fjfar80
GOLD Star
Prior to owning my 2009 double cab TRD Off Road Tacoma, I owned a 1997 FZJ80 Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser was heavily modified and I loved it, especially the custom rear bumper. The rear bumper was designed with dual swing-outs and was built by Iron Pig Offroad with some 4x4 Labs parts. When I purchased my Tacoma I knew that I would eventually want a similar bumper on the Tacoma. I spent the last few years looking at rear bumper options and nothing really struck my fancy. So, I eventually talked with Billy from Brute Force Fabrication and he offered to build me a custom bumper based on design cues from me and pictures of my FZJ80 bumper. The masterpiece below is that bumper. The bumper is a high clearance / dual swing-out design with rear bed protection in the form of slightly flared DOM tubing. It has integrated recovery points and a hidden tow-hitch. The dual swing-outs can hold the 33” spare, two Jerry cans, and a Hi-Lift (currently not mounted). The high clearance design required cutting the bed. I cut the bed by running a tape line to the wheel well using blue painters tape. The bed was then cut using both an electric cut-off and pneumatic cut-off tool. After the metal was cut to the desired specification (using the Mach 1 eyeball); I used a Dremel with different bits to debur and radius the edges. Once they were smooth I painted them (inside and out) with Rust-Oleum Truck Bed Coating Spray. I then followed that up with actual semi-gloss black Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel from a half-pint can. The installation was pretty easy and everything went together – including the factory tow-plug and license plate lights perfectly. The bumper is extremely well built and I opted to paint the bumper fully using Rust-Oleum Automotive Sandable Primer followed by numerous coats of flat black Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel from the infamous rattle can. I did this so I can quickly and easily touch-up any scrapes gathered while playing in rocks or in the woods. I actually use my truck and wanted to avoid powder coating the rear bumper; which, from my experience gets dragged over rocks a lot more than the front bumper. None the less, enjoy the pictures. The installation took 2 days – partly because of the rain and partly because I am anal and pretty detail focused. If you want an awesome bumper call Billy and ask for the “Mark Special”.
- Mark
- Mark
