Bumper ideas?

[Back Woods]

Were welding at school and this is one of the last chances i can weld everyday for a while.

Im waiting until im 18 so i can get a loan and then a truck. But i figured i might as well build a badass bumper in the mean time.

I would like to beable to do some pulling with it. (during the fair, about once or twice a year)

Ive got a pretty solid design that i think might do the trick. Ill try to get some drawings in a bit. But any advice would be great. ie. tieing the bumper into the frame etc etc.

any advice would be great. Thanks!

[dpuckett]

Is this a front or rear bumper you're after? I'd build it out of pipe for a rear, myself. I had one on a 91 that was BEEFY- I think it was 4" pipe, about 1/4-3/8 thick. Had a plate and hitch assembly coming down in the middle. Not sure if I have any pics of it or not.

For a front, you can go real gawdy, and have a straight pipe bumper or the like. Or you can put in some cuts and keep in line with the front end somewhat.

How much time do you have every day to weld? I'd think it'd take 2wks or more in class (assuming 30-40min of actual shop work time).

Daniel

[Back Woods]

its going to be a rear bumper. instead of pipe im going to use box tubing, two 3x3 pieces stacked and welded together. 3x3 because the hitch i have uses 3x3. and for attaching it to the frame i was thinking of bending two 1/4inch plates 90degrees and welding them to the bumper and bolting them to the frame rail. i have about 80minutes a day to weld.

[Back Woods]

found this olllllddddd piece of steel out back.

figured i can use it to attach the bumper to the frame. i will probably end up adding some cross bracing and gussets.

it needs to be cleaned up alot. by looking at it id say its 3inch by 1/4inch think.

[dpuckett]

Looks like that'll make some GOOD brackets.

So far, sounds good on the plan for the bumper. I'd recommend powder coating over painting, if it's available in your area.

DP

[PToombs]

If you're in the rust belt, paint it! 1 chip in the PC, and the rust gets started underneath. Then when you have a 1 inch bubble and scrape it, a 6 inch wide by 4 high piece of coating comes off.

[Back Woods]

yeah im about dead center in the rust belt. what about coating it with bedliner???

[jensenkennels]

what about coating it with bedliner???

Gouge it, and you'll have rust just like powdercoating. Unless you can find a product called Vortex. It has the ability to be touched up, it will stick to itself whereas other type of sprayon bedliners don't.
http://www.vortexsprayonliner.com/locatedistributor.php
Also, look into POR-15. Another possible option.
http://www.por15.com/
I've used this product, it's pretty impressive, though labor intensive.
Just throwin' it out there.
MADDOG

[GO OVRIT]

POR15 is some really good stuff. Ithink you should flush mount a couple of back up flood lights in there.

Jensenkennels, you should post up some pics of your truck. I'm assuming its the same one you've been building and posting on Pirate.

[T.winegar]

i did a huge bumper on the front of my 89 dodge cummins. i used a 4in pipe a and a 2 1/2in lower pipe. i sheathed it with 3/16 diamond plate all around. i welded for a long time in spurts. if you have time everyday, 2-3 weeks will probably get it done. don't get in the way of me on the road, i'll tell you that much!!

[T.winegar]

i did a huge bumper on the front of my 89 dodge cummins. i used a 4in pipe a and a 2 1/2in lower pipe. i sheathed it with 3/16 diamond plate all around. i welded for a long time in spurts. if you have time everyday, 2-3 weeks will probably get it done. don't get in the way of me on the road, i'll tell you that much!!

[randyswelding]

il have ta finish my bumper the brackets are 6"x15.5#channel with 2-22.5* saw cuts(or some thin like that)to a 4"std wall pipe with 2-90*bends and end caps.thats the bottom the top 2"sch80 pipe to look like the grill,then a 1/4" plate to stand on the 4"weight i dont care about with just the 4" pipe bumper i way in at 4440lbs front axle and 5700 rear axle so my bumper is going to be big and mean lookin or another thing is get a 12"thin channel and have a low boy semi look