This week I added a front bumper and some accessories:
First- I worked with
Mike at BumpItOffroad to get a LEXUS bumper completed. We did some measurements from furthest point of grill when lifting open hood...to known points such as radiator, two of the bolts on engine shroud, cross member between frame rails down low.
I was worried about light placement given the hood opening and swinging up behind and through the bumper plane so it appeared the big 7.5" IPF lights I had come to love would be unusable....so we checked some other options he saw at SEMA with RIGID Industries and their LED light bars.
I also wanted integrated turn signals...I did not want to convert my headlight housing over to a Land Cruiser setup for that additional cost...but I also did not want to jerry-rig the current bulb setup into the Lexus housing. So I asked mike to water jet some holes to fit an aftermarket LED light setup. He found some lights and they work great.
As for the bumper install...it is a heavy SOB...and heavier with a Titan 12,000lb winch installed. LOL
Hardest part was figuring out all the nylon rivets holding the front bumper skin in place. Finally got the final two and it came off like BUTTER. Then the styrafoam insulation...and then the bolts that hold the steel bumper insert/cross member to remove it completely.
The directions state to cut the bumper hangers off completely with a vertical cut...then grinding down even with frame rail. Mike recommended I only cut them off flush with bottom of frame for now so it would leave one threaded bolt hole in case the bumper did not fit and I had to put back on my other bumper until he could get it fixed.....it was the FIRST LEXUS bumper afterall so we were not positive MURPHY would not show up.
Next step is to hang bumper....tighten in place and level it out with included shims using two factory bolts and two new bolts (replace long ones that held tiedown hook in place). Once it is in place and level...mark the holes on side of frame rail if it does not line up with the holes that are already there. If yes, then just insert the appropriate bolts to make sure...and then take everything off. If no, then mark and drill the holes to make them work.... I was able to drill them with bumper in place as the signal holes in front of bumper let me get my Milwaukee drill in there perfect sitting on a stool for comfort...to get through both sides.
Insert you choice of winch...and reinstall bumper.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
As you can see I have the
RIGID Industries E-series LED Light. I got the 10" model...if they would have had a 14" model would have got it to fill the entire tube area but 20" was too big.
It comes with its own wiring harness and two mount options...steel feet to attach to any surface or hangars to be welded in place. Mike at BumpItOffroad (BIO) welded on the hangers for me and had it all powdercoasted together. I recommend buying the RIGID Industries locking nuts to prevent theft as all it comes with is nylon nuts. I put two rubber nipples over each one to make the nuts more stealthy and hopefully prevent some passive attempts at removal until my locking nuts arrive. The other choice is red loctite with a wing nut in addition to the nylon nut.
You can see the two LED signals Mike included in my order. They are utility trailer lights I believe. They have a rubber grommet you install first in cutout...then pop the light in place. The light is slightly larger than grommet so it helps secure it inside the hole with the outward pressure of light. I used a couple dabs of silicone II adhesive and sealant to the grommet and the LED light just to make sure...but two days of driving around and they never loosened before the silicone was added.
I cut the connector off the turn signals....and had two wires for LEXUS signal and three wires in the LED SIgnal. Reading box it is a set of 10 LEDs with one set for Parking Lights and the other for Turn Signals. So I combined the two wires and connected them to the power wire of the oem lights. Then I connected the two ground wires...and plugged the connector from wires to back of LED light and it was done. Repeated on other side. Soldered wires...wrapped in tape...then brushed on a good layer of liquid electrical tape to make them weather resistant at minimum.
For hooking up the LED light bar I used their supplied harness. I was going to use the Lexus switch on stalk as it is plenty big enough for this light...but did not want to cut up the harness they supplied and it uses a custom plug setup to get power from harness to the light itself. So I ran the new harness and mounted relay on firewall up high...figured out how to get into cabin area and then popped out a blank in dash...drilled a hole with bit....scraped just enough to make it fit really tight and popped into place the supplied switch.
I think it looks pretty damn good especially after I touch up the silver marks from me popping the switches before...LOL