Upcountry's 07' Tacoma - Weekend Warrior Build - Work In Progress

[upcountry]

OME 886/ARB Bullbar Install With Harbor Freight Badland 12K Winch and IPF Lights

As previously stated in the thread, purchased an ARB Bullbar Bumper and a winch. There has been some debate on the quality of these winches, but it seems to be well built. My cousin who has a 91 Single Cab Toyota rock crawler has been through a few winches, and has recently put one of these to the test. He has good things to say about it so far - for those critics out there who love to spend $$$$$, yes it does work and has not failed him yet - even after some substantial pulls.

This past weekend I added:

1) ARB Bullbar - old style - no foglights.
2)Upgrade from OME 885's to OME 886's and some fresh Nitrochargers.
3)Re-used the half inch top spacer from Toytec on top of the new Nitrochargers/886's.
4)Added some IPF 100Watt Halogen lamps.
5)Sway bar relocate kit from Toytec.
6)Replaced rear OME Nitrochargers with some Billstein 5100's (RCD version #B110) to accomodate longer travel and more lift from All-Pro Expedition Leaf Packs.



Some pics of the install:





















Pics continued below

 

[upcountry]

Billstein 5100 RCD B110 Install

Ended up going with a set of Billstein 5100's - #B110 from the RCD kit. I used this number due to the extended lift of the All-Pro Expo Leaf Packs.

 

[upcountry]

Adding the bumper/winch to the fit kit after OME 886 strut install:

 

[upcountry]

Hanging the winch/bullbar on the fit kit.

I was able to pick up the winch/bullbar and hang it in place on top of the fit kit. It is pretty heavy, but not impossible since the fit kit sticks out and it just naturally works. After I hung it on the fit kit I was able to fine tune the gap between the bumper and the fenders.

 

[upcountry]

Wired in turn signals, parking lights, IPF lights. Still need to wire in winch solenoid in engine bay and wire momentary toggle in cab.

Wiring with a 4 year old helper is just kind of slow. But he had good humor.

 

[upcountry]

Next up:

1)Wire winch solenoid and in cab momentary toggle.

2) Install snorkel.

3) Pick up new rear tube bumper/swing gate.

4) Install rear camp/reverse lights.

 

[TangoBlue]

Whew! That was a lot of work - looks good.

Just a couple things which may already be resolved. I noticed your winch clutch handle was facing the rear of the bumper which when mounted on the truck will make it difficult to access. The housing looks like it can be removed so that you can adjust, or clock, the handle so you can have access to it through the access hole on the ARB bumper. Also, your bumper to fascia clearance is really tight. I've noticed that your frame and bumper will flex, hitting the fascia scraping the paint on both bumper and fascia, leading to rust. You may choose to widen the gap a little more to decrease the chances of that happening.

 

[upcountry]

Whew! That was a lot of work - looks good.

Just a couple things which may already be resolved. I noticed your winch clutch handle was facing the rear of the bumper which when mounted on the truck will make it difficult to access. The housing looks like it can be removed so that you can adjust, or clock, the handle so you can have access to it through the access hole on the ARB bumper. Also, your bumper to fascia clearance is really tight. I've noticed that your frame and bumper will flex, hitting the fascia scraping the paint on both bumper and fascia, leading to rust. You may choose to widen the gap a little more to decrease the chances of that happening.

Thanks for the feedback and real experience wisdom. I have never had a setup like this, so I am on a learning curve. At least the install went well. I do wish I had help lifting the bumper. That fricking thing was heavy.

Regarding the gap, how much do you recommend? I followed the directions from ARB, and used my digital calipers to measure the gap, and shoved some wood shims I had from my home remodel in the crack to hold it open, then yanked them. Maybe I should pull the majority of the bolts and go with more gap?



Now the winch clutch lever is a total PITA. The housing is in two parts on the side of the clutch. To rotate the cap the whole clutch assembly needs to come off. I am going to take a closer look at it this spring, but for now I can reach it through the Hi-Lift hole on the drivers side (barely - some Vaseline would help - kind of like a trip to the doctor). I need to explore this some more. I am sure it can be done, but I got sick of screwing with it, as long as I can reach the handle for now.........but that may suck with the nose buried in the mud.

Thanks for the feedback, points worthy of more consideration.

 

[upcountry]

Just went out and measured the gap with digital caliper: 12.27 MM

 

[TangoBlue]

About a 1/2 to 1 inch clearance is good. You're close. Mine was too tight at the wings and rubbed at the fender. I've since reinforced my frame horns, removing the bumper, and set it at about an inch.

The winch is a pain... and worse still all by your lonesome. You'll have to loosen the allen bolts, clock it, and re-tighten.

 

[keezer37]

If you or a neighbor has a set of saw horses, it works wells to set the bumper on them and raise the truck up to the bumper with a hydraulic jack under the front cross member. Then you can sit and fiddle with it all day if you want with little effort on your part.

 

[upcountry]

New Badland Bumpers rear swingate bumper

 

[upcountry]

 

[upcountry]

Safari Snorkel

 

[cruiseroutfit]