3rd Gen "BMC" (Body Mount Chop) W/Relentless Fabrication BMC plates

Hey all, figured i'd share my BMC on my 3rd Gen Tundra.

2015 Tundra Crewmax
Fox 2.5 Factory's
Camburg UCA's (Balljoint version)
35" x 12.5" x 18" BFG KO2's

I was rubbing quite a bit after all suspension and tires were installed. I was looking in my immediate area (Central Valley, CA) for a shop to perform the BMC, but the finished results I was seeing from the customers, pushed me to give it a shot myself.

So decided to hit up the staff at @RelentlessFabrication and tackle the BMC. Check it out. Hope it helps other members out, if they were on the fence about doing one or taking it to a shop.

Started by engaging parking brake and removing Terminals from Battery.

Jacked up front end and put on jack stands to remove both front tires.

Marked the body mount using the Relentless Fab plates.



Cut using grinder w/ Cut off wheel.




Test fit RF BMC Plate and used Flap Disk on grinder to take material off until I was satisfied with fitment.




Once satisfied with fitment tacked the RF BMC plate in place.



Proceeded with welding the plate. Did short stitches(welds) with Wet Rag around rubber bushing to prevent too much heat build up. Keep bucket of water close with an additional rag to dab on metal between welds for cooling.






Stand back check out your work, drink a cold one, then repeat all previous steps on passenger side......

I chose this paint because it looked to match the factory Toyota chassis black pretty well. Plus it said Chassis on it. Lol


And That's all folks. Took about 2.5-3hrs all together (jacking up the truck, layout, cutting, and welding) Not including painting time, Had to wait till the weekend since I had to drive to work the next morning and it was raining.

Hope this helps, if I didn't cover something you want to know, shoot me a question.


-LittleTRD

 

Awesome man! How’s your alignment been with the Camburg UCA?

 

Thanks @mttjdy It's pretty good now. Definitely drives different than a stock truck. It doesn't self center as much as stock geometry.

It did take two alignments to get it right though. I got lucky at my local Dealership, there was a tech familiar with Camburg components my second time around, and I've been requesting him ever since.

 

Good to hear. Is the whole camburg/alignment deal just that they are built for a lot more caster? I wonder if this applies to both their uniball and sealed ball joint styles.

 

Awesome job!
I have my plates (been seeking shops), but after this post I'm more than confident to do this myself. Thanks for the detailed, step-by-step!

 

Damn wish I could weld....

 

very nice job !

 

Nice welds, TIG?

 

Thanks @SnowB0und I ended up using a MIG to keep the the the heat down as much as possible.

 

Ya @mttjdy, They are meant to be that way, I believe both models (uniball & balljoint) are built with the added caster.

 

Well done @LittleTRD , Thank you for sharing the step by step process.

 

Thanks @saybng , I'm trying to contribute good info to the forum, since I got soo much good info for my build(still going....Lol) from here. Never joined a forum previously, so still learning how to do stuff on here.

 

Put a guard on your grinder.

 

Thanks, @Warreng Definitely. Its usually always on. I was actually a little scared the whole time I was cutting, because I took it off due to the speedycut wheel I bought being too large.

 

How much clearance did you get out of it? It doesn't seem like much, but I'm sure that's just deceiving. I'm going to be doing this soon since I have the plates from boss offroad already and need to do it since mine is running there since lift. Thanks for write up too....helps alot!

 

Nice job bro, I'm about 3/4ths of the way there, just need to find a local shop to take care of the welding portion. What grit was the cut off wheel that you used?

 

Thanks man, The cutoff wheel I used didn't have a grit rating but was 1mm thick and for cutting metal/stainless. The Flapdisk I used was 120grit, and then I had a Scotch Brite wheel I had laying around to make it nice and smooth.

 

The clearance toward the inner wheel well doesn't change much, it gradually increases as you get to the farthest outside portion of the body mount. At the outside edge, I would estimate I gained about 1-1 1/2 inches. But, before the chop I could not reach full turn with the wheel either direction, Now I can reach the limit on both directions.

 

Great job...I guess I'll order some and do it myself

 

Great job and good welds! Plates look solid too. Thanks for the write-up, bookmarked for later

 

@csuviper @T-Rex266 possible to link this in the DIY list? This write-up is great.

 

Your welds look good. I’m thinking of upgrading my Miller to a 220 multiprocess. I want to mess around with Tig.

 

Did mine this weekend. I went a little more aggressive with the grinder than you and cut more off. There really aren't any instructions out there besides good forum members like you who posts photos (thank you!) If you're thinking about doing this, bookmark this thread.

Hardest part was getting the cuts similar on each side. Grinder wheel didn't fit very well in some places. My welds don't look as good as yours, but I flap disc'd them smooth anyways. From the outside it looks like I didn't do a thing! I did some test coupon welds and they all looked complete. Took about 90 minutes per side from jack to paint.

 

Thanks @Tundradrenalin glad it helped. Ya I know what you mean, mine are slightly different from side to side as well, its hard to reference a particular point on the two sides. But as you said, when complete and painted, you cant tell from outside anyway. Cheers man.

 

Thinking about prepping my BMC and give it a go even though I've never welded. Going to pick up one of those HF flux welders!

Just wondering though, will these be sufficient to cut through the body mount?


and what about grinding the welds in after? what disc should I look for?

 

Hey @pvn.beluga, That will be perfect for making the cuts. Mine was the 1mm thick cutoff.

As far as grinding the welds after welding, I would use a 4.5" flap disc (80-120grit) instead of a grinding wheel. It will take slightly longer but the finished result will be much better.

 

Nice! I was looking at this one earlier, but unsure. Definitely want that weld-in to be clean looking! Thanks!

 

Thank you for this post LittleTRD! This was right on target with what I was looking for so I immediately became a member of this forum! Your pics were excellent and even better than a few of the videos I watched on YouTube on how this mod is to be done.

I just hope its as straight forward on my 2018 Tundra Off-Road Limited. I do know there will probably be some issues with getting my wheel-Well shroud moved out of the way on the 2018 to get full clearance to the mount and not sure how close the actual 2018 config is to the 2015 you have.

I'd pay fair money for someone to do this as good as you did...the one local installer near me gave me some pretty bad vibes on their experience and level of attention to detail on this fabrication and almost all other shops I called have never done anything like this or simply said they won't do welding mods of this sort.

Seemingly we have allot of poser 4x4 shops up near me who are in it for the green and not the actual pride and accuracy in the process Must be why none I could find actually know about this mod for the Tundra...but then again Ohio isn't known for its Off-Road enthusiasm.

If anyone could refer to me to decent shop in Northeastern Ohio who would be a good recommendation for this mod I'd be very appreciative.

 

Come and do my truck, I need some 35’s.

 

i learned this past year during the stay at home event.

i bought a Lincoln from Home Depot and watched a couple YouTube videos.

it’s surprisingly easier than other skills I have learned