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My New Bumper Build by Brute Force Fab

The front license plate bracket didn't arrive in time.  Billy will ship that too me once it does.  It will go over the winch opening and has two de-tent stops at 90 degrees and 180 degrees so the winch can be accessed.  When closed, the plate covers the winch opening and keeps things legal.  It mounts to the winch bracket in front.

The control pack for the winch is not yet mounted.  I just haven't decided where to put it yet.  Initially we thought of putting it between the two PIAA lights on the outside of the bumper, but it might interfere with air cooling the engine so we bagged that idea.  I'll have to make a final choice on that later now that I have the truck and can play around with that idea a bit.  The synthetic rope isn't yet on the spool either.  The lights you see in the front are not connected.  I guess you can say the bumpers are done, I just need to finish up the "furniture" that goes along with it.
 

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I know this question may come up and I prepared for it on the drive down to Fresno.

What did all this do to my gas milage?

Here are two photos I made.  One is the drive down to Fresno with all the stock bumpers and the other is my drive back from Fresno with the new bumpers and basket.  Essentially, I lost 3 mpg with all the modifications.  That translates to about 8 gallons of gas (as you can see in the photos) over a 720-ish mile trip.  Or, about $26 in added fuel costs at today's gas prices for the areas I traveled.  

Not sure why my speed was so much slower coming home as it was going to Fresno.  My guess is it's due to driving down to Fresno on a Sunday with no rush-hour traffic and lighter traffic on the roadways.  Coming back to Boise I hit Sacramento at rush hour (suck) and there were a lot more vehicles on the roads.  That's my only guess.  But who knows.  There may be other environmental conditions that I'm not smart enough (not do I have the inclination to research) that played a part in that.  After all, this was just a non-scientific experiment.
 

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Billy and I.

I could not be more happy with how the bumpers and basket turned out.  Pretty pleased with it all.  It took a while....4 weeks....but that's to be expected when it's a custom job and the builder is used to working on Toyotas.  Billy was great to work with and had great patience with me and my OCD......or, CDO since the letters have to be in the right order.  

That's enough posting for one day.  I'll continue to update this post as I get all the little things finished up on the bumper and basket.  But all of those things make take some time.  I still need to drive out to the Port of Entry and get the truck weighed to see how these modifications changed that aspect of things too.  

I need to get the lights put on, the front bumper lights hooked up, the winch installed......yadda, yadda, yadda.  Since a professional is no longer working on my truck, this make take some time.  
 

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Thanks for all the pictures I am impressed with his work.
 
Yup very nice..

I would expect that the change in mileage could be related to temperature, wind or elevation. It is hard to compare before and after on something like that when you compare the same trip in different directions. It is much easier to go downhill with the wind than uphill against the wind... The weight should not make a noticeable difference. I suspect you won't notice a difference in mileage over time.

Its enough to make me want a set myself though... Although I would probably try getting some drop down steps on the sides that are spring loaded so I could still climb into the bed of the truck easily. The gates might get in the way of that though. Or maybe drop down steps off the back or something.

Rodney
 
Your front and rear bumpers turned out great!  BTW, Billy did call me and we spoke about my bumper ideas.  Mine will be not be as detailed or complex as your... Essentially I'm looking for bumpers that almost look stock but made out of metal.  Billy said he would call me again in a few weeks to discuss price and go from there.
 
Looks great..  (y)  (y)
 
CA-AV said:
BTW, Billy did call me and we spoke about my bumper ideas.  Mine will be not be as detailed or complex as your... Essentially I'm looking for bumpers that almost look stock but made out of metal.  Billy said he would call me again in a few weeks to discuss price and go from there.
Cool!  Glad you two hooked up. 

He had a Tacoma off road rally he was attending the end of May....I believe it was.  The deadline for my truck was bumping up against his prep time for that rally, so I knew it was the end of May sometime.

I'm still working with my nephew on a wind fairing for the roof rack.  It may be another couple weeks before we have it ready, then I need to powdercoat it. 

Now that the professional is done with the truck and it's in my hands.....it'll be baby steps.
 
Wow man, looks excellent! Congrats on the mods. The front bumper construction looks very similar to the Trail Ready bumper I have (they do offer a different version with a guard like yours).
 

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Wow man, looks excellent! Congrats on the mods. The front bumper construction looks very similar to the Trail Ready bumper I have (they do offer a different version with a guard like yours).
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That looks nice!  My issue was the cladding.  If I didn't have cladding I could have found a nice bolt-off, bolt-on version. 
 
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