After spending far too much time looking through photos, reviews, and customer builds, I finally reached out to discuss a custom bumper. A few messages later we had ironed out the details, including swapping the light bar for a pair of additional 3-inch pod lights and adding a front license plate mount. The order was placed on December 8th. Yesterday the bumper finally arrived.

Installation started with removing the factory bumper. A handful of bolts in the fender wells and frame mounts later, the original bumper was on the floor. With the bumper out of the way, I removed the factory crossmember and loosely mounted the new bumper to get a first look.

Up next was trimming the brackets with an angle grinder. Using a square as a guide, I carefully marked and trimmed the lower sections of the brackets before cleaning everything up with a grinding disc and file. A quick coat of black Rust-Oleum finished the job and made it look like Toyota intended it that way.

With the fabrication work complete, I turned my attention to the lighting. The new bumper included replacement turn signals, which meant the factory connectors had to go. After cutting off and replacing the plugs, I soldered, heat-shrunk, and routed the new wiring. During testing, the lights immediately started hyper-flashing. The new lights were LEDs, and the factory flasher relay wasn't happy about it. A relay replacement would be a future project.

At least everything worked.

With the wiring complete, it was time for the final installation. A quick piece of advice: Don't install a steel bumper by yourself. More specifically, don't lay underneath the truck holding the bumper up with your knees while simultaneously trying to start bolts with one hand and keep the bumper aligned with the other. I managed to make it work, but I wouldn't recommend the experience.

Once the bumper was loosely mounted, I spent nearly 45 minutes adjusting and re-adjusting the fitment. Using the grille and headlights as reference points, I was able to get everything lined up almost perfectly. Almost.

A small gap remained on the driver's side no matter what I tried. The more I looked at it, the more convinced I became that the original bumper damage had extended beyond the bumper itself and slightly tweaked the surrounding sheet metal. At some point you have to accept good enough.

After a little trimming of the fender liners, everything was buttoned up and the truck finally had the look I had been chasing.

For the first time since buying the 4Runner, the front end felt complete.