Looks awesome. Im suprised the front end isnt sagging more with that much weight. I see new struts and spring spacers in your future

 

Unfortunately the screens were bought but they were supposed to be mounted in front and "ziptied" to the factory grill ... if I had known that when I bought them I would have made my own (its heavier than gutter mesh) so I custom fit them behind and removed the stock grill inserts

I didnt notice any change in the ride height of the front end after install and I am sure any wear on my front end will be less than the stresses of the 2" leveling kit would have (its a 4X4) would like the 3 inch body lift but that is more CUSTOM work (truck is the 6Speed Manual Transmission)

I have New Rancho's to put on just with work and this damn heat I havent had time

 

Looks good. I'm curious the weight difference. I just installed my Rancho's all round. Couldn't be more pleased with them.

 

That bumper looks great!

Can't wait to see what you do with the rear.

 

nice looking. everything.

 

Dude! I love the bumper! Im fixin to do something similar to that pretty darn soon. Do you have any pics from the build?

 

I do not, I'm sorry .. we were running on VERY little time and the weather was killing us .. SO HOT... we were working in my buddies driveway and didnt really think about pics till after ..

as for difference in weight .. I think stock bumper is about 50lbs .. so I estimate about 150lbs MORE than stock...give or take (probably more)

If I had to do all over again I would make some changes .. and I would also make an adjustable height mount for future body lift and being able to then returning to stock height

 

What i am curious about is how did you attach it to the truck? I took my bumper off of my truck last night, before reading this, so that i could measure out those plates that mount the bumper. I dont think that the 1/16" thin plates will hold up to me pulling on them when i get my front reciever/tow hooks mounted. And it's just neat to see other peoples ideas are for makin things.

 

I do believe if you make sure you use grade 8 hardware including fender washers and Everything is very tight it would hold.. but if you want MORE (cause we always do)

Make and weld on a 2 piece plate it shouldnt affect the "crumple Zones" on the bumper mount but if you want to mount a 1 piece plate I would not cut out the center but drill 4 extra holes in the new plate spaced just outside the opening in the center so you can weld more of the plate to the existing mounts you could also run reinforcements back along the frame extention uning 4 triangular brackets (at least) and welding them to the back of the reinforced mounting plate below the bolt holes.. The stock bolts are long enough but you could get some that were a little longer and grade 8. I used, and would recommend lock washers too.

Just my Ideas

 

As I have Mentioned in a couple places I had cut all but the front small Muffler off my truck and had it exhausting out infront of the rear tire ... well I have now cut off that muffler and temp put that Areo Muffler in its place .. it isnt any louder but it is a MUCH smoother sound and when I HAmmer on the gas I dont get the "sputter" at the end.. also the Butt Dyno thinks it has some more pep... .. its just mocked up cause I cant afford to do what I want right now... if I even do it .. as some know I put the front bumper for sale in the forsale thread ... so that means the rear bumper project is a no go for an unknown length of timg...(till I could again afford to do them ...)