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Parts Used In This Episode

Summit Racing
Trail Gear Chromoly Interlocking Tube Clamps
The Industrial Depot
Tools, Hardware, Shop Supplies

Episode Transcript

(Jimmy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Jimmy)>> Today on Carcass we start tearing into the exterior of our Toyota Overlander cutting up the body so we can fabricate some custom bumpers for our 4Runner, giving us the added support we need while we're out on the trails.

(Jeremy)>> Plus we'll ditch the factory running boards for a set of rock sliders designed to protect the body of our expedition rig. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Hey guys, welcome to Carcass. Well, we're really cruising along on our Toyota 4Runner Overlanding project, and we've taken care of a couple of things. So far, we've done a suspension kit. We've put on bigger wheels and tires, and we've even upgraded the brakes, but today we're gonna do some cosmetic things and give this thing a little bit of flare. We're also gonna be adding something up front that may help us get out of a sticky situation.

(Jimmy)>> And that starts with taking off this front brush guard thing that we have up here, and what we want to do is cut a part of the front bumper out to integrate our own design along with a winch. Then out back we'll kinda do the same thing and kinda keep the rear bumper mostly intact. Then to finish it off we're gonna take off these side steps and add some rock sliders just for some extra protection, and just to match the front and the back. So, we'll get started, grab some tools, and we'll get this thing on. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ] [ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Clear?

(Jimmy)>> Yep! [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> That thing's heavy, holy!

(Jimmy)>> There's a couple of screws holding on the bumper cover before we can take it off. [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Did you disconnect the fog lights?

(Jimmy)>> Yep!

(Jeremy)>> I think that's the last bolt. [ Music ] Simple, I got it! [ Music ]

And one of the last pieces to go is the bumper reinforcement. [ drill humming ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright guys, now here's the idea for the front end of the 4Runner. Once we got this big cover out of the way we got down and took the bumper structure out from underneath it because we're gonna start building off of that. Now we're gonna cut all the plastic out of the big cover here, and then we're gonna go ahead and get in here and start building off of these two frame rails or frame horns. Jimmy's gonna take some measurements and we're gonna try to get some pieces in here so we can mount our winch. And then I'm gonna take this over to the table and I'm gonna cut all this plastic out of the center. Jimmy's got the measurements. Alright, before I get to do any cutting with the body saw I am going to get rid of this little black grille guard here, and then we'll go ahead and start cutting this apart. [ Music ]

[ air saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> With the grille guard out of the way I'll use an air saw and follow one of the body lines on the cover. This will cut out the center of the plastic. [ Music ] [ grinder buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Get the bumper all cut apart.

(Jimmy)>> See what we're working with.

(Jeremy)>> An idea what it looks like. It looks like you have the winch mounted or sitting on some wood.

(Jimmy)>> This is the idea. So, I've got a couple of brackets made up already. I've just got to get them cut out and just start cutting plates. Try to get this thing together.

(Jeremy)>> Sounds good! [ Music ] [ torch hissing ]

(Jimmy)>> For the bumper we're using three-sixteenths steel that we'll cut out on the plasma table. [ torch hissing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> I'll take the first piece we cut out over to the break and bend it to 90 degrees. [ Music ] [ torch hissing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Then we'll cut out an identical piece but bend it in the opposite direction. [ metal clanging ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Alright, let's see what we got! [ Music ] [ drill humming ]

(Jimmy)>> We've got these two plates here bolted up to where the original bumper structure was secured. So, the idea here is where this piece of wood is we're gonna have a piece of steel on the bottom welded to these two plates, and then we'll basically build the bumper off of that and try to shape it. So just more cutting and welding. We'll get this thing looking pretty nice. We finish building the front bumper with a few added features that will help us on the trails.

(Jimmy)>> Bumper fabrication is under way. I have a few pieces cut out here. Some of them I started with cardboard and eventually got to the plasma table, but the nice thing about this is that this is not an exact science. You can do it however you want. In our case we are going to tuck the winch behind the bumper. So, you really won't see it except for the fairlead. So, I've got to get this piece tacked up in there because we want to put the winch on it. We'll get these side pieces on, and then we can start designing and welding the rest of the pieces on there. So, head over to the truck and get this stuff going. [ Music ] Somewhere in there. [ Music ] [ welder crackling ] [ Music ] [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> After getting the first few pieces tacked in I'll head back to the plasma table to cut out the rest. [ Music ] [ torch hissing ] [ Music ]

[ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> We've got the bumper off and it's ready to weld, and you might be wondering what are these three giant holes in the front for? Well, these are to access the studs that held on the original bumper. That way we can attach this one. Now what I'm gonna do to clean this whole area up is I cut a couple more plates to go ahead and cover it. So how these are going to attach is just with some half inch bolts, and what we're gonna do is we'll bolt these on and then I'll actually weld the nuts on the back. That way when you put these on here you don't have to fiddle around, try to get your hand up in there. Then we'll eventually weld D-rings on the outside in case you get stuck, you can get yourself out. [ Music ]

[ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Finally I'll finish weld the bumper before putting it back on the truck. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Got the bumper all welded up and back on the truck. Just want to get a final look at this thing before we take it back off to paint. We also want to check out the 4Runner overall to see what it's gonna look like with everything on it. I can't wait to see what Jeremy has in mind for the rear bumper.

(Jeremy)>> Coming up, we start fabricating a custom rear bumper with some unique features that will make it removeable.

(Jeremy)>> So now that we have the front bumper wrapped up it's time to focus our intentions here on the back. Now just like the front we are gonna keep most of the original bumper cover itself because it does have a good look, and all we're looking to do is add a little bit of structure to the rear, and we're going to build a spare tire carrier off of that. I do have to rid of this bumper cover to get down to some of the metal. So that's where we're gonna start. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> And just like the front it's a couple of screws, bolts, and push pins, and the big plastic bumper cover comes right off. [ Music ]

Alright, so to build out the rear this is actually where we needed to start. This is the support or the structure for the rear bumper. It's tied right into the chassis. So, it's gonna be nice and strong. The idea here is to build a couple of stands off of this big part of the bumper, and then we're gonna put the bumper cover back over the top of that, start building our spare tire carrier, and the rest of the rear bumper. I have to pull a couple of measurements off of here. We'll use the receiver hitch as our center, and then we'll go ahead and transfer those onto the plastic bumper cover. Alright so we'll do about seven and a half and 18. Let's get this back up there and make some marks. [ Music ]

[ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Okay, so now that we have the holes in the bumper cover already cut, we'll go ahead and mark the areas where those pieces of tubing are gonna land. Then we'll take the bumper cover off. Then we'll go ahead and prep those and cut some pieces of tube. [ Music ]

[ grinder buzzing ] [ saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Okay, so with the pieces cut out here is the plan. We're gonna take these pieces of tubing and we're gonna weld them onto that bumper support, or part of the chassis there, and that's gonna start building out the rest of our bumper. So, I've got to fire up the welder. We'll get these tacked on. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ] [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> I'll do a quick test fit here and see how we landed. I think we should be okay. Alright, so the reason we have these pieces of tubing, or these standoffs, is because we're gonna end up building the spare tire carrier a little further away from the bumper. We picked up these cool little things. These are called tube clamps. We got them from Summit Racing, and what that's gonna allow us to do is actually unbolt and take the spare tire carrier completely off. When we're done all we have to do is set it back down. Then we can just bolt it back together. Now I'm gonna end up building the rest of the bumper, or carrier, here out of some rectangular tubing. So, I have to go cut a piece of that. [ Music ] [ saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> The same as the front, this is not an exact science. Come up with a plan, make a couple of cuts, and complete your design. [ saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Okay, so the reason for this cut and the reason why it doesn't go all the way through the piece of metal is we're gonna make this follow the contour of the plastic bumper cover that's on the 4Runner right now. So, this allows me to just pick this up, give this thing a little bit of shape. So, I've just got to tack it in. Then we'll do a test fit. [ welder crackling ]

(Jeremy)>> Let's see how this fits on the bumper. That actually fits pretty good. It follows the contour pretty well back here. So now we're gonna do that all over again. We're gonna repeat the process. So, we'll go ahead and put a mark here and here, and we're gonna bring the ends of the tube in to finish matching the bumper cover. Then we'll move on to actually mounting it onto the standoffs here. [ saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Get that wedge out of there, check this side. Yeah, I think that should be enough. Go ahead and tack this, and test fit it on the truck again. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> That actually fits really good. I really like that. So, from here what we're gonna end up doing is we're gonna tack these two clamps in, and then I'll go ahead and make some measurements. We'll end up drilling some holes in here as well. Then we'll get this all tacked together and just keep moving forward. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Now we can set this piece back up here. We'll line up our cut line, which is center, and we've got a center mark on the bumper cover. And then we'll go ahead and mark where the tube clamps land. Then we can go drill those out. [ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Now we'll just put the bumper inside those tube clamps like that. It can sit there, and we'll go ahead and tack it up. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> We button up the rear bumper and start building a set of rock sliders that will help keep our 4Runner's body from getting crunched by rough terrain.

(Jeremy)>> Okay, now that we have the bumper piece on there, we're gonna go ahead and place and install this spindle. This is what allows our spare tire carrier to swing. Gonna come out and go back. What I need to pay attention to here is you don't want to get too close to the lift gate. I want to have enough room like that. So, we'll go ahead and mark this, and then we'll drill it out, and we can do that right here on the truck. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ welder crackling ]

(Jeremy)>> For the swing away part of the carrier I'll follow the same steps as we did on the lower bumper. [ saw buzzing ] [ Music ] [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Then I'll cut and bend a piece of tubing to make our spare tire hoop. [ mechanical humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, so we have our tube all bent up. It fits pretty good. So, from here Jimmy's actually going to cut us out a plate that's gonna mount the spare tire, and then while he's doing that I've got a couple more pieces of tubing that I need to cut out. But for now, we're gonna get this thing tacked in so we can wrap this thing up. [ welder crackling ] [ torch hissing ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, so I have the final tubes onto the hoop here. Looks like Jimmy's got the mount made for me.

(Jimmy)>> Looks pretty good!

(Jeremy)>> So we're actually just gonna tack this on. Then I'm gonna take the entire bumper off of the truck and go finish weld it over there on the table. That way everything will be nice and secure. [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> The final piece that we are fabricating for the exterior of our 4Runner is a rock slider. While Jeremy was finishing up the rear bumper I already got one side made. So, I know what the measurements are. I've got them written down on a little sticky not. So, I just have to go over to the saw and start cutting out some tube. [ Music ] [ saw buzzing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> For the rock sliders we're using two inch by .120 wall tube, and the main piece will have two 45-degree bends. [ mechanical humming ] [ Music ] After bending I'll take it over to the notcher to make it fit with the other main piece. [ notcher buzzing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> I've got the two main pieces of the rock slider fitting together nicely. So, at this point there are three pieces that go in between, and we have to make sure that these fit before we tack everything together. Obviously one side here is notched already. I just have to shorten these up, notch the other side, and that way we can start assembling and get it tacked together. [ notcher buzzing ] [ Music ] [ welder buzzing ]

(Jimmy)>> Once the pieces are tacked in, I can start finish welding. [ welder buzzing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> The last pieces I'm welding onto it will attach to the chassis after they get painted. [ welder buzzing ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Let's get it in there.

(Jeremy)>> I'll bet this is gonna look fantastic. Super nice and tight, that looks good!

(Jimmy)>> Looks smooth!

(Jeremy)>> And we're not welding this on. We're gonna end up painting it anyways.

(Jimmy)>> We'll paint most of it and just leave the ends bare, weld it to the chassis, then we'll touch it after.

(Jeremy)>> We've got other stuff we've got to paint. So, let's just blast the whole truck apart again. That's gonna wrap it up for us today. If you guys like anything you've seen check us out at Powernation TV.
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