Cletus' 2002 Tundra AC Build
- Thread starter Cletus26
- Start date
arctic04trd
Member
Finally took the plunge and cut the bedsides for a new bumper I’ve been slowly building. I used a 5” angle grinder, flap disk, sheet metal vise grips, lineman pliers and a hammer. Turned out as nice as I could have hoped.
Next I need to weld a small piece of plate at the flare to bolt the factory mudflaps to. I never ripped them of before so they should be pretty safe being 3-4” higher.
Next I need to weld a small piece of plate at the flare to bolt the factory mudflaps to. I never ripped them of before so they should be pretty safe being 3-4” higher.
Kpack
Adventurer
Nice work on the cut and subsequent bend of the metal. I really want to do this at some point in conjunction with a high clearance bumper.
Why do you want to keep the factory mud flaps? Being courteous and not wanting to spit rocks at people? Will the factory mud flaps reach down far enough to even make a difference?
Why do you want to keep the factory mud flaps? Being courteous and not wanting to spit rocks at people? Will the factory mud flaps reach down far enough to even make a difference?
It should come close to 1/2 the tire (which is law here) and it will look “unaltered” and yes for courtesy
blueranger501
Observer
Can you elaborate more on your bending technique? Need to do something similar for my bumper install. I like that way better than just leaving the initial straight cut.
Put one piece of tape with the bottom edge where I wanted my final “edge/bend” then overlapped with another piece 1/2” lower (this is where I made the cut with the angle grinder). Then I removed the second piece of tape which left me with a good line to work off of. I made relief cuts along the corner that were vertical up to the tape. Then starting at one side I slowly started to bend with the vise grips and kept going over until it was at about 90*. The corner pieces I did with pliers. Tapped the corners with a hammer. Then I’ll tape off about 2” up and paint with tremclad to cover the few chips on the corner. I was given a tip to heat the paint up with a heat gun to prevent chipping but this was after I had done it.
Thanks. It’s definitely coming along nicely. Hopefully I’ll get the gates built in the next week or so. Leaving April 8th for Moab/Colorado
Modified the flares to accept the factory mudflaps. Cut off the bottom of the original flare that was cut off during the body cut. Then JB-welded the attachment point to the remaining flare.
Could have probably done a slightly cleaner job but overall I’m happy with the results being my first attempt at epoxy. Also repaired the driver side flap that had been torn for a few years. Overall the connections feel very solid.
Could have probably done a slightly cleaner job but overall I’m happy with the results being my first attempt at epoxy. Also repaired the driver side flap that had been torn for a few years. Overall the connections feel very solid.
Made more progress. Epoxied strips of 1/4” puck board to the top of the frame mounts for the swingouts to rest on.
Also epoxied a piece of 3/8” mudflap to the Center gusset area to act as an anti- rattle and anti-slip platform
Notched the spring pins into the main tube.
Built “landing pads” for each swingout to sit on the rubber step.
Welded in a latch that pulled the 2 arms together
Also epoxied a piece of 3/8” mudflap to the Center gusset area to act as an anti- rattle and anti-slip platform
Notched the spring pins into the main tube.
Built “landing pads” for each swingout to sit on the rubber step.
Welded in a latch that pulled the 2 arms together
