bumper in a trial run. Larger washers were also used when attaching the bumper shell to the winch mount. It went bolt head, 2” washer, bumper shell/winch mount, and then MT4x4 provided washer, locker, and nut. They tightened w 19mm.

The instructions said the front two holes were pre-drilled, but the back hole would need to be marked and drilled. However, in the bumper shell and winch mount I received, all three holes were pre-drilled.

Over simplistically, the winch mount determines left-right location of bumper shell and the shell attached to the winch mount determines up/down and level of bumper shell.

We couldn’t get the bumper shell exactly dead middle - it’s probably off 1/4”. Unsure if it’s a function of the winch mount or the bumper shell.

Once the bumper shell left-right is dialed in, at least best as possible, backed out the winch mount bolts and applied blue loctite and then tightened each bolt in place - one by one.

Then, tightened down the bumper shell to the winch mount with a level on the wing of each side.

Lastly, pulled the grille off the stock plastic bumper and bolted it back in to place w the 10mm bolts. Also, placed the cowl cover back in place. Fasteners were pretty much shot, but didn’t seem to matter.

Decided to install lights and cut the bumper at a later time. And am deciding whether to powder coat the bumper shell a different color.

So, this will suffice for now.

 

[Mineral]

Manned up this evening and cut the bumper.

The carnage...

The result...

Ready for the close-up...

 

[Mineral]

When cutting the bumper, had a few learnings. Please remember this applies mainly to 08-11 cruisers.

1) Flip the stock bumper over and remove all parts minus the headlight washers. Youll want to keep those attached, else there will be two gaping holes.

2) Although there are cutouts in the new bumper for the two round parking sensors, the parking sensor housing breaks easily trying to remove and are body colored. Will probably try to see if Toyota parts dept sells black ones.

3) I had to pull quite a bit of the wiring off the old bumper and will need to figure out how to mount it all with the new bumper to run the fog lights and the parking sensors again. That’s for another day, so zip tied up the wires that came with the new lights and set aside all the old fog light and sensor wiring for later.

4) The new fog lights were easy to install / intuitive. The bar light required a little more brain power and contortionist hands to tighten properly.

5) When cutting the bumper, I measured 7” down from the two corners and tried to make it as straight as possible using painters tape, a ruler and a sharpie.

6) It was still too big, so measured 3.5 inches down from corner and realized that would fit. There’s a natural crease in the top part of the front bumper. I put some painters tape down and measured 2.5 inches down from the crease, marked w a dot, then shifted right, measured 2.5 inches down from the crease, marked, repeat until the other side. Other side 3.5 inches down from the corner. Then, connected all the dots with the ruler and cut.

I was concerned since the bumper was made for 2013-2015 front bumpers, there’d be a fit issue. However, that wasn’t an issue after all. Looking up from below helps illustrate this.

Overall, am pleasantly surprised at how well the cut turned out. I did mean to do a test fit and then remove it to add the weather stripping before final install, but the cut is so recessed into the bumper that it is resting on the inside metal of the bumper and I fear the additional height of that weather stripping will push the bumper up too high. So, decided against the weather stripping.

Also worth mentioning is the grill slides into the bumper easily and the back of the bumper is screwed into the inside fender wall, so be sure you have retained those screws.

 

[Recon Aircrew]

When cutting the bumper, had a few learnings. Please remember this applies mainly to 08-11 cruisers.

1) Flip the stock bumper over and remove all parts minus the headlight washers. Youll want to keep those attached, else there will be two gaping holes.

2) Although there are cutouts in the new bumper for the two round parking sensors, the parking sensor housing breaks easily trying to remove and are body colored. Will probably try to see if Toyota parts dept sells black ones.

3) I had to pull quite a bit of the wiring off the old bumper and will need to figure out how to mount it all with the new bumper to run the fog lights and the parking sensors again. That’s for another day, so zip tied up the wires that came with the new lights and set aside all the old fog light and sensor wiring for later.

4) The new fog lights were easy to install / intuitive. The bar light required a little more brain power and contortionist hands to tighten properly.

5) When cutting the bumper, I measured 7” down from the two corners and tried to make it as straight as possible using painters tape, a ruler and a sharpie.

6) It was still too big, so measured 3.5 inches down from corner and realized that would fit. There’s a natural crease in the top part of the front bumper. I put some painters tape down and measured 2.5 inches down from the crease, marked w a dot, then shifted right, measured 2.5 inches down from the crease, marked, repeat until the other side. Other side 3.5 inches down from the corner. Then, connected all the dots with the ruler and cut.

View attachment 2078704

I was concerned since the bumper was made for 2013-2015 front bumpers, there’d be a fit issue. However, that wasn’t an issue after all. Looking up from below helps illustrate this.

View attachment 2078707

Overall, am pleasantly surprised at how well the cut turned out. I did mean to do a test fit and then remove it to add the weather stripping before final install, but the cut is so recessed into the bumper that it is resting on the inside metal of the bumper and I fear the additional height of that weather stripping will push the bumper up too high. So, decided against the weather stripping.

Also worth mentioning is the grill slides into the bumper easily and the back of the bumper is screwed into the inside fender wall, so be sure you have retained those screws.

Well done thread! Thank you for taking the time to do all of that. I installed their sliders a few months ago. Looks like I’ll have another project coming up!