Ducmonsta's Build Thread-very pic heavy!

[Alex T4R]

Ha!! He's going to be pissed! I was bugging him for a pic awhile ago.

I'm more interested in hearing the modifications on how you mounted!

Haha that what happens when you spend 4-5 hours at the shop and you can't see your own truck, you start looking at other 4runners and paying attention to their details. LOL I might be missing something but i did pay close attention to the install and it has some kind of rubber plastic and sits flush with a truck. Looks very nice and does not make any noise when you go over bumps.

 

[chrisdowling84]

Haha that what happens when you spend 4-5 hours at the shop and you can't see your own truck, you start looking at other 4runners and paying attention to their details. LOL I might be missing something but i did pay close attention to the install and it has some kind of rubber plastic and sits flush with a truck. Looks very nice and does not make any noise when you go over bumps.

I was just asking him about new pics the other day when i was at the shop.... i literally thought about doing the same thing, but it was the first time I actually met him, and didn't want to look like a creeper! haha

 

[kenski]

Someone Ducmonsta forgot to update their build thread, so a good friend would help them out to update it. LOL

What an awesome friend. Good looking out.

 

[Ducmonsta]

[MENTION=86190]Alex T4R[/MENTION] [MENTION=77212]chrisdowling84[/MENTION]
No worries guys. It was bound to be leaked at some point.

I haven't really had time to update my thread because of the move and all. Selling a house in DC and buying one in Vancouver keeps one busy. My wife is already there so managing two kids by myself doesn't leave much room for personal play time. I am, however, going to have babysitting this Saturday so ill have some time to work on my truck.

Thanks to [MENTION=62008]limamike[/MENTION], I have a donor bumper for the ARB project.

You can't tell from the pics, but my wife decided to rear end a Honda Accord during her last beach trip. So, unfortunately, there's a crack in my original bumper above the "cut line" from ARB.

Here's what you need from the original bumper.

And some reverse "storm trooper" effect.

 

[4ShoreRunner]

Did you figure out a way to mount it so it tucked in closer to the body? I know you were trying to figure out a way to make it look like less of a fat lip.

 

[Ducmonsta]

[MENTION=49537]4ShoreRunner[/MENTION]
Not really. I cut the factory bumper and associated parts differently.

I really like the shrockworks design. I just couldn't wait for it to come in (with the move and all). So I did A LOT of research into the ARB. I'm really glad I did. There aren't too many pics on the interweb that showed the ARB on our 4rs with a lift and aggressive tires. You'll find plenty with stock height, stock wheels, a/t tires, etc. I couldn't find one with a lift, aftermarket wheels and a mud tire. Well, not until [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION] went with the MTRs. There are so many pics out there with such a poor angle that it makes the bumper look ginormous. It really isn't.

I've installed plenty of shrockworks bumpers, as you all may know. [MENTION=42717]Jonesey[/MENTION]y and [MENTION=62008]limamike[/MENTION] s custom set up with the Rigids. The main differences between the two are the brackets that mount to our frame. Shrockworks is a standard plate bracket system. ARB uses the same idea, but with "crush" zones. I personally believe this is a better and more thought out design. Sure there's some flex to the bumper over bumps, but nothing bothersome. The bracing between the two is also fairly significant. I really wish I would have taken more pics of the backside of the ARB. It was getting to be a late night during the install and I started rushing things. There are internal supports in the "wings" of the ARB. There is also a lot more gusseting for the winch mount. The fit and finish to the ARB is far cleaner than that of the shrockworks. Again, I think the Shrockworks is beautifully crafted product. A lot of us think it looks better. And I somewhat agree. The headlight piece could use some more r&d as it doesn't fit all that well.

Anyway, if you've seen the ARB bumper, they require you to cut a huge piece off of the ends of our bumpers. Basically, where our fender flares are. I opted to try and keep this part of the bumper for aesthetics. If you look closely to one of the above pics, you'll see the flare ends are still attached.

Here you'll see where I retained the ends of the bumper piece. ARB wanted you to cut the entire end off. The one of the right is orignial. The one on the left still has the bumper retaining clips attached.

A little closer.

 

[Ducmonsta]

Cutting it this way allows for the "fender flare" to still remain. On other installations, this is where that unsightly gap appears.

So now the factory bumper still clips into those brackets.

ARB is very good about their hardware. They provide everything you need, and then some. They are also very, very, very specific on where you need to install those. It's best you arrange those. Sometimes there's only a 10mm difference in length, but it matters.

 

[Icufltrn]

I like the way your bumper came out. I was reading yesterday that the shrockworks bumper makes it so the airbags don't work anymore. Do you know if the same is true of the ARB?

 

[Ducmonsta]

I like the way your bumper came out. I was reading yesterday that the shrockworks bumper makes it so the airbags don't work anymore. Do you know if the same is true of the ARB?

Airbags are functional with either bumper. Late model vehicles use g force sensors. So it won't matter what's in front of you. If you hit something hard enough, the bags will deploy.

 

[Ducmonsta]

So to continue with installation...
I opted to go with Warns m8000s. I couldn't justify going with Warns high end Zeon winch series. I don't/haven't done any serious wheeling and don't intend to. Maybe small trails but definitely not a serious rock crawling. I imagine I would be using the winch for more utilitarian purposes than getting my truck unstuck. In my previous posts, you may have seen the fairlead. It comes in a polished aluminum but we were experimenting with our Craigslist oven find. That's when we powder coated the fairlead black and then added the red accent on the warn logo. It's too bad it's covered by the thimble and lisence plate. Of course, I found out WA needs a front plate also.

ARB has a drop in IPF light kit for its bumpers. Unfortunately, it's a standard halogen bulb. I went with PIAAs new led light. It uses reverse reflecting technology. It has two LEDs shining back towards the reflector. Pretty impressive design concept. So now I have matching led color with the hid system.

The ARB bumper has cutouts for the lights. Unfortunately, the PIAAs are slightly smaller than the IPF lights. So used the "filler" plate as shrouds.

Just cut them out to the appropriate diameter and silicon them on. The nice thing is I can still aim them and not worry about the look of the shrouds.

And after final installation...

I'll get some better bumper shots when it's not just in my driveway. I'm actually headed out to the shop to do some other mods tonight.

 

[Ducmonsta]

As promised,

Didn't really do much to my own truck tonight. I was working on my bro in laws Silverado which took longer than expected.

Still have to wire up the dual battery monitor, mount and wire ARB dual compressor and tank, run power to the back for an ARB fridge, replace the ARB turn signals with led modules, mount the Yakima skybox, fabricate a spare tire swing out, CRAP! I've got three weeks to do it!

 

[momo.75]

That looks so good!

 

[Ducmonsta]

No mods to speak of here. Just finished my cross country trek to move to Vancouver, WA. I visited a couple national parks and monuments that I didn't get a chance to do on my last cross country adventure. I had 7 days to go from Washington, DC to Vancouver, WA. So after 3324 miles and 217 gallons of fuel, I can blast you guys with some pics of my recent adventure.
In no particular order...

 

[Ducmonsta]

 

[Ducmonsta]

 

[Ducmonsta]

I definitely do not have the eye, nor the skills to compete with the resident photogs of this forum.

 

[Ducmonsta]

 

[Ducmonsta]

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Qjake]

Fu¿king Awesome Bobby! But ya scared the heck outta me with that last one!

:jk:

Curious about your RTT? Did it not make the trip?