OK, so I have been missing from these forums for a couple months now (maybe more than that) so I thought I would make amends by putting in my little build forum. I do see that with Johnny's new tires, I might have the single shortest AZ truck, and I will have to add some more photos after this too, but here goes:

So this was the little truck on the day I bought it from a little dealer.

And after fixing a couple of minor things/cleaning it up to go get it dirty again in the snow a little over a year ago.


Of course there was an extensive thread about my crank bolt problems. Long story short is NEVER sacrifice a truck because of bad crank bolt threads. Check out the thread here if you need more info, but this is what a TimeSert looks like going in.


Then of course were the tires. 33x12.5 Goodyear Duratracs. I talk about them in the tire thread and elsewhere, but with something like 20K on them now, I have learned a lot more. They looked like this new.


They are simply put, great on most terrain. They get a little light in deep water or on Phoenix's oil-on-water roads in the rain, but they are much more polite in their wet handling then a true MT. I like them a lot, but sure, I MIGHT go 35's next time... we'll see.

After that of course, I had to get rid of the [email]d@mned[/email] running boards.

I went with the same Trail Gear ones as Johnny, Ray and others, and unfortunately I don't have a photo at the moment, I will try to get one tomorrow.

Somewhere in that mess though, a guy pulling out of a drive through liquor window decided he would see what happens when you hit a large truck and try and shove it over with your Maxima. His car, totaled. My Monty...

As you can see, part of my bumper had to be thrown away, and I could not fully straighten the sheet metal behind it, so I got to plotting....


This is the center/base of the Rugged Ridge XHD bumper system.

It is meant for an '09 to present JK, and is a rather heavy duty piece. The neat thing is it has all sorts of add ons and options. I will talk more about it later, but I chose to go with the so called "storage ends" that have lockable, removable lids and wells inside to store recovery straps, shackles, and whatever else you might want to stuff in there.


As you can see, I had to have a couple of things modified. Of course the mounts had to be re-engineered to fit the Montero. But since the width, thickness, and everything else lined up really well out of the box, it wasn't too hard. The bigger challenge was sectioning out the storage wells a bit. You can see the bare steel bits where a section was taken out because on the jeep, those areas need to slope up to meet the fenders. On the Montero, the slope actually matches the cutout on the corner of the light, but it would not have allowed me to mount the bumper as close in as I wanted it to be. Obviously I also went for the simple hoop, which I was glad to see matches the slope of the radiator quite nicely.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/HUM469/Montero/DSC00626.jpg[/img]

You might notice the large gaps between the bumper ends and the fender metal and flare area. Don't worry, I have a solution for that, but I will talk more about it (and yes, it did happen, I will have photos!) tomorrow! Questions? Shoot them out there, and I will have a more detailed write-up. I also have a number of other littler items if anyone is interested later too. Let me know when I have shared enough to atone for my absence! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Looks very sharpe. how long is your bumper from end to end? It looks like if you did not have those SR flares it would stick out alot. Whats the plans for the lower skid plate area? are you able to reuse the stock one or fab a new one? To bad that hoop does not have light mount tabs. i can not wait to see it completed.

Good to have you back ...Looks good ...

Let's see a Maxima challenge that bumper!

Thanks guys. So I have some more information on the bumper, and I will answer the questions so far.



No kidding! Of course he actually drove in to the tire and pulled the fender in in the process, the bumper only got the outer edge of the mess that was his new front end. But I do think this one would just bury deeper in the scrap metal and strug it off, but I love that it is modular just in case.

Recon, to address your questions, I will start with the width. It is just a hair under 69" from edge to edge and you are right, it would stick out if the flares weren't there, but perhaps not as much as it looks. Remember a camera is going to see something that is closer as wider. An image like this...

...looks like it sticks out significantly. However, if I move back and use a more telephoto type lens with a narrower angle of view, and I get down to look at the bumper more head on...

That's a bit better.

In fact, it only sticks out on the side I was hit on by about a quarter of an inch. For some reason, I just can't quite get the fender to be perfectly straight and it curves in a bit as you can see here.

As compared to the other side. Ignore the tires since the wheel is turned a bit, but you will notice you can see the back half of the flare in the photo above while you can't here. Proportionally, the camera is in the exact same place on both sides.


The most important change from the photos I posted last night though (besides the fact that it is all primered and clean now) is the "fill" pieces I made. It was surprising to me that the center section actually has a gental curve on the back side that darn near exactly follows the body of the Monty. That's strange because pre-2009 Wranglers always had straight bumpers, and the 2009+'s at least still LOOK like the grill is straight too. No matter there, but the ends are meant to fall in line with the Wrangler's fenders which are definitely straight. Here you can see the gap this leaves between the sheet metal/fender flare and the bumper. I could not deal with that.


I found with the bumper on for a few weeks that besides looking tacky, this allowed a large wave to wash over the hood and directly onto the windsheild if a puddle had more than an inch of water so it had to be filled. What I did was take some 16 guage sheet (I wanted to save weight and if the bumper were to ever break it's mount, I don't want it to rip the lights off like the ARBs are known to), created a template based off the shape of the plastic stock bumper bits, and then created two bends to match the bumper's angles. Here's what the fill looks like from above.



Again on the right side, you can see how my slightly curved fender means my perfectly sculpted cuts on the fill piece don't quite line up and the fill sticks out about a quarter inch from the fender flair despite being the exact same distance from the truck's mid-line. This is what the fill pieces look like from the side.

And a couple of other angles....



When it comes to the skid plate, it's mostly laziness that it isn't on there in these photos. The stock one fits just fine as this test fitting photo and one other before show..
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/HUM469/Montero/DSC05043.jpg[/img]
But since I still have some work to do up under there, I haven't chosen to bolt it on yet.

One task I still need to do is to find some stock JK fog lights for the light holes. They use a rather weird mounting design that simply won't work with anything else, but I can't seem to find any that anyone will actually sell me right now. Also, I need to make some reinforcing plates for the back side of the bumper where the big D-rings (one is loosely attached in a couple of photos) bolt on. On a JK, they would bolt through the bumper and the frame ends. Since we don't have frame ends like that, right now it would just be the 1/4 inch (I think) plate steel of the bumper. I want some big, beefy plates to make sure the bumper doesn't deform if I really pull on them. Once the D-rings are on, then I plan to cut the stock tow hooks off so they stop getting caught on rocks when the going gets rough, then re-paint the frame. Oh, and I still have to run the hoses for the head light washers as well. They are on the bumper, but not hooked up until I drill a couple more holes.

Yes it is too bad the hoop doesn't have tabs, but that's easy enough to add once I know which lights, how many, and where I want to put the lights. I need to decide on a winch first to know how tall it might stand. I have two 4" generic HID's right now that I could use but I am not sold. I bought them before I got the bumper assuming they could go in the holes. A 4" light should fit in a hole ment for a 4" light, right? Jeep apparently exaggerates a bit because their "4 in. fog lights' are really 3 7/8ths overall with a 3.5" reflector. Then the question is with lights in the holes, how many might I really need on the bar anyway? This is one of the two 4" I have back when I still thought it would go in the bumper just above the skid plate...
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/HUM469/Montero/DSC04677.jpg[/img]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but here's at least one photo that shows the bumper and the sliders too!
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/HUM469/Montero/DSC00813.jpg[/img]

Obviously I still need to paint them too. The plan is/was to have the bumper, sliders, skid plates, and all the grey plastic body armor painted with a grey tinted bedliner material. Unfortunately, the school that was going to do it for really cheap wasn't able to fit me in before the end of the school year. Now I might have to wait till the fall if I don't come up with another way or change my mind. I guess time will tell there....

It's late already, if anyone is interested, I can talk a bit more about other smaller things tomorrow. Or there's another big project I am plotting for some time in the not too distant future... I hope! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />

It's looking good, I like what you done with the front bumper. The pics are great. Having good pics makes all the difference for the rest of us.

Very sharpe. thanks for the answers. I see you attached the headlight washers in the bumper. Very slick. the plastic filler pieces is a great idea for the reasons you mentioned. Keep up the good work.

Thank you. Yes I thought that to fully claim this bumper as being a Monty bumper and no longer a jeep unit, I had to have the washers on there! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

The filler pieces are not plastic though, but 16 gauge steel. I cut them from flat stock, then folded them to fit and had them welded on to the bumper. Everything just looks plastic-y because it's only painted with a flat, sandable primer for now while I decide what I should do about final paint. Should I wait till the fall when the cheap place can spray the liner material, paint it myself with something like Al's liner, or some other solution? Ah the tough decisions....

Good brainstorming! Very clean looking too. Keep up the mods. And btw, welcome back!

Nice ride man! I looked to see if you were from the desert area cause I would hate to take that thing offroading in the trees. That paint is just too pretty to scratch up on branches and the occasional "tree slide" to get around or through off camber situations when you dont have 4 or 5 buddies to stand on your uphill running board