i didnt intend on getting out of bed today as i felt quite hungover.
but after watching a load of 4wd action videos on youtube:-
http://www.youtube.com/user/4wdmonthly#p/u
i felt inspired to get some work done on my truck, so at 1pm i got dressed and got the spanners out.
first job was to remove the x-eng handbrake.
the one pad looked very badly worn, and had even broken a piece off.
re-fitted the original handbrake cable.
next i decided to re-fit my towbar, as i will be needing to trailer the remains of the 4-runner to the scrap yard soon to weigh it in.
when digging the towbar out of my shed, i spotted 2 big sections of steel box, that i bought many years ago to use as bumpers on my first 4x4.
unfortunately, at the time, i hadnt had an arc welder very long, and my early welds, that resembled pigeon 5hit, also had the strength of pigeon 5hit!
anyway............................back to the toyota!
so there i was looking at fitting the towbar, and thinking about the fact i still need to make a back bumper, when boom i had a brain wave!
the 2 huge pieces of box in the shed, that i was thinking of weighing in, would work nicely as a back bumper, and i had a genius way of attaching it, if it was the right size for my idea to work.
so after moving 6 35" tyres out of the way, i was able to drag out the bits of box!
a few measurements later, and i had confirmation my idea would work!
so i got the 2 bits of box in the workshop.
stuck a flap wheel in the big grinder and ground the old weld off.
next i marked out where i wanted the large cut out to be, and clamped an old piece of wood on, to act as a straight edge.
it took some cutting, even with the 9" grinder, due to the fact the steel is 5mm thick!
put it in the vice, so i could use a flap wheel disc to smooth out the bottom edge of the cut out.
with the box cut out, it was ready to try on the truck.
a lovely fit around the rear cross member.
dont worry about the exhaust, ive got a cunning plan for that to!
next job was to clamp it firmly in place.
i then used a paint pen to mark through the 4 threaded holes in the chassis cross member.
then i brought the bumper back into the workshop, and got it back on the bench.
so the rear recovery point will bolt through the bumper into the chassis cross member.
centre punched and drilled out.
i then bolted it back in place.
needs a little adjustment, as its a little bit too close to the rear lights for my liking.
next job is to drill a couple more holes, to pick up 2 of the threaded holes in the chassis cross member, as i want to add a few more bolts for strength.
then i can start on the end pieces which are going to be a little time consuming as theres some tricky angles, to get right in order to make the bumper look like the image in my head.
this isnt how i was planning on making the bumper, i was going to make a wooden template, like the front one, and then get steel bent and cut, and then weld it all together on the wooden template. but i think this will be stronger, and obviously the steel was sat in the shed and would only have been weighed in!
