Lexus GX470 Expedition build

[boo471]

Front bumper build progress

My Sunday was spent on the drive way (go figure). I decided to finish up the plating before I start boxing process. This way its easier to see where I need to add more strength to the design.

Progress is a lot quicker now when I have a straight bottom "box" to work from. I did notice that the body is not perfectly lined up with the frame. If I make both side with perfect symmetry there will be a deviation and wont look to good if you compare the left and right sides. So some tweaking is necessary to get it to look good. I also need to do some fine tuning on where the bumper mounts to the mounting plate. These side plates don't have a perfect symmetry so I will look in to this shortly as well.

Here is the progress so far.

I added the mock up back on to use as a template

Then I continued to add pieces to the bumper

This is what it looked like after a hard days work.

To be continued....

//Marten

 

[Howski]

Looking forward to seeing the bumper completed. This has been a fun build to follow

 

[Reata Rover]

Thrilled to see your awesome build, I by no means am ready to give up my 2010 4Runner, but I am always thinking of what I will build next when the 4Runner is retired or I need some more luxurious digs. Love that build !!!!

 

[Richietherocket]

That front bumper just looks mean and trail ready. Great build and fabrication. I can barely make a paper airplane for the kids.

 

[boo471]

Looking forward to seeing the bumper completed. This has been a fun build to follow

Thrilled to see your awesome build, I by no means am ready to give up my 2010 4Runner, but I am always thinking of what I will build next when the 4Runner is retired or I need some more luxurious digs. Love that build !!!!

That front bumper just looks mean and trail ready. Great build and fabrication. I can barely make a paper airplane for the kids.

Thanks for the kind words! Always nice to get some good feedback on a build.

 

[boo471]

Front bumper build update.

I continued to work on the front bumper last night. I got some much appreciated help from my friend Dorton . But that also meant I forgot to take pictures. So there is not many pictures for this post.

What I did yesterday was to Cut away the bumper from the mounting plates to line it up properly. Then I finish all the the metal plating for the bumper. So now it actually looks like a bumper. It was easier and easier the further you got on the build. The hardest part with this build was creating a square straight box to use as a base.

I also bent the hoop and the tubes going around the head lights. I wanted this done so I know where the tubes will fit on the bumper before I start doing reinforcements on the bumper.

Bending the tubes was done with a simple Harbor Freight Tools pipe bender. I took a 1.75"x.120 DOM tube. Taped one end with duck tape. Then filled it with water. After that I filled it up with sand and taped the other end. This is done to minimize have the tube flatten out while bending it. Then I just went at it and started bending. Work pretty well. The tube flatten out some anyways But not to bad and no tube's cracked like they have done for me before.

Bumper cut away and refitted to the mounting plate in a centered position.

Continued with the plating

Then I bent the tubes. This is the hoop that will hold my 2 9" HIDs.

And here is the end result of the day.

More to come soon....

 

[ebg18t]

************!

 

[boo471]

************!

Yep


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[Darklight777]

Very nice indeed :ylsmoke:


Bobby

 

[toyotech]

sweet . i love full plated bumpers

 

[marshal]

that **** is titties

 

[boo471]

Very nice indeed :ylsmoke:


Bobby

Thanks. Slowly moving forward

sweet . i love full plated bumpers

Yeah they are pretty cool

that **** is titties

Ok....

 

[boo471]

Front bumper build

I did some work on the bumper yesterday. I was mainly focusing at getting the hoops mounted and starting to look at the internal reinforcements of the bumper.
I wasn't sure about using hoops at first but once I got them on i was very happy with it and thought it look pretty cool actually. It kind of makes the bumper a lot more aggressive.

Added the main center hoop to the bumper. It has about 30 degrees lean forward and is wide enough to house my 2 9" HIDs.

After that I started to play around with the head light hoops. Trying to find a good balance of protection and lean inboards/down to get that aggressive look. Once I had them where I wanted then I started doing the notching, by hand of course

I welded on tabs for my lights and test fitted them. Looks like one damn aggressive Baja racer in the front now

I also welded on some grid plating(or what ever you call it in English) to cover the vent holes so no big rock and other crap will fly in and hit my radiator.

Here is my "winch" in its position so I can start looking at a winch mounting plate and where to mount a cross member. I noticed that I wasn't able to move it as far to the side as I want to after I rounded the edges so the fairlead might not get perfectly centered.

This Is what it looked like at the end of the evening.

I hope I will be able to build some this weekend and hopefully get the reinforcements done so I can start welding everything and get this sucker done soon. I have a busted shoulder and spending this many hours every other evening building a heavy bumper like this is not really helping out

 

[toyotech]

The tube work is nice. You gonna tuck the light wires into the tube for an even cleaner install?

 

[boo471]

I might do that. My only concern is getting moister inside the tube's so they will start to rust.