New Guy - Conifer, CO

[bgoodheart]

Howdy. I'm new on the forum, but have had my Taco and lurked for a few years. Just got back from Cruise Moab with the Rising Sun 4x4 Club, and headed out to Spring Creek this Saturday (May 19th) if anyone wants to join (baja1d has a thread posted in events).

Truck has 5100s up front with Tundra coils/5125 10" in the rear with custom Alcans. ARB front, sliders, skids, and my homemade version of a CBI Bushmaster in the rear (never mind the bailing wire holding the plate on in the picture - that's finished now ). FJC wheels (I'll probably ditch them in favor of 16" at some point, but they work for now and look ), and a homemade rack. A few other parts and pieces in there.



BJ Goodheart

 

[bgoodheart]

Here are a few more pictures of the bumper in progress. I cut the sheet metal with a thin cut-off wheel on my grinder after measuring, measuring, measuring, and taping the line I wanted. I sloped a couple degrees down toward the wheel well to keep the line parallel to the indentation on the body. I did a lot of the welding on the truck because I don't have a welder and was borrowing driveway space from fellow Rising Sun folks (thanks guys!). I primed and painted the bare edge after cutting on the body, then put some edge strip I picked up at O'Reilly's. The strip has a thin bead of silicone in it, but I filled it with windshield sealant so that I didn't just create a place for water to gather. It's tough to see in the photos in the original post, but I reused the factory license plate lights. The plate sits over the top of a receiver, and I still need to make a hinge, so I can occasionally get to the hitch.


EDIT: can't add any more attachments - bummer. I'll have to look at a Flickr account or something

 

[bgoodheart]

Apparently I already had a Picasa album... Here's a link to a few of the bumper in progress. I talked the good folks at CBI into sending me the laser cut and bent pieces, and after a few speedbumps, Igot everything I needed put together and it looks better than I thought.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117481892193661103429/Taco

Hope this works for photos...

 

[KC Yota]

That's a sweet rig!

 

[Krust]

Nice truck man! Looks very clean.

 

[Haggis]

Great looking rig!!

 

[bgoodheart]

Thanks fellas. As we used say in drag racing, looks don't make it go!

Still lots of work to do on the little red truck. Right now, I'm just trying to get the front suspension dialed the way I want. Hopefully, next up will be a few little things like a u-bolt flip, and relocating the rear shocks.