Starting out with the designing process we were determined to combine our personal style with a functionality that would hold up to any terrain. Our team worked closely on this project and we conceptualized front and rear bumpers. Drawing up a bumper in a CAD program can sometimes be relatively simple but, as always, trying to find the perfect mix between style and go-anywhere capability while ensuring all electronic safety and drive assist features function properly, brings on an entirely new set of challenges. As we started to tear apart the front end of the truck, it gave way to the realization that we still had a lot to learn about this vehicle. We quickly found out that this Tundra was completely different from most of the other Toyotas we had dealt with in the past. Our biggest challenge was finding a way to allow all of the modern safety and collision sensors to function properly with our new bumpers. We failed over and over again, trying to get the sensors placed properly all while learning new things about the safety systems and just how intricate they are. It took days, heck even weeks for us to figure it out! After what seemed like 100’s of test drives to ensure all systems were working flawlessly, we succeeded in finding a way to integrate the sensors into the design of the bumper and capture that perfect blend of function and form we were chasing after.

When we are designing new products, we always ask ourselves “How will this benefit the customer?” The new design of the Tundra presented many challenges and obstacles we were not expecting to have to deal with, like- what is going to be the best way to mount the bumper onto the truck since the frame is completely different from previous models? It’s crazy when you’re so deep in creating a new product how your focus is in hyperdrive as your brain recruits every ounce of resources to the task at hand - It’s a magical, beautiful thing. With creativity pulsing at a level 10, we figured out a solid mounting system which allows the bumper to be installed in such a way that it accommodates a winch, 40” light bar and all of the safety sensors without any major cutting or irreversible changes to the truck. We also decided to try something new with our bull-bar options. We created a combination of boxed sheet metal and tubing for the center bull-bar structure instead of an all tube center bull-bar on the triple hoop option. We love the look and we’re excited to see the finished product fully powder coated and installed!

Time proved to be our number one problem throughout all of this. It felt like we had the truck for 3 days, not 3 weeks. When it was said and done, we hardly had any time to soak it all in, and our fun was cut short as the transport truck showed up at 6am the next morning, an hour before our shop even opened. Eyes half open, we watched the truck load onto the trailer and we dreamed of the day we would meet again.