Slee 1st Gen Rear Bumper Redux (1 Viewer)

[canman]

Installed a couple pieces of UHMV. One as a base support with a groove for the Hi-Lift. It actually locks the base in very nicely. The other is a stricker plate for the arm, but I will need to add some shims or perhaps some UHMV tape to the underside of the arm. Also made a stop with a pice of rubber. It keeps the arm from rattling. I will likely make another stop for the arm in the open position. Lots of little fiddley work, but almost done with the modding. Been very hot as well for the last few weeks. It's 90F now, and I need a .

 

[canman]

Any ideas on how to get the arm off? I'm guessing I need a bearing/ pulley puller to get the inner bearing off the center spindle.

 

[canman]

Got the spindle bearing out with a pulley puller I got on loan. Popped right off but I noticed there is no bottom seal to keep the elements out. Also found out my rubber stop and bracket is interfering with the lower tailgate when open. Back to the drawing board. Will need to add a quick release pin to keep the arm from moving up and down and as a secondary means of securing it.

 

[canman]

Got the arm stop welded in and then moved to the latch mechanism and found a hole in the bottom of the arm. Quite a bit of rust had come out after banging on it. Decided to cut out the cancer and will weld in a new piece. Also notched out the holes for my trailer connector and 120VAC plug as well as plugging up unneeded holes for the spring plunger. Had to notch out the holes for the pintle as they were off by 1/16" or so.

 

[canman]

Started to box in the latch his opening so that the piece I removed will have something to rest on. Welded in the spring plunger along with a brace and fabbed up the pieces for the quick release pin including bronze bushings. Added an aluminum guard to protect the plunger. The black knobs it came were not made with the correct thread (7/16") so I well either make one from some round stock or look for a replacement. Misplaced the castle nut and washer, unf$$king believable.

Had it in my hand one second gone the next when I moved everything inside because of rain. This is taking waaaaaay too long.

 

[canman]

Almost done with the mods. Just need to make one more UHMV strip for underneath the arm. So far I have made 18 individual new parts, and have modded 3 existing parts. Crazy. It was a pain to align the quick release pin as it would move slightly each time I added a weld. Welded in the bottom plate for the latch and cleaned up my boogerwelds a bit as well. Also made a temporary push knob for the latch. Hopefully, I will have time soon to sand blast and paint.

 

[canman]

Mounted the bumper back on my truck with spare tire and discovered a few issues.

1. No room for my work light where I had made the mtg brackets. Cannot believe how close the tire carrier is to the vehicle. Is this normal? I guess that is good in a way, but now have to figure out a new mtg arrangement. Also no room for shovel either.
2. Quick release pin does not align even though I had mounted tire on bumper when welding in the piece. Arm drops about 0.5 a 0.75 mm. I find amount the spindle nut is tightened can influence alignment of pin with and without tire.
3. Bottom of arm is not parallel to top surface of bumper. Is this normal? I have not yet mounted the two side wind brackets to the frame so I wonder if bumper has twisted a bit without side wing brackets installed.
4. Tire moves quite a bit (fore and aft) when closing the arm. Again, is this normal or is this a result of side wing brackets not installed?

 

[canman]

Relocated the worklight to the side which I like as it minimizes the obstruction in the rear window /rear view mirror. Found that my knobs for my drill press fit on the latch release plunger which looks good. Still have to figure out where to put my rear view camera and licence plate. Installed the trailer connector and 120VDC plug as well. I might add a shovel I have to the swing arm as it fits nicely there.

 

[Box Rocket]

First off, good work on resurrecting this thing.
Secondly, a couple observations and answers to latest questions....
The tire movement (fore/aft) will be reduced a lot when you get the side wing brackets attached. I find there is actually minimal flex in the swing arm itself or the spindle, but most comes from twisting of the main bumper channel from the leverage of the swingarm. Stabalizing the side wings will help a lot.

It's normal to have the tires mounted fairly close to the vehicle (often preferred) because of better departure clearance.

You mentioned the swing arm not being parallel to the top of the bumper. Again, I think this is normal and built into the design. Once the weight of the tire and other accessories are added the swing arm will flex some and drop. If it was built perfectly parallel, it would not be once the weight was added. It also keeps the swing arm from not clearing the top of the bumper when you close it.
This is a bit more of an exaggerated example from a bumper I built for a Tacoma owner. Because the customer wanted a full width swing arm with not only the spare tire mounted but two jerry cans mounted out toward the latch end, I knew there would be some flex in the arm with that much weight on the arm. So the arm was welded at a slightly upward angle so it didn't droop.

 

[canman]

The never ending mods continue. The is not happy.

Had to add a return spring for the latch and now I have to toss the structure for the tire carrier as the removable portion is heavily corroded to the point it is barely over 1 mm in thickness on some places. Will graft the same portion from the Blazer tire carrier I picked up a few years back and then will weld the round section with the Toyota studs to it.

 

[canman]

Almost done modding the tire carrier brkt. Glad I decided to go ahead as the existing one was paper thin in places. Probably would have cracked and bye bye tire.

Don't know why such thin sheet metal was used in the first place. The metal for the Jimmy brkt is about 1.5 X thicker for a much smaller tire.

Also noticed a few more hairline cracks around the tube supports at the base. More welding and grinding. This has gotten crazy.

Modding the tire carrier brkt shifted the tire rearward about 1/2". This has now changed the alignment of my quick release pin.

 

[divemedic]

Did you replace the bearings in the spindle? Do you remember what you used?

 

[canman]

No, but at the time I did find some on line (trailer wheel bearings) that were the same size. IIRC it is a non-standard size, and I think the top and bottom were different inner diameters. The other issue was that there was no "seal" on the bottom bearing to keep dirt etc out.

 

[divemedic]

I did find some bearing that should fit. Same MO; trailer bearings. However I just spoke with Slee and have their service kit. 99% sure it will fit.

 

[canman]

Well, back at it after 5 yrs. Painted it a few years back, but then after finishing it I realized I had used high-gloss instead of semi-gloss which I had used on my ARB front bumper, so it sat for a couple of years. Been touching things up a bit with my daughter who will inherit the LX last week, and we got it installed late last night. Still lots to do like mounting/ relocating telescopic worklight, shovel, rear backup camera, trailer plug, pintle hook, and 120VAC outlet.

 

[canman]

A few more bits added...

 

[canman]

Got the “original” spare 110 lb 35” Toyo MT/OEM steelie rim installed. Took it out this morning for a coffee run and it didn’t move. Actually the arm is parallel with the bumper so the previous issues I noted were due to the wing supports not being installed. Really no need now for the UHMW skid plate, but I’ll install it anyways since the holes are there. I’m also really impressed with how the the latch mechanism I installed is working. Again no need for the quick release pin I had made previously. I’m not really keen on the draw-over type latches used on many rear bumpers. The gas strut works great especially on downward slopes with getting the tire out of the way. I also think I know where I’m going to install the shovel. It fits perfectly on the Hi-Lift jack. Lol! This thing is solid!

 

[canman]

Realized that I better relocate my license plate sooner rather than later as if was completely obscured by the spare tire. Was going to use a JDM one I picked up along the way, but realized it was going to be too much work. Looking at my parts stash, I came across two plastic plate holders that I must have picked up waaay back when I probably discovered back then that I couldn’t use the JDM one. Installed one this morning, and it look “stock”. Haha! Now to figure out where to mount the rear backup camera. Tough to figure where best spot is considering mounting options and wiring. Nasty 4C out now! What happened! Lol!