Great work as always, Ben! 275/70R18's? Can we look forward to under body skids in the future?
Dissent offroad 200 series offerings.
- Thread starter benc
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Staring and comparing the 2016 LC vs my 2008 LX it looks like it would follow the body lines nicely in terms of cutting the plastic to fit. Are the corner holes or row of holes on the wings used to accomodate the parking sensors or are they incorporated eselwhere in the design? Not that I ever use them with a front camera, just curious.
- Thread starter
- #44
Correct on the tire size. Yes, a full set of aluminum skids are in the plans.
Those are not for the sensors, those are optional bullet lights. The sensors are proving to be a little tough in the 1/4" aluminum. The clips on the sensors will not properly engage on that thick of material. May have to cut the hole slightly larger and silicon them in place or drill a hole in the plastic above. The other issue is the sensors are painted to match the car so if the bumpers go black the sensors need to be painted as well.
I'll figure something out though.
Are there options to thin the lip of the material? Countersunk sensors sound sweet.
FYI on the sensors. Going thru this now on my rear bumper. The sensors and clips changed in 2013, the earlier ones need a bigger hole. My bumper came drilled for the older sensors, which has been challenging.
The clips are very fragile, but fortunately they are cheap, around $4 each. You order them in the color you want. Sensors too, but they are not cheap. I put a very thin coat of paint on mine, haven't installed them yet but I hope they will still work ok.
FYI I found if the hole is a bit oblong the sensors on my 2013 fit once I snipped off all the clips on the retaining ring except the top one. The combination of that clip plus the force of the sensor stretching the trim ring made it fit tightly.
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- #49
The front will be finalized 100% early next week for the 16 and up lc, I will still need to get some older ones in the shop for test fit. I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to handle the shipping. I'm beginning to see why a lot of other makers offer install only. This is a pretty involved installation for the average guy.
Once the bumper is finalized I would like to line up several installations first to check fitment on multiple vehicles before the possibility of shipping any out.
BenC,
Fortunately I am “down the street”
from you.
I can be there in less than 2 hours for the install
Fortunately I am “down the street”
from you.
I can be there in less than 2 hours for the install
Maybe make it at risk....Some of us are adventurous
I'm willing to bet it is way less fab than making my tlc specific rear bumper fit around the LX ahc pump.
But since @i4c4lo has an LX too I don't mind if he gets a shop fit just to be sure
- Thread starter
- #52
Yeah, I may do that as long as it's at your own risk. One thing I am extremely bad at is making installation instructions. I have never been one to use them and it shows when I try to make themMaybe make it at risk....Some of us are adventurous
I'm willing to bet it is way less fab than making my tlc specific rear bumper fit around the LX ahc pump.
But since @i4c4lo has an LX too I don't mind if he gets a shop fit just to be sure
really the best thing to do is make a rough cut down about 3/4" lower than the final cut will be, the bumper has a fair bit of up and down adjustments so you can bolt it up to take measurements for the final cut. Its not that difficult just doesn't leave much root for error.
@benc Yeah if you're just worried about trimming templates that comes with the territory. I'm partial to a oscillating multi-tool with the 270 degree circular blade on it. Good control and cuts and pretty easy to make straight lines in the curved plastic.
I also like bulb trim - covers the gap and compresses as necessary for movement. Only drawback is it's $1+ per foot.
I also like bulb trim - covers the gap and compresses as necessary for movement. Only drawback is it's $1+ per foot.
Yeah, I may do that as long as it's at your own risk. One thing I am extremely bad at is making installation instructions. I have never been one to use them and it shows when I try to make them
Go work in China and write product instructions.
-One gets the impression sometimes that you don’t even need to know English to qualify as a writer for many of their English product instructions sometimes...
hahaI once got wrangled into helping a guy in Hong Kong over lunch after he absolutely BEGGED me to help him with wording in a little instruction sheet he was supposed to create in English. ‘‘Twas a hoot sitting there trying to make sense of the endless number of adgectives, verbs and nouns he’d poorly chosen. Some were close...some were miles off. But then English is a crazy language.
On the other hand, some Australian-written instructions are amusingly tricky to get through since they have so many slang terms US folk aren’t accustomed to.
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As a software developer, my team and I write a fair bit of documentation, mostly for our own use. One thing that we’ve found most helpful is that after one person has written some documentation, we have another team member who was not involved in writing that set of scripts actually use the documentation to perform the task. That generally surfaces all the assumptions that the author forgot to document.
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That's one of the best looking 200 series bumpers I've seen so far. Do you have any plans for a +bull bar version?
- Thread starter
- #58
Thanks!
Likely not with this one. I'm just not sure I could build one I'm happy with on this platform.
This is one of the best looking bumpers I have seen for a 200. Hope to see one on the front of my 13 someday.
Shiny aluminum pics @benc?