Custom L400 Rear Bumper - Complete

[DelicaMark]

I'm going to have a custom bumper made over the next couple of weeks.

What I want:

-receiver hitch
-D-ring shackle tabs
-somewhere to mount a Hi-Lift jack
-spare tire

I have 31'X10.5" tires and a pretty large exhaust pipe so fitting a spare underneath doesn't work. I currently don't have a spare which is really dumb. I do have an ARB compressor on board and a patch kit, but that is not going to do much good if I lose a sidewall.

My question to the experts. Do I go with:

1. A permanent swing away to the side spare tire carrier or
2. A spare tire carrier that goes into the receiver hitch and also articulates down and out of the way of the tailgate.

I think there are benefits to both approaches.

Thoughts?

-Mark

[nxski]

I would just get a generic 3 receiver hitch installed and get some custom attachments for your tire and hi-lift. You can get the hitch shop to weld some tabs for your shackles to the hitch itself. For example, the receiver on the left could be for the spare tire which would either fold down or sideways. The receiver in the centre can be used for whatever, bike rack, towing, etc. The receiver on the right can hold an attachment that your hi-lift attaches to. This makes your set-up very versatile and can be modified or added onto at anytime to carry Jerry cans, machine guns, WVO, ski's / boards... In addition to being versatile, the cost of the hitch install should be cheaper if it doesn't have to be a custom job.

[thedjjack]

Here is my receiver hitch...it is part of my tire swing. +2 years still there...

Mounting a YJ tire swing bumper thread: http://www.delica.ca/forum/l300-swing-b ... -9154.html

[jessef]

Hey Mark

There's an L400 rear tire carrier thread somewhere. I'll search for it.

Best to go with a solid hitch and build on that.

[DelicaMark]

Thanks for the input. I did look for a L400 thread but didn't find one, mind you I only looked here. I'll expand my search to the uk and Aussie sites. If you find Jesse it would be much appreciated.

I like the idea of 3 receiver approach too. Too many options!

-Mark

[DelicaMark]

Decided to go the more expensive route...remove old bumper and have new one made with receiver hitch and swing out tire carrier. This is the opening side.

It should be done in the next couple days. Very impressive to see what someone can do who does this sort of thing for a living.

Bumper.jpg (91.48 KiB) Viewed 12132 times

[legionnair]

Very nice, but we need more pics

[jessef]

Nice Mark

[DelicaMark]

Sneak Peak 2 - The swing out tire carrier goes on Saturday. Then a quick trim of the old plastic bumper and we are done!

SneakPeak2.jpg (178.89 KiB) Viewed 12037 times

...added some extra bad ass with some black rims. (maybe need a little black paint for the hubs)

[fmande]

Very nice.
The rims look good with it.
Well done

[Paule]

Very nice!

I'm curious; is there a reason that you've got the hinge on the right side instead of the left? I always thought that it would be awkward if you had to load the back from a parallel parked spot...

Well done.

p

[jessef]

It's odd. I've always had the swing out on the right side of the vehicle on all my rigs. Pathfinder, XJ, BJ60, L300.

I've only seen a lefty on a dual carrier.

The rims were a good addition Mark.

[DelicaMark]

It swings 180 degrees to the right. If it swung from the left it would stick out onto the road, which I don't think would be great either.

There are pros and cons for each side. Can't change it now anyway.

[DelicaMark]

Here are a few other pictures of the bumper at various stages. I'll have to crawl underneath tomorrow and take a couple photos of the attachment point. I know I posted some of these in the What did you do to your Delica post, but I was asked to finish this one off to help people searching. Here we go:

Here is a shot of the back side of the bumper.

Bumper Backside.jpg (125.25 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

Here a couple of shots without the swing out tire carrier.

Bumper No Swingout2.jpg (164.84 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

Bumper No Swingout1.jpg (178.89 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

Did a little grinding of the old plastic bumper body for the corners and done.

L400-1.jpg (135.74 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

L400-2.jpg (119.72 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

L400-3.jpg (142.12 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

L400-4.jpg (141.38 KiB) Viewed 11884 times

That is about it. If I were to do it again I would request it to be a little less over built. This is pretty heavy and could have been made of thinner material and still be plenty strong. Maybe a little thought as to where the license plate would go would have been good too. I made a holder that fit into the end of the tube that the tire sits on.

-Mark

[thedjjack]

Looks great

Make sure you light the rear plate (it is law that it has a light)