Wildyoats rear bumper build on FZJ80

[Box Rocket]

I posted this a while ago over on MUD but thought there might be a few here that don't venture over there that might be interested in this. Some of you may know Johnny Lange from the Wildyoats board. He has a killer FZJ80 and the dude has some great ideas and fabrications skills that typically come together amazingly fast and work great. One of his more recent ideas was a rear bumper for his cruiser. He designed and built it in his garage and it turned out so nice that several of us (locals) convinced him to have a few "kits" made up for us. You can see his write-up on his bumper herehttp://www.wildyoats.com/80_series_rear_bumper.htm

I thought I'd share a few pics of my "kit" I got from Johnny and built in my garage. Johnny did an outstanding job with this kit and I really like how my bumper came out. Now I've got a great place for my spare tire (finally) and I'm not slamming my plastic bumper on the rocks anymore.

Well in mainly chronological order here are some pics of my build but I'm too lazy to write descriptions for each picture. Sorry.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step01.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step02.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step03.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step04.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step05.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step05b.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step06.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step07.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step08.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/step09.jpg

[Box Rocket]

And a few of it finished.....

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/finishedlatch.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/finishedopen.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/finishedrear.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/finishedside.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k254/boxrocket/cruiser/finishedtruck-1.jpg

[adventureduo]

Yeah is saw that over on mud. I have his limb riser cables he made a kit for.

Only thing i would have changed is the death pole for a license plate mount.
Looks like someone could get stabbed if they walked into it at night or something.
I would have made a extension plate that mounts to the hatch instead.

other than that dude.. Looks hella good!

[Brian894x4]

That is awsome. Exactly what I would like for my rear bumper. The only thing I don't understand why I still see people mounting the tire on the right hand side (U.S. passenger side) when they don't have too.

Doesn't that block your vision more than if it was on the left side. When I had my tire carrier on my truck, I mounted on the left side and it was better, but being a 35" tire it still blocked most of the window and made seeing out the rear impossible either way.

But with the larger Land Cruiser and a smaller tire, I would imagine a left side mounted tire would be better....no?

[lowenbrau]

That is awsome. Exactly what I would like for my rear bumper. The only thing I don't understand why I still see people mounting the tire on the right hand side (U.S. passenger side) when they don't have too.

Doesn't that block your vision more than if it was on the left side. When I had my tire carrier on my truck, I mounted on the left side and it was better, but being a 35" tire it still blocked most of the window and made seeing out the rear impossible either way.

But with the larger Land Cruiser and a smaller tire, I would imagine a left side mounted tire would be better....no?

In this case, where the carrier can open more than 90 degrees (a nice feature IMO) its nice to have it swing out to the shoulder rather than into traffic. Otherwise I agree with your comments.

[Brian894x4]

That's a good point, I never thought about that .

[DaveInDenver]

That's a good point, I never thought about that .
That I think is the main reason, along the shoulder you would lose your tire carrier if it was open.

[Life_in_4Lo]

that is a nice bumper build.

on the swingout- just some thoughts

pass. side pros
-gas tanks/driver on DS, so it kinda puts weight on other side for "balance"
-doesn't swing out into traffic if it opens really far as pictured
-preference is the biggest thing

driver side pros
-easier to see out back (altho w/ a bigger tire, it doesn't matter really)
-if a car is parked behind you, you can still access the rear from curbside. My swingout doesn't go past about 90 so it won't be in traffic.
-w/ double swingout and 3 jerry cans, it is nice to have jerry cans on PS as it's heavier and easy to access from curb (altho curbside concerns are not a priorty for me at all)
-preference is the biggest thing

[GulfShoresFJ60]

What is the advantage of having a rear tire carrier swing more than 90*. The tailgate won't interfere at 90*. Just wondering why it is a nice feature to have the more than 90* swinging tire carrier.
Thanks

[bjordnolf]

Whats the going price?
thanks

[Green96D1]

Dude that bumper is hecka Cool man.:clapsmile

I'm in the process of building one for my Truck.