Chris in Milwaukee's "CheeseRunner" build

Dropped off the bumper at a local coating shop. I'll be waiting patiently for my spot in line. They're busy (which is great) so it could be a week or two. But still a much shorter period of time than it would be for me to find a respirator at the store!

 

I'll bet it feels like a month since you dropped off the bumper!

I'm looking forward to checking it out once we're allowed to play outside again! I might go for a drive this Saturday to try to maintain my sanity.

 

It’s only been two days! It’s like an eternity!

 

Nice day to put in some air springs. Don’t know if I’ll need them for a while, but it’s fast, easy, and inexpensive. Since I’m lifted 2.5/1.5, I needed longer air springs. Bought a set of 6003s to replace those in the normal 4135 kit. If I had to do it again, I’d just order the kit that contained the 6003 bags. But they’re in there now.

 

Slick! I like what you did with the valves!

 

It's baaaaack... Weekend project!

The finish is amazing. Just the way I wanted it, complete with the texture I was after. If you're in SE Wisco, I highly recommend Hy-Tec Coatings in Waukesha. Can't say enough good things about how well this came out.

https://www.hy-tecpowdercoating.com/

 

Wow! Looks fantastic!

 

Very nice.

 

Got the bumper assembled with light bar, winch, and tied the wires up. Took the front end apart, wrapped the power steering tubing with a piece of garden hose and tied it up, and called it a night. Tomorrow is surgery day!

 

Got everything staged and ready to go. Woke up the boy ‘cause I needed muscle. Das one heavy contraption. Had no idea if everything was going to fit or not. The winch I bought has a humongous switch box, so I wasn’t sure if things were going to clear. Turns out some wiring didn’t so did a bit of re-routing and everything fits with a micron or two to spare. Ended up putting the bumper on and taking it off three or four times. Once we knew it fit, then we put the plastic back on and lifted it into place with a floor jack. With a royal PITA this was! Glad I only have to do it once (four times). Ride height stayed the same, as expected. Looks good!

Watched the install videos from @victoryrunner and followed their lead. They weren’t joking when they said tightening the bumper bolts sucked! Well, yes they were (no they weren’t).

Tied the power steering line out of the way. Protected it with a scrap of garden hose.

Set up for test fitting the bumper before putting the plastic on. There were some clearance problems with the cabling. I was able to reroute it without issue.

Chopped the belly out of the beast.

Got her all together and striking a pose!

Ready to tame the Piggly Wiggly parking lot!

 

Looks awesome!

Great work!

 

Looks really good! Nice!!!

 

Looks Great! Thanks for the write ups!

 

So the winch control box is still attached to the winch? Do you have a photo of how it looks? Just wondering how you get in there to hook the remote up to it.

I'm about to remote locate the control box on mine up by the brake system.

 

It is. This particular winch has a hook-type mount that attaches the control box to the bars that attach the left side to the right. It's fully adjustable and can slide completely from the left side to the right side as needed. I got lucky getting the position right the first time! Hopefully it appears in the back-side photo okay in post #39. Also, in this photo, this is the "before" photo of how the cables were connected. Because they collided with the vertical support in the center, I rerouted them so they're higher up and over the strain reliefs on the control box instead of directly behind them as they are in the photo. Now the vertical bar lands between two cables, and they're plenty clear of the support. See third photo above in post #40 where the interference was. I moved them over the top. I don't know that I have a good photo of it right now, but I can take one later.

Here are a couple of new ones after the installation. You can easily reach through the hole in the lower front of the bumper to get to the release handle and the controller plug (better view of the hole in post #39). Hopefully the photos are bright and detailed enough.


One thing I had to do with this winch with the really large control box which you might run into depending on yours, is there is a steel support piece that runs along the bottom of the mesh that keeps the grill rigid at the bottom. I had to remove that because the clearance between the bumper steel and the control box was so narrow that the grill wouldn't slide between them. Once I got everything together, I was able slide the support back in and screw it back together. Wasn't without some choice words, however!

 

Hi Crikeymike, I have the same bumper in aluminum on my 2018 ORP, with a Warn Evo Vr 10s winch. The bumper has small ports in it, that you can use to engage the clutch, and possibly use to hook up the wired remote. It works best as a wireless control however, because it’s so snug in there. And, yeah, Chris, those bolts were tough. I did them by hand too, but I think they need an impact ratchet.

 

My kingdom for a lift!

 

I'm enjoying the heck out of following your build, thanks for all the details and photos!

If you mentioned it, I missed it, but is the VR front bumper steel or aluminum, and what's the weight?

Looking great...

 

Mine is aluminum and with the Warn evo 10s winch it comes in total weight at 102.4 lbs according to manufacturers specs. Heavy but not too bad. Right now it’s on stock suspension.

 

I've seen your posts on that bumper install, thanks. I was wondering about the bumper @Chris In Milwaukee got...

 

Yeah, haha I knew that, I thought it be fun to have a weight comparison though

 

Hey, I appreciate you chiming in, more information is always valuable. I've been following your build progress as well. Our goals for our trucks are very similar, so thanks for your write ups too.

 

Mine is steel. I was able to lift it myself... until I put the winch on. I think it weighs nearly as much as the bumper! I don’t have any numbers, but my son and I were able to lift and move it fairly easily. Floor jack to raise it for mounting, though.

 

Yeah, I had to use a floor jack to raise mine as well while trying to line everything up at the same time. It’s a pretty tight fit there for sure!

 

It was a bit of a hold-your-mouth-just-right event!

 

@Oldtoyotaguy, Did you have any clearance issues between your control box and the grille? Or did everything slide in just fine? Minor surgery on mine, but not too bad.

 

This is all really good info. Thanks to Chris & Oldtoyotaguy for the write ups.

 

Hey Chris, could you post a profile of your 4 Runner and the height measurements now that you have the front bumper on, and everything has settled? Your build is excellent! I’m just trying to figure out what components to use to improve the suspension system and how high I should go. Your 4 Runner looks perfect.
My winch fit in tight but went ok. I undid the brackets holding the cooler line and bent them back a bit and that’s all it needed. My winch is 10,000 lbs though, so I’m sure it’s physically smaller than yours. I left the control box on top and it works fine.

 

Sure thing, @Oldtoyotaguy. Sitting in the garage this afternoon, full fuel, here are the measurements:

LF: 20-1/2" RF: 21-3/4"
LR: 22-3/4" RR: 23-1/2"

Not sure what the lean is all about. But I guess that's what these do

Here are a few from just doing truck stuff this weekend. Full trailer didn't put much weight on the tongue at all.