[krashDH]

Well, I finally got around to it!
Want to give a shout out and thanks to my buddy @Dylanss180 for the use of his welder and his painting equipment/skills!

No real write up here, just a bunch of photos for y'all.

Complete kit, hitch bumper, front:

First tacks:

Gussets and square tubing:

Tacked together:

I haven't welded in something like 4 years, and it's not my trade, so I was pretty stoked on some of my welds (some were not good either haha)

Then there was a solid half day of grinding. Man it's a lot of effort!! Unless of course you can lay down visually appealing beads everywhere, which well, I can't. So out came the grinder:

10 photo limit, continued...

 

[krashDH]

Finished grind:

Thanks again to my bud for painting! Rustoleum primer, Rustoleum Hammered Black paint. I wanted to be able to repaint without taking it in and this stuff is pretty dang tough paint. Easy to touch up if need be, can's of the stuff are sold everywhere.

Lots of coats

Texture:

The grand finale...the finished product!:

Really dig the shackle isolators and the wedge grommets...keeps it quiet and they don't flop around:

Just need to aim the LED pods and this is a wrap!

Was a really fun first big weld project for me and I'm happy how it turned out. Now I want to do their rear bumper!

Eventually I'll have to throw a light bar in that spot too. May get rid of the light bar/pod combo in the grill but not sure yet.

Coastal was a great company to work with. Definitely would do business with them again.

 

[Lins]

Nice job. The welds you showed were decent by my inexperienced standards.

 

[Loki223]

Looks like it turned out good, my only comment is the choice of primer, red / brown primers look like rust when the paint gets scratched. It's an incredibly minor thing, but something that was pointed out to me years ago and it just kinda stuck. But it is definitely an improvement

 

[krashDH]

Looks like it turned out good, my only comment is the choice of primer, red / brown primers look like rust when the paint gets scratched. It's an incredibly minor thing, but something that was pointed out to me years ago and it just kinda stuck. But it is definitely an improvement

Yeah I already noticed that in a couple places on the back and it threw me for a loop (thinking it was rust) 🤦‍♂️
Only reason I chose it was for the rust deterrent (it's their heavy metal rust primer) but looking back I should have maybe gone with their white metal primer. Oh well, too late now.

I'll just have to be adamant about the touch ups on this thing I suppose. I can definitely see some "desert" hue on some of the inside parts if you get really close. No one except me with my OCD would see it though.
I guess that's what I'll call it if it starts poking through from rock chips..."Hammered black with desert camo"

 

[Loki223]

the other thing to keep in mind is spray paint is really thin, for a bumper i would probably try to get at least 5 coats on it personally just knowing how thin spray paint is. Or get it powder coated if you wanted to throw the other bumper back on for a week. I know a place over on this side of the state that could color match your truck with powder coat for about $500

 

[Loki223]

you could probably get a good powder coat over there too, i know over here the best price vs quality is with the Russians. they give cash discounts and promise you that the engine not stolen

 

[krashDH]

the other thing to keep in mind is spray paint is really thin, for a bumper i would probably try to get at least 5 coats on it personally just knowing how thin spray paint is. Or get it powder coated if you wanted to throw the other bumper back on for a week. I know a place over on this side of the state that could color match your truck with powder coat for about $500

Honestly, I skipped powdercoating for a reason. In my experience it doesn't crack all that it's up to be. I had a bumper powdercoated a few years back, reputable shop, and it's already probably due for another coat. At $500 a pop, not worth it IMO.

The rustoleum Hammered paint is actually super tough for out of a can or the gun, I'm really surprised. I've use it on sus parts as well as motorcycle parts and it actually takes a beating, it's definitely not your "average" spray paint. I had it on an oil pan on my truck that took a beating for years, when I pulled the pan to upgrade to the newer style with the reinforcement rib, I cleaned it up and all of it was still in really good shape.

This way also, it's super easy for me to touch up and match the bumper. If something does cause a spot to go bad, it's a simple as sanding, and blending the area in, painting in my driveway. If I want to freshen it up, hit it with some 600 grit and do the whole thing over.

Yeah, PC is tougher than this stuff, but it was hard to justify the cost. It's tough to touch up powdercoat as well.
Eventually I'm just going to get the whole truck's paint job done with the Line-X Ultra, which I'll probably get the bumpers done at the same time.

you could probably get a good powder coat over there too, i know over here the best price vs quality is with the Russians. they give cash discounts and promise you that the engine not stolen

Yeah, there is a Russian shop (or was) next to my buddy's offroad shop that did body work and paint for pretty cheap.

 

[krashDH]

Aaand what it will look like after I swap to an 06-09 front grille:

Credit to @2002CTD for the Photoshop rendering. I can't do that stuff!

 

[krashDH]

Aaand what it will look like after I swap to an 06-09 front grille:

View attachment 926368

Credit to @2002CTD for the Photoshop rendering. I can't do that stuff!

Whaddya know, almost looks like the Photoshop above!

 

[StealthDiesel]

Looks great! The new grill looks much better since its not so cluttered.

If you can't weld you better have a good grinder. I have an excellent grinder!

 

[krashDH]

Looks great! The new grill looks much better since its not so cluttered.

If you can't weld you better have a good grinder. I have an excellent grinder!

Thanks! The old one was functional which was nice, but yeah there was a lot going on.

Hooked the LEDs up to my custom turn signal harness I made, I added an extra hot lead from the running/parking light connection when I put them together, worked out perfect for these.

And yeah, my rust colored driveway still reminds me daily what a "great" welder I am.

Wish all that rust dust would wash itself away..