My Build Thread - $39 Body Lift, Custom Bumper, Repair...

[manaen]

OK so I have been gathering parts together for my project over the past few months. Things got delayed a bit since apparently Maryland now gets as much rain as London, or so it seems.

The Goal of this project: give me a slight bit more lift to even out my wheel wells and provide tire/ground clearance. Also, need to repair some damage incurred over the winter..

I have finally found the time and dry weather to start the largest portion of my build which was my low budget body lift, and a custom offroad bumper.

So it all started the other night with the Body Lift First lets cover logistics. I wanted to add 2" only, just to add a little frame clearance. I did not want to go higher than that since I tow regularly and did not want to raise the weight too high on the frame. As I was planning it out, an idea hit me to just purchase 3" lift blocks and cut them in half. This would give me 1 1/2" of lift which was exactly what I was looking for. Additionally it saved me a bundle because all the 2" lift blocks I found were basically the same price as the 3" so this cut costs in half!!

So here is the bottom line on the lift
6pcs 3" lift blocks w/ shipping $27.50
6ea 12mm bolts - $12.00 (more about this later)

Ok so here are the parts (minus 2 bolts they came later...)

There is not much to tell about the lift really. I had the whole thing installed and on the road within 2 hours. It was really quick for a few reasons. First, I have a electric fan installed so I didn't need to worry about the radiator. Second, with only 1.5" of lift you don't need to worry about things like steering linkage, and shift linkage. Third, my bumpers are not a concern at this point since I will be making an entirely new front bumper as the next part of the build. Last, I found the bolts locally so I could run and pickup additional parts quickly.

Some of you may remember this diagram that I made for the body lift bolt positions (it's linked in the sticky). The bolt lengths were from the body lift sticky I just plugged in the numbers into the diagrams. Well something was slightly different on my truck.

Here is what I ended up with for bolts
P5 - 12mm x 150mm new
P4 - re-used P5 bolts (124mm stock)
P3 - re-used P1 bolts (104mm stock)
P2 - 12mm x 120mm new
P1 - 12mm x 140mm new

Here are some shots of the bolt locations

This is P5 it is located under the plastic hatch trim

This is P4 it is located behind the rear seat

This is P3 it is located just behind the front seats

This is P2 it is under the carpet in the front foot well

Sorry no picture of P1 but if your next to your truck just bend over and look up it is visible just behind the front bumper...

More to come in the next section....
On to the Custom Bumper..

 

[manaen]

The SAGA Continues....


Here was my truck prior to the body lift. It is sitting a bit higher due to shackles, AAL's, and TT. As you can see the front bumper was all busted up. I cannot believe this thing has a plastic bumper. No I don't mean the cover, although yeah it is plastic too. This thing actually has a fully plastic bumper

most of the damage was to the bumper and my driver side head light and my chrome grill piece. The plan was to repair the grill piece and the headlight and build a new bumper.

The Grill was the first thing on the list. Some of the chrome plating was damaged and pealing so I needed to either replace it or come up with a cheaper solution. I decided I could lose much by trying to repair the piece with epoxy and sanding down the outside damage and painting it.

Here is the damage the to grill

I used this special epoxy for plastics (the other stuff was used for the head lamp repair)

Here is the same grill after being epoxied back together...

Getting paint to stick to chrome can be a very tricky situation. The key to it is surface prep and a good self-etching primer. I took my time and sanded all the surfaces to be painted with 300 grit sand paper. This give the paint some texture to stick to, generally you want the surface to look scratched and dull everywhere you are going to paint. Here is the grill after undergoing about 45 minutes of surface prep.

I painstakingly decided to paint the entire grill black except for the center section. I really liked the chrome but there is no way to repair the chrome back to stock look. Those chrome paints are a joke I have never saw one that actually looks anything other than silver. So here is the grill masked and ready for the self-etching primer.

Here is a shot of the grill with the first layer of self-etching primer and two more layers of leveling primer. (I have begun the sanding/smoothing process this took me about 40min of work plus 2 days worth of drying time. I ended up bringing the grill inside my house between coats so It would dry better. There was about 90% humidity during this time. My wife was surprisingly supportive!!

Here you can see the layer of self etching primer under the leveler. I am trying to get it as smooth as possible without taking forever. After all this truck is not a road princess!!!

I finally finished off with a final coat of primer and then put on two coats of gloss black with two coats of clear it came out pretty good but for some reason I forgot to get a shot of the final grill. Oh well you will see it in the next few shots here as I work on the bumper.

 

[manaen]

Ok the next thing on the list was the head lamp repair. Basically one of the plastic ears snapped off from the impact. Fortunately nothing else broke on the head light and this was an easy fix.

Here is the snapped off ear. This holds the lower adjuster to the back of the head lamp.

the idea was to use the epoxy putty to bond the mount back onto the back of the lamp. After sanding off the back of the lamp to prepare the surface for bonding. I mixed up the putty and stuck the adjuster back onto the headlamp. Here is a picture of the head lamp mounted back into the front clip. I painted over the epoxy with a chrome paint (HEHEHE) just to protect it and make it blend in better.

That's about it for the head lamp repair now for the more involved bumper.

 

[manaen]

OK so I moved onto building a custom bumper. I used to work in a steel shop so I am a decent welder and know the ins and outs of metal work. The bad part is I don't have the plasma cutter, shear, and brake at my finger tips to produce pro looking pieces. So what did I use to do all the cutting?

How about a circular saw and angle grinder... Can you say SSSLLLOOOWWWW!!!
This entire thing took me about 3 full days to build. If I would have had a plasma I could have cut that in half (no pun intended LOL).


I started by stripping off the entire front end to make sure nothing else was in need of repair. Here is my truck all necked and stripped. You can see my 2 transmission coolers and my external transmission filter. It will be mounted to the back of the bumper frame. The tube running from the filter is a pressure sensor mounted in the cab so I can see the flow going through the filter.

Here is another shot after getting the inner clip back on and the headlights mounted. I needed to get to this point so I can get the general shape of the front end. Notice the POC plastic bumper and bumper cover on the ground in front of the truck.

I then stripped the only piece of metal from the inside of the plastic bumper and used it for my starting point. I remounted it and welded the bolt heads to it since they would not be accessible after I was finished reinforcing it with steel. I toyed around with building my own custom mount but I like the idea of the mounts being the weak point. I would much rather bend the bumper and the mounts then the frame of the truck in an accident. I will be adding tow points later that are mounted directly to the frame.

I then took some cardboard and made a template to match the shape of what I wanted the bumper to have. This would end up being the main structural piece and allow me to countour the shape that I wanted by wrapping the steel around it. I cut this from a piece of 3/16" steel. With a grinder and a circular saw this took about 20min to cut through the 3/16" steel. In this photo you can see both the steel and the cardboard template.

This piece was then tacked onto the top of the old bumper frame. and some support gussets were added.

My plan all along was to add a 2" receiver so accessory items that would be really handy. This will not be used to tow with but I added structural support to use it if I need to. Mostly this will be used for a canoe support and a deer carrier (my two favorite pastimes). Unfortunately I bought hot rolled tube with a welded seam. So I needed to spend about 20 min cleaning up the inside of the tube with my dremmel what a PITA. Here is the tube tacked in place. I did not add the additional structural support yet that comes later.

Next was to start framing out the basic flat outer shape this is when things begin to look like a bumper.

Now I started to add some gussets that will make it easier to form the right shape with the steel since I need to bend it by hand. Here you can see I added the pieces that will form the cooling vent in the middle of the bumper.

Now I started to add in the remaining gussets that will help to form the upper section of the bumper. I also have one of the upper pieces of plate that will form the very top of the bumper. All of this is formed from 16ga steel BTW...

Cont...

 

[manaen]

I wanted to break this up into a few pieces just in case something happened to my computer while I am typing all this up.

Anyway back to the build

After getting all those piece tacked into place. I removed the bumper again and welded all the existing stuff in place. The two pieces that would be the most difficult are next. They have both a radius and a concave bend. After using some thinner cardboard to make some templates for each side I cut the pieces and began to fit each one into its location. I basically just tacked it into place as I bent it by hand around the radius of the bend. This process was not nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. The key was to make a good set of cardboard templates first.

Here is the first one going on.

Now here is the other side fit and ground down.

After getting both of those pieces fitted and ground smooth I check the fit by slipping it on the truck for a test fit. Everything is looking pretty good, but I am running out of time for the day...

 

[manaen]

Here is a good shot of the mostly finished bumper and it also shows my grill work with the black/chrome configuration. I'm not sure I'm really happy with the color scheme. My wife really likes it so I'm not sure if that is a good sign or not.. LOL

I apologize but my camera was unavailable during the next part of the build. Basically you saw the worst of it. Next I added the plate to the bottom of the bumper to give it that pre-runner kind of angle. The entire bottom of the bumper was fitted with an angled plate. Then I welded up a set of 2" pipes that run from the lower front frame to the bumper with a 16ga piece of steel that serves to protect my coolers and my engine from road debri and various objects while off-road (or on-road for that matter).

Again I apologize for the lack of pictures. I could not wait around for the camera I had to get my truck back on the road.

Here is the finished product... I will get better pictures when the weather turns better here in the northeast.

just for comparison here is the old version without the lift and the bumper

Next I am going to move onto a few things.
1) I need to clean/repaint my entire frame
2) I am going to bed-liner my roof and roof rack to protect it against loading canoes and kayaks
3) I am going to remount and paint my rear bumper to match the extra 1.5" body lift.
4) countless other ideas that are floating in my head.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

WOW! Very nice work. The bumper has very smooth lines and looks like it belongs on the truck. The design just seems to match the rest of the truck.

 

[SVTmountianeer]

Sweet mounty the bumper is awesome

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Really really nice work!! I have never really liked the chunky chrome Mounty grilles (painted I do like). It looks really nice with the chrome in the middle. Fantastic Bumper-what mesh material did you use for the middle part? Really like the bar u made as well. Keep up the great work and pics!!

 

[manaen]

thanks guys I really appreciate the positive feedback.

The design just seems to match the rest of the truck.

Thanks... that is what I was going for. I wanted something that looked at home on the truck, more rounded then square.

what mesh material did you use for the middle part?

The expanded metal came in a small sheet (24" x 12") from home depot in the fastener section. I liked it because it has the smaller holes

 

[little x]

It looks really nice. I agree with your wife on the grill. Hope you have a friend at an inspection station, because if I'm not mistaken all body lifts are illegal in Maryland. And based by the boat in your pic it looks like you do more kayaking then canoeing: shame shame, I prefer a T-grip any day of the week.

 

[manaen]

Hope you have a friend at an inspection station, because if I'm not mistaken all body lifts are illegal in Maryland.

There's no inspection in maryland, well there is one, when the truck is first purchased. From that point on there is no inspection.

based by the boat in your pic it looks like you do more kayaking then canoeing: shame shame, I prefer a T-grip any day of the week.

What you don't see in the picture is two canoes sitting next to my house. I spend way more time in the canoes for fishing purposes. But I also try to get out and paddle the kayak a few mornings a week great exercise and I have a great creek next to the house. For paddling I do prefer the kayak paddle over the T-grip but I use both. Heck I just enjoy being on the water, which there has been a lot of lately in the form of rain...

 

[manaen]

BTW Maryland Lift Laws (just since you peaked my curiosity)

No trucks or multipurpose vehicles with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less can be taller than 28 inches. A truck beyond 10,000 pounds-but not more than 18,000 pounds-can go beyond 30 inches (you Excursion owners just made it into that first grouping under the wire). Lift more than those 30, and you'll be ticketed and/or given a Safety Equipment Repair Order (SERO) to fix the violation.

 

[Electrohacker]

http://www.liftlaws.com/ for those who need a quick refersher

 

[manaen]

http://www.liftlaws.com/ for those who need a quick refersher

Geesh I really didn't want to get off topic here but this needs to be cleared up.

That site has the wrong information If you go right to the Maryland vehicle code Title 22-105 alterations reducing the effectiveness of bumpers. the height for class M (multipurpose) SUV's (look at your registration) says that we can have 28" bumper height. See below. I suggest anyone looking at modifying their truck read the actual code from their state. can we get back on topic now?

MD code says:

§ 22-105. Alterations reducing effectiveness of bumpers.

(a) In general.-

(1) If any Class A (passenger) vehicle, any Class E truck with a manufacturer's rating or registered gross vehicle weight of 18,000 pounds or less, or any Class M (multipurpose) vehicle has been altered in any manner that would reduce the effectiveness of its bumpers or suspension or render the vehicle dangerous in the event of a single vehicle accident or a collision with another vehicle, it may not be operated on any highway in this State.

(2) Nothing in this section may be construed to exempt a vehicle from the application of paragraph (1) of this subsection solely because the vehicle is in compliance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.

(b) Alterations prohibiting operation of vehicle.- A person may not operate a vehicle on any highway in the State if, as a result of post-manufacture alterations, the height of the vehicle's frame side rails or either of the vehicle's bumpers exceeds:

(1) In the case of a Class A (passenger) vehicle, 20 inches;

(2) In the case of a Class M (multipurpose) vehicle, 28 inches;

(3) In the case of a Class E truck with a manufacturer's rating or registered gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less, 28 inches; or

(4) In the case of a Class E truck with a manufacturer's rating or registered gross vehicle weight of more than 10,000 pounds but not more than 18,000 pounds:

(i) 30 inches; or

(ii) If the truck is used for spraying agricultural crops, 32 inches.

(c) Regulations.- The Administration and the Automotive Safety Enforcement Division of the Department of State Police jointly shall adopt regulations relating to bumpers, frame side rails, and vehicle suspensions as necessary to implement and enforce the provisions of this section.

[An. Code 1957, art. 661/2, § 12-104.1; 1977, ch. 14, § 2; 1984, ch. 508; 1986, ch. 472, § 1; 1989, ch. 298; 1993, ch. 364; 1994, ch. 165, § 3; ch. 166, § 3; 1995, ch. 3, § 2.]

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Thanks will check out Home Deep tomorrow. Been looking for something like that for awhile.

 

[manaen]

Thanks will check out Home Deep tomorrow. Been looking for something like that for awhile.

NP... they are inside a thin mostly white cardboard sleeve. There is a picture of a grill on it, I guess the theory is they can be used for campfire cooking or grill cooking but if I can remember correctly they were about $10 per sheet.




Here's the Rundown on Costs for the repairs/bumper so far.

• Steel 3/16" & 16Ga(bought from local steel retailer) - $64
• 2pcs Bent 2" tube - $20
• 8' Length 2" tube - $13
• 2 Spools .035 Welding Wire - $43 (yes I used 2 full spools)
• 2 Cans Spray on Bed Liner - $20
• 1 can self-etching Primer - $4.95
• 1 can Sand-able Primer - $3.95
• 1 can Clear Coat - $4.95
• 1 License plate holder - $6.50
• 1 tube liquid nail clear - $4.95
• 1 quart paint thinner - $8.95
• 600 & 300 grit Sandpaper - $6

I think that about covers it for now. I need to move onto my wife's car for a few days and then back to my truck. The next step is raising the rear bumper.


Here is a few questions for everyone.
1) I have been thinking about painting side steps black to match the bumper I thought it would be cool to keep that low black line around the truck what do you guys think?
2) I also have been thinking painting the door trim black as well. Just the 3" wide horizontal trim that runs the length of the doors.
3) then there is the rear bumper, I need to paint it with something I was thinking black but then I realized I may have gone over the deep end with black. Do you think all that would be too much. I may end up fitting right into the local Mennonite Sect..... (you know the ones that paint their bumpers all black)


After all I am going for rugged not religious ....

 

[97sprt4x4]

3) then there is the rear bumper, I need to paint it with something I was thinking black but then I realized I may have gone over the deep end with black. Do you think all that would be too much. I may end up fitting right into the local Mennonite Sect..... (you know the ones that paint their bumpers all black)


After all I am going for rugged not religious ....

I don't think that anything of that sort would be too much black. if you look at froader's truck (Now sparksaflyin') that has a nice helping of black all over the place and would stand out even more then yours as he's white. And I myself have a nice coating of black a lot of places, where the trim used to be, front and rear bumper, rims, pilliars. If it looks good to you and you're happy with it, then there's nothing to be ashamed of, and to be honest, i dont' think many people will mistake your truck for a religious truck if it's lifted with a canoe on top

Justin

 

[GRNMACHINE]

I think the rear bumper would look great black. The side steps too. In my opinion if you do the middle trim it wouldnt look good unless u painted the bottom of the door black as well. It might look a little stripey? with black sidesteps, then blue, then black trim etc. That is just my opinion though. Its free and not worth much more...

Re: mennonites dont they wear those big white baby bonnets and stretchy jeans for the dudes? Stayed at a hotel with a busload of them once. WoW they party like its 1899... They were actually really really quiet and kind. Felt odd knocking on their hotel room doors after 10pm and askin em why they went to bed so early and if they wanted to hang out drinking beer.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good keep up good work