Ok, got my ARB yesterday afternoon...unpacked it and checked to be sure everything was there and in good condition. It was lookin GREAT, get my front end all torn apart, all the necessary pieces removed and such and as my cousin and I set it up on the crossmember we realize that the driver side is perfectly aligned with the holes...yet the passenger side is about 1/4" low and about 1/2" in front of the necessary mounting holes. So...given the fact that this thing is solid as a rock, my only option here...unless of course persuaded by you guys to change my mind, is to drill my own holes in the mounting bracket and use an existing hole in the frame.

The only downside to this I see is that for one, I am going to have to drill through my brand new ARB and two, I will have one less bolt for strength. Given the fact that it looks like I will be having about 8 bolts holding this sucker on there I'm not too worried.

Have any of you 2nd genners had this problem before? Other than the slight moutning difficulty it all went fairly well...I am quite proud of myself as this is really my first do it myself project. I'll post pics of what I am talking about tomorrow in hopes somebody knows what to do about it!

Thanks guys!

Fink

 

I wouldn't go drilling extra holes until you either...

1. call ARB dealer and verify fitment to a 2nd gen
2. get some feedback here on installation

On the 3rd gen there are two big brackets/mounts for the bumper that attachh to the frame rails on either side and you must first clean up the ends of the frame rails for the mounts to slide on. If yours are not lining up, I would suggest smoothing/grinding the frame rail ends some more so the mounts slide on all the way...other than that I have no idea w/o pics.

 

DO NOT DRILL ANYTHING

use a jack to align the bumper. i took off my TJM/winch last night for the 3rd time probably and whenever i put it back on i have to use a floor jack, Hi-lift and bottle jack to get all the holes perfectly aligned...its normal for me. just put the bolts in halfway so theres room for adjustment.

 

There was no grinding needed for my rig, I just had to undo two circular brackets and take the skidplate off so I could slide the ARB onto it. I never got that grinder that I was going to get so I would have to go to Lowe's on the day after Thanksgiving to get a grinder...yeah that'll be fun!

I'm pretty sure that its not the frame rails because on the inside of the bracket that slips over the crossmember there are two little bump outs for bolts to go through, they are about 1/2" deep and they wouldn't allow for imperfections in the frame rails to keep the ARB from properly sliding on.

I'm pretty sure this is the right ARB, it says so on the side of the bumper on the "Stock ID Tag" and also on the sticker inside, unless they just made a very big mistake in shipping this is the right bumper.

I forgot to mention that with the exception of the passenger side frame mounts every single other hole lines up perfectly, the driver side frame mounts require the bumper to be lifted up a little bit but other than that they all line perfectly. My thought is that if I grind/cut/smooth anything that when I do that it may cause alll of the holes along the crossmember to misalign.

I'm kind of at a loss here...I will go take some pics right now. Should have them posted in about 15 minutes or so.

Thanks for the help Brian, I need some more ideas though!

Fink

 

So your saying using a jack to lift up on the passenger side of the ARB to get it aligned? The height isn't necessarily the problem, its the fact the whole side needs to move back towards the rig about a 1/2"...would a jack allow that to happen?

Fink

 

do you have the driver's side tight? if so, loosen that up a bit, it might be holding the passenger side from "bending" closer to the frame.

or maybe try aligning the passenger side first, then do the drivers side.

either way, dont tighten down any bolts until they are all in there.

 

I dont have any bolts in at all...I just have it resting up there on top of the crossmember and when I went to loosely put the bolts in I noticed that there was no way to get the bolts into the passenger side frame. I took some pics of it, and upon closer investigation I noticed that it looks like the passenger side mount was bent a little or somethin, the paint is all cracked in a line and one of the nuts that is supposed to be welded on the back of the mount isn't there anymore and it all just looks to be a little tweaked backward.

Here are some pics I just took, not sure if they help but they can give you an idea of what I am seeing.

Fink

 

This is a pic of the passenger frame mount that is not aligning right

 

Here is a picture of the only thing that I can see that may be causing it to get caught up and its a little bit of a lip where the stock circular brackets used to be...but I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem because of the two "step brackets" that are welded onto the ARB that stick out about 1/2". This lip is on the front of the passenger side of the crossmember.

 

This is a pic underneath on I guess what you would call the frame rail, all of the holes line up fine. I will post a pic of the crossmember holes in a second.

 

Here's the pic of the crossmember holes, they all line up fine if you move the ARB around a little bit.

PLEASE HELP!!

 

Any ideas guys? I'd like to have this thing mounted by the end of the day, I need to be able to drive around tomorrow and I've got it all torn apart in my garage.

Think I should just drill new holes or try and torque it enough to get it on there?

Fink

 

no man, dont drill new holes on it, just keep playing around with idea's till you get it, mabey take it all the way off, look at everything again, mabey there is something small you missed, slight bend on the frame or something, if you cant get it on dont drill though, i would wait to do it right, thats alot of money going down the drain if you drill and it makes it less strong or ruins it or something.
wade

 

Take your bumperless rig to a frame shop. Have them "table" it (that's one term I've heard). They can see if the frame is alligned. If it's not, tell them what you're trying to do and ask them if they will cut you a deal for correcting the problem if you pay in cash. I had the same problem on my 3rd gen. Cost me $200 to fix it.

 

hey fink!

i think alan hit the nail on the head, if the arb isnt lining up and youve noticed cracks in the paint near the mounting holes, the frame is probably out of alignment. it may cost you a bit now but at least you will have peace of mind that things are staight, square and true.

lee

 

Well...I took it to the dealer and upon further investigation my buddy said that it had obviously been messed with at a body shop...da*nit...I went over to the body shop and even with the dealer discount it would cost several hundred bucks to get it realigned...the whole bracket was removed and rewelded. They said the weld looked as strong, if not stronger than the factory weld because they reinforced the other side with some sort of brace.

So...looks like its down to drilling, not sure what else I can do. I could probably take it to a welder at some point when I get more serious about getting a winch and have them cut off the original bracket that is on the ARB and have them weld on a bracket that would fit onto the bent bracket but right now I just dont have the cash to have it realigned and rewelded.

Any other ideas guys?

Fink

 

hey fink!

unless its a pressing item to do right now, i would hold off until you can get it done right. no sense in doing the job twice. where should i send my .02?!

lee

 

Fink,

Don't get in a rush and in doing so up a pefectly good bumper/mounts. Done right the first time is the way to go everytime. Step back and think about it and you'll know it is the right thing to do.

 

exactly how I handle it.

 

So where do you all jack the bumper up at? Just on one side, two sides, in the middle? I would be willing to try this but I wanna know where to put the jack in order for it to be safe.

Also, is the bumper that I have and the bumper that you all have (the ones that have suggested using a jack) the same? Mine says that it will work on any 4runner/Taco from 89-97...I'm not sure if this is true or not but I was just curious.

Well, I'm going to get some reinforcements out here...my uncle who is a welder and my cousin who is a Toyota genius are going to make a day of brainstorming tomorrow and see if we can come up with some ideas.

However, if you all have any brilliant suggestions or ideas on where to jack the bumper up at that would be helpful. I'm not even sure my jack can go as high as the bumper is...

Thanks for all the suggestions, and I dont by any means want to rush into this but as of now, I just don't see how realigning that whole passenger side is going to happen. Because its not just the bumper bracket that is bent, its the body mount that is right by it, the radiator support and part of the fender panel support.

Ideas?? Questions?? Concerns?? Thoughts at all??

Thanks,

Fink