Don't worry it will rust in 6 months anyways haha but man it will look great until then

But but but, I'm going to paint it with really good paint! (I know, I know but I have to try at least) My goal is to have it look really, really good in a few months and then drive it hard and put it away wet!

In today's installment of, let's make life suck, we installed a Lucky8 rear steel bumper. I got both the front and rear bumpers on Craigslist for a steal (steel?). The front isn't a huge priority, but the plastic on the rear bumper was falling apart badly.

My wife and I did the job, but it's really a job for two strong guys. I still need to reinstall the hitch, but I need to shift the bumper a bit and it was getting late. At least it's on there. Still need to reinstall the two trim pieces, one popped off and a couple of the plastic "Christmas trees" broke.

Me working on it:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...bbb07347f7.jpg

A the bumper installed:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...12cfd0b497.jpg
I bought a Terra Firma 2" medium lift from a guy on Expedition Portal which should be here Thursday. So far I've bought just about everything used or for a super deal. Hopefully I can get that installed in the next couple of weeks along with the roof rack Sally mentioned...

This morning I finished the rear bumper job. I loosened the two 19mm bolts holding the bumper to frame and was able to shift it slightly to the driver's side so the hitch bolt holes lined up. Then I just lifted the hitch into place with the jack and everything bolted up easily.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...7894bd0b02.jpg

The rear corner trim pieces took a bit of figuring out how to install without breaking the little "Christmas tree" fasteners. The trick is to install the front one into the body of the truck, position the trim piece so the slot is lined up with the tab sticking out, and then slide the trim piece forward onto the truck. I only broke one fastener before I figured it out! Everything is lined up really nicely now.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...d2abec5c1c.jpg

Next up is either the roof rack, access ladder, or front bumper. The front bumper and access ladder are ready to install, the rack will take just a little bit of work and it'll be ready. My guess is the ladder will be next since that looks really easy . . .

Can confirm the ladder is easy it's just 4 holes and some screws. The trucks coming along nicely though, keep it up

Thank you! My ladder also has four nutserts to install, but those are simple

My dad and I used home depot screws to hold it in because we didn't know how the nuts worked. If I'm honest I bought the ladder just for show it serves no purpose so for now the screws are fine. It does make opening the tailgate a lot easier though

Added the rear access ladder today and removed the nasty tint from the back window. The nutserts that shipped with the ladder had very narrow shoulders and were totally inadequate. Fortunately, I have a nutsert kit and grabbed four from my kit. The ladder itself is very well made (not oem) and seems very very sturdy. This picture was taken before the tint was removed. The previous owner had the windows tinted with very cheap limo tint which was next to impossible to see through, even during the day. I'll take care of other windows as time permits.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...bd8bb3ec62.jpg


I doubt I'll do anything more this weekend, but that's usually when I end up going big so we'll see . . .

That tint was totally obnoxious. Your truck looks great! I’m having fun living vicariously through you at this point…

I'll take the rest of the tint off soon, maybe today. As Mrs. Yeti reminded me, I don't have to worry about defroster wires so I can go to town with the scraper. I think I'll leave the tint on the alpine windows though since we don't actually look through them and it may help, even if just a little bit, to keep things cooler during the summer.