Thanks for following along!

You and me are in the same boat. My truck is a 2000 and I always liked the simple “Viper Cut” that I performed on my old 98’ 4Runner back in like 2010. I will be rocking a 98’ upper bumper to go with our manufactured lower bumper on my 2000 4Runner here shortly. The 96-98’ upper bumper is very tight to the 4Runner and allows great approach angle right from the factory. Strength wise it leaves a lot to be desired (same with all variations of the OEM 4Runner bumpers) but I like the low weight aspect of it knowing the strong winch mount and recovery points we are building below it.

We will need some test units in the field and will be running a “Prototype Group Buy” of about 10 units very soon. I want these to be in operation for a month or two (to gather feedback) before we then move to production bumpers. We will post with more info soon on this small Prototype run and the requirements that we will have for it.

**BUMPER UPDATE**

New files were completed around Feb 20th. We are currently in que to have the Prototype V2 bumper cut with our manufacturer. I am expecting the bumper to be cut next week and then shipped to me.

We are also having our prototype V1 sliders cut at the same time. I will start a new thread for those as well. We will also be doing a small prototype run of them also, in a similar format to the bumper.

Thanks for everyone’s patience.

Addison

I need a bumper and sliders so I’m entirely willing to try both in order to help save some on shipping.

Put me down for the proto group… timing is perfect as we are looking to add a winch to the wife’s’98 limited DD as we venture a bit further into the wilderness.

Had the ARB on the list but like this option to maintain as much stock appearance as possible

Edit… proto sliders too!

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rickashay - Any update as to when the prototype kits will be ready?

I do my own welding and have built a Move bumper for a 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 lifted Crew Cab 4x4 pickup I had. I can certainly provide info on the welding of your awesome looking bumper kit.

I'd be super interested in the UB3R and LB3R units.

PM sent!!!

Please put me down for a prototype group buy as well.

Send you a PM for the proto bumper group. Looking forward to the requirements

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This is the post I've been waiting for! Keep checking back every few days for updates on the bumper. Very excited to see a working prototype. Appreciate your hard work on this

Thanks for the interest everyone (and the PM’s). We will post up here soon with our requirements for the group buy.

**UPDATE**

Prototype v2 Bumper landed at my place last night. I’ll grab some photos tomorrow of the components before I start building it up (hopefully next week).

Looking forward to the pictures of v2!

And the group buy/requirements

LET'S GO!

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Soon! Want to get it assembled and on the truck first this time.

In good time ;)

**UPDATE**

Started welding the bumper together yesterday. I made an error in one of the components that will have to be modified as it interferes with the body. Simple fix but it ended up taking me some time to remedy it in the garage before I could continue assemble. Overall it went together beautifully compared to V1. As expected there are a couple very minor and easy tweaks I need to make for the Prototype run but we are very close. I spent about 1.5hrs actually assembling and welding and the base bumper is almost fully together.

Should be significantly less fab time on these if you are A) welding them yourselves or B) paying a pro welder to do it for you. This is largely due to the pre-bending and keying of most components (higher cost on the manufacturing side) but should relate to a final product that fits nicer, and also is actually quite time/cost effective if you look at it as a completed product (once assembled).

Trying to finish it off this weekend and get some photos of it up and actually on the truck.

Thanks for the update @rickashay looking forward to pics and next steps.

Do you have an "anticipated" price point for the prototype/ final release of the bumper, and can you outline what the buyer/beta tester needs to provide, specifically, like which year bumper parts, etc.

Thanks!

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Just stumbled across this and I have to say I'm very interested in seeing the pics and the group buy requirements

Group Buy - As mentioned, I will post about GB requirements when I get that far, and it will include everything that is required. Top of my head, we will be looking for feedback on fitment (on trucks other than my own), fabrication time, known/seen issues with use & abuse, and there is definitely a case to try and get some marketing material (photos/video) from the early adopters. Full specifics will be announced when I am confident in V2.1 and have made the necessary tweaks for V2.2.

Pricing - I’m definitely hesitant to state pricing right now, as once the design is more “final” pricing will become more solidified. With steel fluctuations; me still needing to source hardware, and more bends on V2.1 than V1 (more shop time), I am expecting an increase in my cost over the initial prototype. Like I mentioned previous though, this increase in cost should relate to less fabrication time for the end user and ultimately a “prettier” and consistent product out in the market. That being said, I will say the target is to be below $750 CAD (let’s be clear, I am not stating the actual price) for the LB3R. Don’t hold me to that, but I will have a retail price in the coming weeks that will be more accurate.

Thanks for checking it out! I appreciate everyone’ patience and feedback so far. We are getting close and it will be great o have these out in the wild for this years summer camping season!

Thanks,
Addison

This is super exciting, and even though I'm moving in a few months itd be neat to get in on the GB.

The $750 is just for the LBER weld it yourself kit correct? Not the full bumper (UBER+LBER)?