Get your tickets to THE BIG THING 2026!
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Tenaya Lake, Yosemite Jan 2012. Last time pass was open in Jan was 68years ago. We spent as much time up in Toulomne as we could this Winter.
This one has been done awhile now- It is the frame reinforcements from Expedition 1 to better brace the front bumper for winching and to decrease vibrations. MANDATORY for winching! I was not running these the first year and the front frame horns (where the bumper attaches to the frame) started breaking along the welds and pulling the mounting plate away from the frame rails. This was with, what i would consider, mild to moderate winching. I have rewelded the frame-horn bumper plates stronger than oem and added the Exp.1 brackets and can say that it is now strong enough to safely winch off.
Now to the ICONS with the added weight of bumper/winch-
ICON 2.5 coilovers have a spring rate of 605#. Springs are a standard 16"L x 3"ID.
Without getting technical. I had the front lifted about 2" and felt the springs were preloaded as much as was safely possible. The bumper felt heavy on the front. The ICON's were smooth enough, but felt i had to compress the spring too much to get any lift out of them, and overcompressing to lift more would be a harsher ride and possibly pinch the spring on full compression- bad.
Solution-
Swapped out for 16" 700# Eibach Springs. Set the preload to give me an additional 1" lift, the springs are 1/8" less compressed on each side as before even with the additional lift.
Ride is GREAT! it feels smoother at speed, less harsh over bumps. I had been putting this one off but feeling it was necessary, Im stoked i finally did it.
Glad you have been able to spend time up there... first time in 68 years is a big deal!
I've been wanting to see some pictures of this, thanks for posting! Which is the new piece form Expedition One, the outermost bracket that goes fore & aft?
Let it be said, i was not oven a thought in my Dads head 68yrs ago
the Exp1 plate is a cap over the top of framerail, has the two larger grade8 bolts thru it and the framerail. You can see the top of the brace running forward on top of the framerail, it then has two studs on top of the frame at the horn that attaches to the bumper mount. It just ties the bumper mount down the framerails a bit to distribute the cam force placed on the bumper and framehorns when winching off it. Also holds the bumper much more solid on the truck with no "vibrations" if you pound on the hoop (this translates into lighting vibrations when on washboard)- no more.
Seems to work fine, if i have any more issues when "really" using the winch, i will have to plate the frame in. Hope that is not in my future, shame on Toyota if it is.
Your added description makes it much clearer.
In the picture above the front of the truck/bumper is to the right, correct?
Do you need to drill holes for those two bolts running through the frame, or are there existing holes?
Passenger side, bumper is on right.
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