4RUNNER REAR BUMPER WITH SWINGOUT

Up on the chopping block next was to remove the OEM rear bumper and trim and replace it with a new Body Armor 5th gen 4 Runner bumper.

Being that this bumper is designed to mount up to the 5th gen series, there was an extensive amount of work needed to get it to align and mount up properly. Beginning with the overall width between the outermost ‘winglets’, there’s nearly 10” difference. So to start off, I marked out the centerline of the bumper; I then took out roughly 5” from both sides.

With the bumper separated in two, heavy bevels were ground into both faces to allow for adequate welding and bracing.

All clamped up and aligned as such, some heavy tacking and temporary bracing was installed.

Now onto test fitting the bumper and getting everything aligned fore and aft, as well as setting the front and rear rake - all vital steps needed to dial in before new mounts could be made to affix the bumper to the chassis.

I originally built these mounts with chip board and verified the overall fitment. After getting them cut out I was able to align everything and mirror it for the passenger side as well.

All welded out, a final test fitment was in order before being then sent out for some fresh powdercoating.

I designed a center trim plate to add a little design to the rather barren center portion of the bumper. It should add some additional grip as well. I’d debated on dimple dying them outward, but decided against it in the event people would sit or rest on this portion and it would prove to be rather uncomfortable.

Due to the varying body differences between the generations of 4 Runners, the center section of the bumper is flush with the striker for the hatch while there is a noticeable difference from the winglet of the bumper to the belt line under the tail light. Because of this gap, I built some trim panels to fill the gap and help aid in blending the bumper into the bodyline.

Finishing out the install of the bumper was to design up a trim panel to hide the rear end of the chassis and the frame rails. I left a small gap between the trim panel (mounted to the frame rails) and the body, as well as the bumper. In the event of a large impact to the lower corner of the bumper, if there was to be any deflection, I didn’t want that movement to translate into the panel and result in any distortion or bending.

The swingouts have officially landed! With it mounted up everything was cycled and clearanced as needed. 

Some small modifications were made to the rear hatch as well as the rear whip/light mount to allow for smooth actuation of the latching mechanism.

With a full size spare mounted, the license plate was moved to a supplied bracket and hung in the tire.

To finish things off entirely; being that this bumper was grafted onto the older chassis, the supplied(with the bumper) standoffs/supports were nowhere near compatible. I opted to build some 4130 standoffs to help further brace the lower leading corner of the bumper down to the frame rail.