4X4Labs Front bumper build

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staticrevolution

staticrevolution

10 Year
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Threads
4
Messages
19
Location
Hillsboro, OR
Hi all, long time lurker here. I just thought I would make a post about my experiences with the 4X4Labs front bumper "kit".

I wish I had taken more pictures in the beginning. Here is the kit in the box.
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Here is a shot showing the starting point. Basically just bolting the mounting plates to the bumper and test fitting the winch plate.
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Here is the center section half welded with a couple parts tacked on.
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Here is where I ran into a problem. The first set of wing inners and outers would not match up no matter how I oriented them. I tried everything, it was driving me crazy. Finally after feeling really dumb I contacted 4X4Labs for assistance and found out that there was a manufacturing problem and the pieces simply were made wrong. WHAT A RELIEF! They sent me the new parts right away and everything made a lot more sense.

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The correct pieces tacked in place.
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......
 
Getting everything lined up and tacked/welded into place.
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Here was another problem. The wing end caps were not even remotely the right shape nor did they have the right bend. This time I was smart enough to get in touch with 4X4Labs right away. Turns out these were for a different application. They sent the correct parts out ASAP.
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Here it is all together before paint and trim/tuck.
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After paint and trim/tuck.
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And here it is as it sits with the running lights and turn signals installed. I installed some "eagle eye" LEDs that another guy also used in his build but I don't really care for them and I will probably change them when I am feeling motivated to do some more grinding and welding.
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I am not an experienced welder, I bought this project to work on my skills and I am happy I did it! I appreciate being able to have an awesome bumper for a reasonable price, props to 4X4Labs for that. As far as building the bumper it wasn't that difficult but it was very time consuming. There were many many gaps to fill and there was a lot of play in how the pieces could be fit together. Even though there were some issues with quality control I am very happy with the bumper and the customer service was excellent. I look forward to building the rear bumper this winter!
 
I forgot to mention two other issues. First issue: If you look closely in the second picture you can see I am not using the upper side mounting bolt. The reason is that the holes came drilled incorrectly. The upper hole didn't come close to matching up and rather than welding it shut and the re-drilling and hoping I was going to get the hole centered I simply welded it shut and ground it smooth. I figured 14 mounting bolts was probably more than enough.

Second issue: Some of the pieces that were pre-bent were torn at the corners so I had to weld the torn corners shut otherwise it would have been an obvious failure point and place for rust to start.
 
Wow...was that supposed to be a CNC laser cut kit? Seems like pieces would have matched up a little more. I would have never been able to weld up all the gaps:( Kudos on the work though, looks great!
 
moodytico said:
Wow...was that supposed to be a CNC laser cut kit? Seems like pieces would have matched up a little more. I would have never been able to weld up all the gaps:( Kudos on the work though, looks great!
Click to expand...
I don't believe so. Well, at least as mentioned was a faulty machined batch. But even if correct they, to my understanding sell the "kit" in pieces.... pieces being what they use themselves to massage into a production bolt-on bumper. The huge saving come at the cost of the end user getting to do the massaging and weld work.
 
Yeah after looking at a local one up close, also a DIY kit, there's not another bumper I want on the front of my truck. And you can't beat the quality at that price. As long as you can weld.
 
DIY is just that, DIY. It involves work. It's not like putting Legos together. You may mess up your manicure. If you can't stomach that, Luke will gladly charge you over 2x that much for the finished product and they'll have to go through the same massaging to get everything to fit just right.

The fact that he offers a DIY kit is awesome. What other bumper fabricator is willing to sell you his parts at a deep discount?
 
Love this bumper! One day I hope to replace my arb with the low version of Luke's bumper...I prefer not to cover the blinkers. Unfortunately I don't have a clue as to how to weld so I'll leave that to the labs
 
I have built this kit myself as well, and yes, I agree it does take patience and a lot of welds and grinding to get it right, and after about 11 hours invested mine is still not right, but its getting there. I also have mounting holes that do not align with the frame holes, and parts that were bent wrong, or did not naturally align. I took it into my own hands to bend the smaller wing pieces down further, but unfortunately I did not get them to bend down exactly symmetrical, however, only I can tell.....so far....nobody else can.

Anyways, here are some "round 1" and "round 2" photos.... perhaps in the winter I will get time to finish her

I will say that Luke at 4x4labs is a great fellow and if there are any issues he will correct them, just give a call and communicate them clearly and you will get a fix. If you don't have good welder or good welding skills, its better to just buy the bumper comple

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....complete because Stephan who is the master welder at 4x4labs can weld better than you can dream about, and with the amount of time it takes to build this particular model of bumper, you aren't saving yourself much money because it takes more than $1k in time for me to build it, but I enjoyed the experience and had fun, and would do it again just because I like doing it.

Below are continued build and install photos, and in the next reply are some shots after installing and taking it out into the field for some testing

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You either have the money to spend or the time to spend on a project. Rarely both.


Luke is one of the best vendors out there and understands those of us that want to spend time on our rigs and save some money.
 
Yes it is an all original truck with one scratch on it (right front flare), it is our 3rd FJ80, we also have a 1994 in white that we have had for about 13 years, it is also all original and in tip top condition with about 124k on it so far. This gray truck took about 13 months to find, but finally we came across it one morning and in 2 hours we were buying it, with 85k miles, one owner, never off road until that day. Never not off road since.
 
That's some nice work! Question, are the marker lamps supposed to be covered by the bumper? Looks Great, man!!:clap::clap:
 
GreekFJ80 said:
Yes it is an all original truck with one scratch on it (right front flare), it is our 3rd FJ80, we also have a 1994 in white that we have had for about 13 years, it is also all original and in tip top condition with about 124k on it so far. This gray truck took about 13 months to find, but finally we came across it one morning and in 2 hours we were buying it, with 85k miles, one owner, never off road until that day. Never not off road since.
Click to expand...

I'll be interested to see how that design works for you. When I made my labs front the "wings" flexed a bit even with the 1/4" steel frame plates until I welded the hoop in between them. Seemed like a good hit to the side would ultimately cause it to bend the wing out of the original position. Looks good though, I'm glad more people are getting on board with the 4x4 labs front.
 
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