Cletus' 2002 Tundra AC Build

Cletus26

Adventurer
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.
757368e01e745e40a1f1c94f3c6204d9.jpg
ff5ccef39766df9258ec449d8410ff12.jpg
8d53302aed61c662a06baa18aa06915d.jpg
dbaaca3e588136d3ff4464aea46787b0.jpg
4c3840ec3522fd2aee398d1f1d529045.jpg
105c2ffaa74b7ac1621ff71daea4f2a6.jpg

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?
 

Cletus26

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?

It should come close to 1/2 the tire (which is law here) and it will look “unaltered” and yes for courtesy
 

Kpack

Adventurer
Interesting, I didn't know that was law where you were. Good to know, and always nice to be courteous!
 
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.
 

Cletus26

Adventurer
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.
 

Cletus26

Adventurer
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.
f7fca87f608c6beb2b2e76df11891078.jpg
8d993dd61cfb2293700de253e40cdd4b.jpg
36f23d87c79714317433fd42fd74b5b2.jpg

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.
f2f7eb51bdfcbe4a39282558e8e1236f.jpg
137764ee578ac9f97da13a0efa5b864e.jpg
 

Cletus26

Adventurer
Made more progress. Epoxied strips of 1/4” puck board to the top of the frame mounts for the swingouts to rest on.
c8d43e415941ea7d4462ab78a86e91c5.jpg

Also epoxied a piece of 3/8” mudflap to the Center gusset area to act as an anti- rattle and anti-slip platform
c53bb3ba29a2ee2c0df2122a46c73836.jpg

Notched the spring pins into the main tube.
5f3c67070c007689d5102cfa3fd60fa1.jpg

Built “landing pads” for each swingout to sit on the rubber step.
2bd0e1a0033b0c350df2a8c7591346c3.jpg
8426e7f17b18525edd3e01ae5c2f32e2.jpg

Welded in a latch that pulled the 2 arms together
d39a40f311a55077fb161f814214c4a4.jpg
04c151a66a7e1e22cb5d6a8e260fa869.jpg
6f796523f1c5b2fdfc9a7ff2fc359b05.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,529
Messages
2,875,566
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top