These custom bars were are my replacements for the Smittybuilt bars I originally had on the truck. I wanted a bar that was higher, smaller, stonger, and not round...this is what I ended up making. All of the steel is 2x2"  3/16" wall, box tube. There are three 2x2" supports that go to the frame, to support the bar.

The kick at the rear most end of the bar helps to protect the rear fender. I got the idea from a 4Runner at the 6th Annual 4Runner Jamboree. He had custom nerf bars, but had crushed the body, right at the forward most part of the rear fender. To keep this from happening again, he added a similar kick to the end of his nerf bar.  I've decided to learn from his mistake, instead of waiting until I crush my fender as well, so I incorperated the idea into the nerf bars I was making.

The first set of bars I made was for Jack Geiger's truck. They are very similar to the ones pictured here, except the kick at the end is shorter, and not angled as steep as mine are. We mounted his bars by welding them straight to the frame.

I chose to try a new mount on the bars I was making for my own 4Runner. Instead of welding the 2x2" box straight to the frame, and welded it to a 4x4" piece of 1/4" flat bar. Then I drilled and tapped my frame, and attached the bars using four 1/2" bolts per mounting flange. That's 12 bolts PER BAR, holding them to the frame.

I've scraped the bars on the trail hard enough to remove nearly all the paint from the side, and the bar didn't flinch. I have yet to hi-lift off the bar, but I have no doubt the bar will support the weight of the truck. In testing in my garage I lifted one side of the truck with my floor jack, and dropped it, letting the nerf hit a single jack stand. The bar took the impact, and flexed so little I could not detect any flex with my crude measurements.

Before mounting I took one of the bars and put it on a scale....it weighed in at 40 lbs.