I said YOLO and ordered a Weld-It-Yourself bumper kit! (Surprisingly Cheap!)

[wtfemery]

So I've been driving around with a missing bumper for a few months now because my mom spun and ran my T4R into a guard rail, crumpling the bumper. The only real damage was to the bumper and the cab mount that the bumper attaches to, so a stock bumper would be hard to re-attach, basically only leaving the option of a steel bumper mounted straight to the frame rails. The quotes I got to put a stock bumper back on were upwards of $1500+.

So, my mom cut me a check for $2k and I've decided to take the opportunity to get a nice steel bumper and finally learn to weld along the way! With this budget, I can afford all the beginner MIG welding equipment, angle grinder, the bumper, a grille, and I am contemplating getting a Maaco paint job for a nice cement gray with the leftover funds because my roof paint is peeling and my hood paint is (still) nonexistent. (I'd do all the prep work for the paint job if I decide on that) Heck, I may even decide to go with a bed-liner job with a cool "monstaliner" gray or sand color.

I am so excited and amazed at the style of the bumper I could afford for only $645 shipped! It's not some lame tube bumper like I thought was all I could afford. I'll put the link below to the bumper and a photo of that style on a 3rd gen:

I ordered this exact bumper with the same cutouts for lights:

https://www.movebumpers.com/products/classic-square-force-front-bumper-kit


Any tips from you guys who have tackled a DIY bumper kit?

 

[Devbot]

Quite the ambitious project for someone new to welding opcorn: opcorn: following this thread

 

[wtfemery]

While I wait for my bumper and supplies, I’m having trouble deciding what I want to do about my paint, because the brand new bumper is only going to make my peeling white hood look even uglier.

These look like my options from cheapest to most expensive:

(~$50) Cheap DIY (Black or carbon) vinyl wrap on the hood only

(~$120) Higher quality 3M vinyl wrap in a cool camp black pattern (hood only)

(~$400) Maaco color matched hood

(~$450) DIY Entire car wrap (will have to wait till summer to have that amount of spare time)

(~$500) Whole car Maaco paint job color matched

(~$800) Whole car Maaco paint job new dark (cement) gray color


I’m leaning towards a higher quality hood-only wrap. What colors/patterns do you guys think would look cool? I’m not afraid of going a bit crazy with it. The color-changing galaxy looked cool, and so did the dark gray camo pattern.


Here’s what my hood/roof looks like at the moment by the way. My paint color is a dark green/brownish color, i forget the paint name.

 

[Joelzy]

not sure what the rest of the frame looks like but I personally would rattle can the hood and use some money to clean up and POR15(or something comparable) any rust. then again, this is coming from a guy with a clean, coated frame and almost no clearcoat on the horizontal surfaces of my 4runner.

 

[Endlessblockades]

The bumper design is certainly more, uh, fashion-forward than I am used to seeing, but maybe I'm just an old Zoomer. Every time I look at your post my browser throws up a Lagunitas IPA add with this guy - LOL:

 

[wtfemery]

not sure what the rest of the frame looks like but I personally would rattle can the hood and use some money to clean up and POR15(or something comparable) any rust. then again, this is coming from a guy with a clean, coated frame and almost no clearcoat on the horizontal surfaces of my 4runner.

the frame is solid, there's just a bit of surface rust in the front area. It's a southern car. I'm moving to Colorado in a year and a half, I'll probably treat it the summer I move out there because of the snow.

I'm now contemplating doing a nice dark forest green Raptor Liner with black Liner on the bumpers and fender flares... hmm... that job would come out to under $300

 

[wtfemery]

Quite the ambitious project for someone new to welding opcorn: opcorn: following this thread

Ambitious, yes, but I'm all for the challenge. From the pics of what's actually in the box, It doesn't look too complex, a lot of the bends and edges are already done. There are basically three big pieces and then the mounting pieces.

Something like this:

 

[Devbot]

In regards to the options above, unless you're not concerned about the quality of the job I can nearly guarantee painting it yourself will come out better than Maaco. Just a word of warning, they're the definition of you get what you pay for. A decent respray should be in the thousands, easily - and that's unpainted door jambs+engine bay tier. Best way to get a good job from maaco is to bring then standalone body panels, or to do all the prep yourself as you said

 

[wtfemery]

Okay, Screw a crappy Maaco paint job... The more I stare at this crazy blue raptor liner paint job on this 4th gen... the more it grows on me. Just imagine this color on a 3rd gen with a black steel bumper and black trim... I think it’d look badass... I was leaning towards a more subtle liner color but the more I see this specific blue color the more I want to say f**k it and just do the reflex blue with black fender flares and bumpers. I plan on keeping this 4runner indefinitely, so I just might do it.

Pics:

 

[patkelly4370]

Instead of worrying about the paint while waiting for the bumper, I'd be practicing welding.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Devbot]

Instead of worrying about the paint while waiting for the bumper, I'd be practicing welding.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

^^^ This. Fab work is an art not a science. All this planning (and similarly, having armor) will be little worth it if you warp the metal or have little-to-no penetration. Start grabbing random bits of something mild like 1018, lay them up and odd angles and start practicing laying bead and managing heat, cut the joint in half on a saw to see how much penetration you have to ensure you're not just brazing
Edit: the blue is too FJ Cruiser for my tastes but that's just me, some people obviously like FJCs. If you like it go for it. Something I recommend looking into the ease of cleaning, since some bed liners are notorious for trapping dirt more than others. Nothing a pressure washer can't fix tho!

 

[patkelly4370]

I only suggested this because I'm teaching myself to weld.
Successfully did a few projects so far, getting better. I personally wouldn't start with something like this.
I've been at it as a hobbyist for a year or so and might attempt it with supervision from my neighbor. Some of his welds are holding the International Space Station together.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[aontkos]

$645 for that kit just makes a $775 bumper from 4X Innovations seems like a steal. I certainly know who I'd give my money to if I was in your position. Good on you for taking on the challenge though.

In my opinion, the DIY bedliner paint job looks cheaper than the cheapest MAACO paint job. No thanks.

But hey, you do you, man. The only thing that matters is that you're enjoying it.

 

[wtfemery]

Instead of worrying about the paint while waiting for the bumper, I'd be practicing welding.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Absolutely. I’ve been learning just about all I can learn from youtube vids these past few days. Now, as Destin from Smarter Every Day would put it, I have the knowledge but not the understanding. Practice is practice. I will definitely gather some scrap steel and take an entire weekend beforehand to practice and examine the cause/effect of different settings and techniques and see the penetration.

I appreciate you all making sure I don’t just dive right into this with no practice.

 

[wtfemery]

$645 for that kit just makes a $775 bumper from 4X Innovations seems like a steal. I certainly know who I'd give my money to if I was in your position. Good on you for taking on the challenge though.

In my opinion, the DIY bedliner paint job looks cheaper than the cheapest MAACO paint job. No thanks.

But hey, you do you, man. The only thing that matters is that you're enjoying it.

4x Innovations has a 10 wk lead time plus shipping costs though, and I considered them, but the angular grille guard on the move bumper really hooked me. I know it’s either love it or hate it with that style of bumper. I guess that’s beginning to be the theme of my build... love it or hate it, but I’m the only one who loves it! haha

 

[wtfemery]

Hey guys, so since I’m still missing my turn signals I went ahead and ordered some SRQ Fabrications filler panel LED turn signals a few days ago. I got them today and wired one of them up (the left side needs some clever ingenuity to mount it evenly because of the impact)

anyways, I turned on my hazards and the rear lights blink regularly, but the LEDs I installed flicker randomly and don’t get fully bright. I do have the LED Relay, which i’m going to try to install now, but before I take my lower dash apart to get to it, is there something obvious I’m missing? I just wired the lights up directly, red to white, and black to green.

I don’t need to have all 4 turn signals be LED, do I?

 

[Devbot]

Hey guys, so since I’m still missing my turn signals I went ahead and ordered some SRQ Fabrications filler panel LED turn signals a few days ago. I got them today and wired one of them up (the left side needs some clever ingenuity to mount it evenly because of the impact)

anyways, I turned on my hazards and the rear lights blink regularly, but the LEDs I installed flicker randomly and don’t get fully bright. I do have the LED Relay, which i’m going to try to install now, but before I take my lower dash apart to get to it, is there something obvious I’m missing? I just wired the lights up directly, red to white, and black to green.

I don’t need to have all 4 turn signals be LED, do I?

I too have their filler panel lights (really like them tbh) and it should be as simple as that. Try the relay first, even they warn against hyperflash with stock relays. If it still persists check your connections, cause you obviously got them right; they'd just be a little loose or something

 

[wtfemery]

I too have their filler panel lights (really like them tbh) and it should be as simple as that. Try the relay first, even they warn against hyperflash with stock relays. If it still persists check your connections, cause you obviously got them right; they'd just be a little loose or something

I just swapped the relay. They blink slower but still they’re almost completely dull. I can see them barely flicker and it’s dark out... I thought I did my connections as solid as I could with just twisting them and wrapping well with electrical tape.

I’ll grab some real connectors from walmart real quick and redo them.

 

[wtfemery]

just redid the connections and they still don’t work... wtf

 

[Devbot]

Oh wait I read that wrong. If I recall the green wire should be positive, when I did this I think I remember being told white/black is the negative lead on these vehicles the majority of the time