I just picked this up at the BAMF/Pelfreybilt garage sale.

Pelfreybilt Inventory
Pelfreybilt Installation Instructions | Tacoma World No help to me what so ever but maybe useful for someone else.


Pelfreybilt Steel plate winch bumper (sans hoops)
w/ 20" recessed LED light bar cut out
w/ 3" recessed fog light mount



Mocked it up for fitment and found my first curveball. The hood wont close due to interference with the grill and the top of the bumper. Apparently there were two versions built for this model, 03-05 & 06-09. I either got the former or it was an engineering oversight. I only say that because the best that I could tell, when the model refresh came out (2006) Toyota put the blinkers in with the headlights. This bumper doesn't have provisions for blinkers.



So I considered my options.
Option 1: Trim for clearance.
Option 2: Lower the whole bumper. This would create an 1.25" gap at the headlights and fenders.
Option 3: Grill swap? I wasn't even sure if this would be a direct fit or create some other problem.

I chose option 1 and got to cutting. I scribed a line with a 1/4" gap in front of the grill. Then got out the cutoff wheel and started throwing sparks.



With the clearancing done I refit the bumper and checked out the progress. Success! (forgot to take the success pic) The hood closed perfectly and gave a small tolerance for shimmy and bumps to keep from chaffing. So I popped the hood to remove the bumper and found my next curveball. Can't reach the hood release lever! Now that the hood closes all the way the grill drops below the bumper.

After a couple of moments, some cussing, two adult beverages of inspiration, I think I found a work around. The little finger release lever has a connecting rod that reaches up to the release mechanism. So I can either drill a little hole in the finger lever and run a rigid wire with a finger loop up to another hole in the grill or I could run a rigid wire down from the release mech to another opening in the grill. Either way, not a big deal.

Yet another curveball. The A/C line runs up from the frame on the driver side, makes contact with the winch mount plate and then goes horizontal towards the passenger side directly in the path of the winch footprint. As well as the transmission cooling line ( I believe it's the tranny line anyway). I thing I can massage the A/C line with a tubing bender. The tranny line has soft lines attached to a rigid line that I think I can relocate as well.


Lastly, powder coat This being the "Wifey Rig" I must defer to her feedback for this. She had previously stated that she didn't want" some hitios beefy thing hanging off of the front end" (her words). Rather she prefered "sexy yet functional" ( I had an image of cowgirl boots and denim shorts in my head and said "that works"). I've normally just gone with black powder coat or black paint or even bed liner.

After talking around with powder coat shops they suggested matching it as opposed to using a generic white so I found this. Prismatic Powders, RAL 9003, "Pearl White". From what I can tell this matches the Toyota "Natural White" (paint code 056) as closely as one can without doing a special order.


A few questions for anyone out there who has ventured down this path ahead of me.

1. Have you had any powder coat work matched to your white rig (056, Natural White)? If so, what was the powder coat color & brand & code.

2. Anyone else mount up a Pelfreybilt to a 06-09 with the same grill issues?

3. Did you have issues with the lines interfering with your winch? If so,what did you do about it?


Thanks in advance for your help guys and gals. This place has been an excellent resource for my inspirations on future mods and I'm looking forward to your feed back.

I am no help to answer your questions.
But, I commend you on how instead of pitching a fit like many others would do. You busted out the grinder and got your hands dirty.
Looks great by the way, and good luck finishing her up.

Thanks for your encouragement. It took a few minutes for me feel like it was worth it, but it's just steel. I can fix it if i mess it up.

I learned from a good friend of mine that it's worth doing the mock up before paint. He unfortunately learned the hard way. We had tried to mount a Taco winch bumper from All-Pro to a 4Runner and despite All-Pros encouragement that it "should" work, it was going to take plenty of fab work. He had already painted it and we weren't convinced that it would actually fit the fenders just right. Lesson learned, 4Runners and Tacos may look similar but... that's all.

I’m still searching for solutions on the interference with the lines. While there’s no pics here I did find some comments about this issue.

Expensive lesson learned: A/C line rubbing against winch

Not a unique problem. It seems to be a common issue and if left unadressed an expensive one too.

Also, it looks like the other line is not a tranny cooler line (as the cooler is mounted to the front of the radiator as seen in one of my earlier pics) but rather the power steering reservoir line.

I slit a length of 3/8" rubber gas line and zip tied it around my a/c lines to protect them from my winch bumper.

do you off road your runner? if yes you may want to widen the gap between your bumper and body/headlight trim,you would be amazed how much things move and rub/rattle if the clearance is too small,3/4" is just about right.May explain some of your hood issues.

ive heard about the steel bumpers flexing up into the body, etc. and feel like that totally sucks. i know these rigs are more function over form (especially for those who opt for the big time aftermarket armor) but driving around with an inch gap in the bumper is pretty trashy looking too.

That’s the goal, yes. I also am not impressed with the inconsistent gaps from the head lights to to fender. After BAMF posted some install instructions (for the Tacos), I noticed one tip that can help a little bit. They suggest using washers like shims on the top mounting bolts. Looks like the theory is to angle the fender wings up by rotating the top (out) downward. With that said, there just isn’t enough vertical adjustment to accomplish what you suggested to also clear the grill. There’s about 3/4” in the vertical slot and that’s only if I remove the hidden 4th mounting bolt that does not have an elongated hole.

Honestly I think this bumper was for the 03-05 and the blinkers were intended to be surface mounted. At least that’s my theory.

This seems to be a common workaround. I’m considering it as an option but wondering if I could also use a tubing bender to rework the line closer to the radiator. How about the other line there behind it (think it’s the power steering line), how much tollerance do you have there?

@4RunAmok has one of these on his 4Runner so he may be able to help.

I have an '06 and the top plate of my bumper has a cutout that looks like what you did with yours. I don't have a transmission cooler, so I can't speak to that issue, but I do recall needing to massage the AC lines a bit to provide clearance for the bumper and later for my winch. I access the hood release through the cutout to the right of the fairlead mounting location. It's an easy reach to the lever and has never bothered me.

Thanks for the feedback, good to know that I'm not alone on this one. So once you pop the hood the grill is still below the bumper?

Did you consider swapping the grill to an 03-05?
Also, what are your gaps like around the headlights and fenders?
What winch did you bolt up?

I'm currently watching YT for LED bars. My eyes are leaning towards Black Oak but my wallet is leaning towards Mictuning.

Yes, once the hood is released, the grill is still recessed below the top plate of the bumper. I don't know what the dimensions are of the 03-05 grill (shorter?), but I doubt I'd feel motivated enough to swap the grill.

I didn't find that there was a wide range of adjustment to manage gaps on my vehicle, but I was able to set the gaps that I found visually acceptable while still avoiding contact with body flex. Since the fender line isn't horizontal and perpendicular to the front of the vehicle, I spaced the top of the mounting plate at the frame horn out away from the frame. It provided enough tilt to even out the gaps along the bumper "wings" and the fenders. I've noticed some other PB bumpers mounted the same way.

I mounted a $hittybilt winch. It has worked fine for my needs.

Good to hear that this is normal and worth working around it. As for the 03-05 grill, when I read up on the headlight swap for those who want the projectors, I learned that if they don't swap the grill they will have a small triangle gap at the lower corners of the grill. It seems that that although the headlights will bolt up they aren't an exact fit.
With that comes the grill swap which leads to another issue, interference with the bumper. So it turns out that the headlight swap is actually a face lift. Regardless of all of that useless info, the 03-05 grill is around an inch shorter so it sounds like an option for us (as long as it doesn't have some other hidden issue). I was also wondering if there is an aftermarket grill that is a viable option as well but I haven't looked in to it yet.

As for the gapping, I too plan to make some adjustments with washers or some type of shim to even out the wings with the headlights. Maybe once I get it dialed I'll just weld them to the bumper mounting plate then grind it flush. I'm thinking around 1/4" on the top stud? But I'll play with that to get it right.

I too purchased the exact bumper, no hoops, no turn signals etc. I immediately went to test fitting and ran into your issue(s). I did the same relief cut so the grill will fit behind the new bumper. I spaced mine 1/4" + from the fender and head light trim. My bumper had a little rear lean giving me more space than I wanted right at both fenders. I shimmed the top bumper bolt to lean it level. I decided to not color match. I am having Miller Powder coating in Petaluma finish the bumper in a neutral color. I almost had it Cerecoted in Burnt Bronze but I don't have the balls and my wifey would have shot me. I don't have answers for your questions yet. I do need to find a work around for the ac hard line.