Photon (The Light Hunter) Build Thread

Are you going straight axle? Are you serious about 42's?

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight.

I looked high and low for a rear bumper, seen many nice designs and features, the lightest to heaviest and in all that searching I was wondering if I’d ever find that perfect fit. There have been some trails that I’ve scrubbed Photon’s butt (thankfully more the trailer hitch) but a couple of times I scrubbed her plastic bumper pretty hard.

At least I know just how much protection she needed so that helped to narrow the search. Didn’t need super high quarter panel protection but wanted a design that allowed for easier sliding off an obstruction or a sandy berm.

Then I came across this design by Dissent Offroad. A local company that’s about a 2-hr drive away but also en-route to one of my mountain destinations. Their bumper design is rather unique in that it’s modular, two wing sections tied together at the tow hitch and a very robust doubler plate (more about that later) that also offers a (protected) rear camera mounting point and swing arm options. The thing about this company is that they build to order so the wait time for me was significant as they had a large waitlist…7 months it was but now that I have it I can understand why. When I got word that my order was ready I saved on shipping and went to pick it up in person. Besides, Photon can handle the 160 lbs or so of steel parts.


At the dock picking up my kit.


Two-piece guesseted bumper design


Tire swing arm kit. I may eventually get the second swing arm for additional cargo…

 

LOL No! (But I reserve the privilege if Photon ever gets turned into super beast)

That image was of a customers on-going build I saw at Stellar Built in Sac last week.

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt II)

Every journey begins with that first step, I’ll skip the pre-study of the assembly video here but being an over planner at times I’ll just say that I watched that video at least a dozen times!

So, the first step was to determine what bolt locations are to be used on the frame. Three on each frame member side for starters and I chased them all with a tap using CorrosionX to both act as a lubricant (not cutting fluid) as well at to pre-treat any existing corrosion in the threads, which I found plenty of.



Next comes the fun part, not so for Photon cause it meant she was loosing part of her skirt…and she made me work for it!




Pop clips, 10mm sheet metal/self tapping screws all over the place including a couple of partially hidden ones.

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt III - Rear Bumper)

Next up, some clearance cuts. Not that bad actually more like get rid of this little bit on both sides using tin snips..

until I lost my patience and broke out the cutting wheel!


There, that’s better. Finished with some deburring and a shot of enamel paint over the raw edges.


Next was to do a test fit of the Wing Stiffeners. Discovered that the frame welds needed to be ground down so out with the grinding wheel and about 10-15 minutes of smoothing out work.




The Wing Stiffeners are designed mainly for support of the bumper sides as well as to add rigidity to handle the weight of the swingarms, nice touch. I used a liberal amount of Loctite 242 to help seal off the threads in addition to vibration protection.

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt IV - Rear Bumper)

Now it’s time to ‘clear the decks’ so to speak. The entire underside of chassis frame and crossmember needs to be devoid of everything so out came the cutting wheel once again (and a socket wrench)

Don’t need these plates…



Nor these things


Or even this thang


oh yeah, don’t need these either (plastic bumper supports)



and remove the fob sensor (set aside it’ll be reinstalled later) and trailer connector too


Prep work done, now comes breaking torque on the factory hitch (four on the rear face and two underneath) then simply slide on the bumper shells.


This part gets a bit tricky as it wasn’t clearly discussed in the assembly video, this center plate that has a built in rear camera housing needs to have all six of the factory hitch bolts completely removed. Now the plate can be fully slid into position, then the four rear facing bolts started and then the two bottom ones. I then added the four 1/2-13x1.25 bolts (the yellow zinc plated ones) washers and nuts finger tight.

Now the two bottom hitch bolts were then snugged up then the four rear facing bolts were fully torqued followed by the two bottom bolts. Now comes an important step, the four 1/2-13 bolts are torqued to 90 ft-lbs. For those of you whom just see this as a rather hefty torque value please keep in mind that such high torques are meant to maximize clamping force and in the case of these bolt locations, it actually ties the bridge plate and two bumper shells into one cohesive assembly….essentially this is now a one-piece bumper. Don’t forget the Loctite!



All torques dbl checked, I saw something that I should have addressed before I put the bumper shells on, it would have been a much easier process…

 

A quick addendum…

Before I begin the final step of cutting up and re-installing the plastic bumper I’m getting proactive…as I spend a lot of time up in the mountains little critters are a concern. So…out with the tin snips and some galvanized chicken wire…


Let’s see you bastards get passed this!

 

Wow OP, what a build you got going on here. Congratulations sir!

 

Thank you! I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive doing this but now that the bumper install is almost done I’m very happy about it!

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt V - Rear Bumper)

This is about as ‘live’ as it’ll get. Doing the plastic bumper trim thing. Whew! Glad I got the initial fit right!




Just need to dial in the final clearance, add weatherstripping then I’m off to electrical.

 

PSA: Anyone have a need for a rear bumper valance and foam spacer? Free for the taking but must be within an hours drive of Sacramento, CA or the Bay Area!

 

4/3/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt V cont. - Rear Bumper)

Final trim is done, all that’s left to do is to clean up the cut edges and install the weatherstripping…



Pro Tip: adding weatherstripping to parts like this bumper can be an aggravating experience. Simply use some (liberally) rubbing alcohol or equiv. And thoroughly wet the weatherstripping’s interior groove. It’ll make things slide on oh so nicely.


Done! (For now)

 

Amazing how handy and masterfully you have done so much to your 4R. Keep the project going. Fun watching the transformation.

 

Yeah he doesnt mess around. Love watching builds like this. Unique. Custom. Well done.

 

Thank you! It’s amazing this old body keeps on going! As I was pushing the shells into place I kept thinking I’ll just take a nap while I’m laying here!

 

Glad I’m only showing you the ones I feel are worthy of posting, the screwups, are plenty!

 

Thats just #standard

Plenty here on my build as well

 

Speaking of standards and builds, I’m super jealous of the work you’ve accomplished on your sound system!

 

Thanks man! That was a fun project. Been trying to figure out what else to do without doing something just to do something.

 

Doing something is always better than doing something else!

Really, the work you do is on point!

 

4/5/25 Photon’s putting on more weight (Pt VI - Rear Bumper, Crawling Back Under)

Yesterday I stopped work on the rear bumper as I was plumb wore out! Today’s effort was a breeze (kinda) by comparison as it was time to now route and re-install the trailer hitch wiring.


I think it was step IV that I removed the bracket and plug assembly from the frame. Tossed the bracket (unless someone PMs me before next garbage day) and began re-working the cable bundle to get as much extension out of it as possible. Turns out Toyota puts a ‘service loop’ inside the short section of snakeskin, nice.


The real (and only) struggle of this work was getting new snakeskin on to the existing harness without writing down pin configurations, tearing each connector apart, thread on new snakeskin, etc. So stubborn me just went at it with the largest diameter snakeskin that I had on hand. Took me almost half an hour but I got it done, wished I had 1” not 5/8” snakeskin.



Was starting to retape everything when I ran out of electrical tape so I called up a good buddy to see if he had any. I ran over when he said to just grab one and take it back with me, guess I know who to ask if I ever run out of tape again!


I finished off taping, was even able to reuse the official blue Toyota tape to give the harness a factory finish!


Threaded the harness through provisions in the bumper, reconnected the two plugs and main plug into the back of the factory socket housing and snapped it into place, another perfect fit by the Dissent company, tucked up and protected in its own little cubby.


Maybe tomorrow I’ll decide how I’m going to hook up the new taillights…

 

You do excellent work man.

 

Much appreciate it! One thing’s for sure, projects are easier when you begin with quality parts!

 

Bumper Prolog:

I should have added this short dialog in the initial bumper post...

Of the key features that I came to appreciate about this particular bumper design this one certainly deserves its own merit. In the event that I were to somehow bash one side (hopefully my own doing on a trail somewhere vs someone else hitting me!) I could potentially contact Dissent and swap out the damaged half shell and not the entire bumper assembly.

Ok, nuff said.

 

Performance Log Entry #1 - Post Rear Bumper Install

So now that Photon has an additional 125 lbs sitting on her rear end I was determined to see what the MPG hit would be like. So for this short trip out to the coast I carefully logged the start and stop display readings and tried my best to be as conservative (but follow the flow of traffic) as I could manage.

Start:

• Elev. approx. 2000’ ASL, 70°F
• Current permanent added weight = ~350 lbs (all of the build items to date sans the roof top cargo boxes)
• Carrying an additional ~100 lbs of cargo/equipment.
• Full tank, 87 octane
• MT Baja Boss AT, 50% treadlife, 36 psi

First 35 miles were slightly downhill (love the countryside in the springtime)


The next 70 or so miles were across flat ag. land (and about a 20-25 mph headwind!), there are several hill climbs (1000’, a couple of 500’ and the biggest (~1800’) one out to the coast.

I was actually able to average close to 20-21 MPG across the Central Valley region once that gnarly westerly subsided and slowly lost ground with each ‘hill’ along the way. I was actually surprised that the 65 MPH cruising speed was more efficient than several 55 MPH zones but maybe that was due to wind direction.

Once over the last ‘hill’ I took this snapshot of the dash display.


So 121 miles averaging 65 MPH and ending with an approximate 18 MPG. I know going Offroad the numbers will be a far cry worse but I’m hopeful they’ll be better than sub tens…

 

It's been almost two years since I installed Molle panels in the back and have spent countless hours tinkering with placements of numerous gear using fairly inexpensive bags to hold first aid items to camping supplies like these compressed towelettes I bought off Amazon. Really handy to have and when done cleaning up I let them dry out, rub some candle wax on em and voila, handy campfire starters. They work so well and somewhat reusable, I haven't had to pack a roll of paper towels in almost two camping seasons.


In all this time the panels have begun to accumulate very specific, permanent, items. One of which is a first aid kit. The initial sack that I've been using has become overloaded (and I'm still without certain necessities.) Since I have a few of these six compartment Rigid toolboxes laying around I figure I'd give this idea a try. I think it'll serve its purpose well, stays secured until needed and isn't a PITA to put back onto the Molle Panel afterwards (unlike the molle bags with their button snap straps that are a pain to put back on after use.)

 

Fired up the Computer…

While going over my gear in preparations for this coming summer (at least I hope I’ll be able to get out for a trip or two!) I remembered something that is more a convenience than novelty. Sure, I can easily take some of the LED string lights that I have and make things all glampy or I can get to work and make things a bit more utilitarian.

First, some 3D modeling to get a better perspective of what I’m dealing with…


Then comes a few careful measurements, a little thinking of how things fit together and a cup of coffee, a little while later things are starting to take form…



A little thinking about how to store them…


And how they are installed onto the awning’s C-channel extrusions.


For now the wiring will just be rough-in. I’ve already begun designing the mounts with integrated connectors next.








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ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS DAYYYYYYUMMMM!