RAY'S MONTERO SITE
MY MONTERO MODIFICATIONS
Iron Man Truck Sports IM-1 Rear Bumper
RESOURCES/LINKS
THE RATINGS
Function
Installation
Fit n Finish
Overall
After I got a taste of what Iron Man Truck Sports was able to do (they built a new skid plate for my transfer case), how they conducted business and how they treated their customers, I decided to go ahead with a new Rear Bumper since my old one was toasted (see fiture 1).
Again, it would be built using 1/4" Plate rather than 3/16" steel that everyone else uses. My criteria for this bumper was...
1) Make it Rock Proof
2) Low Profile
3) Functional in an accident
4) Improved departure angle
5) Integrated auxiliary lights
6) The ability to tow using the built in Montero towing platform.
Working with Bill again, he already knew my driving style and my preference to keep the OEM look. We discussed what I wanted out of the bumper and what he thought would work and he went at it.
Figure 1
A couple of days later I had my bumper.
When I first saw it, I exclaimed "Bill, this isn't a bumper, this is truly artwork!! I cant even begin to count the number of bends in it. Unlike most I-beam designs where bumpers are made with sharp corners, all of their corners are nicely rounded with a 1/4 radius bend minimum. Welds were nicely done and are of course sanded down and the whole unit was painted black.
After a minor amount of cutting (we needed to remove the excess steel used to support a wide step bumper) the bumper mounted using existing holes and hardware (see figure 2 & 3).
While mounting it up, I found that like my Transfer Case Skid Plate, Iron Man Truck Sports likes to build their products with tight tolerances. This is good. I prefer accuracy any day over muscle.
In addition to the tight tolerances the new bumper shaved about 3" off where the original bumper was. How much that is in terms of departure angle I'm not sure although it obviously gives me a better one (figure 4).
For those of you thinking about a new rear bumper, this one's a "no brainer".
To contact Iron Man Truck Sports, Inc., point your browser to http://www.geocities.com/ironmantrucksports
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Hits since created on 10, June 2000