Aluminum front bumper

Hey everyone.

I was curious if any of you had an aluminum front bumper on the Tundra. Im super interested in the Costal Offroad Aluminum diy kit. Id have to take it somewhere to get it welded since i have 0 experience with that, but it offers the look of a full bumper at only 60 lbs. If anyone has any photos of an Alum front, post em!

 

My truck was in the shop for 35 hours for a pre-made bumper. While it was there, somone was having a kit bumper welded together for a 4runner. They were already on 25 hours of shop time and were just tacking it together. It still had to be welded, taken off for powder coat and reinstalled. It was cool but with labor, it's definitely a project for the home garage in my mind.

 

35 hours to install a pre made bumper?! Holy Guacamole

 

that screams shady shop to me. I have no welding experience and know that it doesn’t take that long. Especially if the bumpers already pre-cut for you to put together.

 

Hefty Fabworks makes an aluminum bumper, too. It's spendy. Don't know anyone who has it.

 

Maybe the shop is shady, but I guess my point is, right now body shops and skilled craftsman are at a premium. It may be difficult to find somone willing to take on a puzzle right now when they have standard work out the ears @$115 an hour.

The shop has to lay out all the parts. The tech has to get their head around it, number the parts. Sometimes cut bumper plastic. They will want the truck there. This all takes up a bay for days and days.

For me it was cheaper and quicker to buy a finished bumper and have it wrenched on. That still took three months.

Auto body is hell right now, just hoping to share some things to watch out for.

 

Definitely hear you on the “premium” portion of that. At some of the rates in SoCal I’d be better off buying a welder, classes to learn and do it myself. Maybe costal will offer them pre-built one day.

 

I am also looking for an aluminum bumper. I had it narrowed down to a coastal, Heftyfab, or victory 4x4….. Looks like coastal will be out of the equation now.

Also looking at the CBI Baja Hybrid. It’s not aluminum, but it’s still only 100lbs so light enough for most applications. https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/toyota-tundra-baja-hybrid-front-bumper-2014-2020/

 

I still like the coastal. 1500 bucks for the alum version. I’d pay another 1000 for it to be assembled for me, plus 200 or so to powder coat. 2700 for a 60lb bumper that i really like the look of in the grand scheme of a truck I’ll have for 20 years or more sounds good to me.

 

I’ve always had a habit of looking at big purchases like this as long term. If you put it into those terms it really makes it easier to pull the trigger on something like this even if it pains you up front.

 

I’ve always thought coastal ripped off demellos design and for the money your talking about spending I would definitely give demello a look. It’s double the weight your talking with aluminum but still one of the lighter steel plate bumpers on the market. Built strong and will last a long time. Save the headache and get a pre made bumper. Just my 2 cent.

 

I just messaged you lol. I definitely love the look of the demello, and even asked them to build one in aluminum. They said it would be so expensive they wouldn’t want to offer it. My priority is weight savings so it pushes me away from demello.

 

I completely agree. I could just foresee a shady shop giving me a quote of ~$400-800 before I buy it and then once it’s actually in the shop “this will take 20hrs at a rate of $100/hr.”

I may just take the risk anyway and shop around until I find a decent welding business.

 

Yeah i can see that happening as well. Unfortunately not too many honest people left out there. I would try to work something out where there is an agreed upon price and that's it. Maybe provide them the information for the bumper, install instructions and have them give you a call back with a quote. Make it clear that you aren't willing to pay more than X and have it agreed upon in writing.

Maybe more places will start to provide an alum version and we can avoid this whole mess. I would be happy to pay Demello 2700-3k for their flat top in aluminum. Like i said earlier 3k over the course of 20 years is a pill i can swallow.

 

Agreed. That Demello bumper is one of the best I’ve seen for our trucks.

CBI says their classic style front bumper is “coming soon” in aluminum: https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/toyota-tundra-classic-front-bumper-2014-2021/

another option that I cannot find ANY information on is all pro: Still prefer the coastal/Demello style to these

 

Hefty’s is $2445 plus shipping. 65 lb. Paint it black, and get a buddy to help you install it. Not a bad option.

I’m curious what CBI’s classic in aluminum will weigh.

 

If someone was handy they could make a jig to hold the costal DYI bumper and speed things up.

imagine if a good welder was able to get something mocked up. He could knock out 1-2 a day and make some good money.

 

Is CBI working on alum? I hope they do their covert bumper in alum too. I would probably put my name on a list for one asap if they announced it.

 

Yes, refer to post 15 above. I would probably order one asap. Might be worth trying to get a group buy together.

We drive heavy half tons that eat up most of their own GVWR. I bet there are a ton of us who want the functionality of that bumper without the added weight.

 

So i just talked to them. The Baja bumper in alum is gonna be roughly 90 lbs. they have no plans of making the covert in alum. So if you’re looking for weight savings the covert in steel and SSO slimline are both less than 90lbs.

 

Hmmm. The Hefty Fab aluminum bumper is 65 lb.