If you can imagine...

A disgustingly ugly, overbuilt, slightly too heavy, and definitely well functioning bumper, I'm going to make it. Boss man said I can use all the shop equipment and even free carbon steel . We have a fairly well equipped fab shop (no tube or pipe benders though), spray-arc machines , and most of the goodies needed.

My plan (of evil?): Scrap the OE bumper. Cut the frame rails back about 1/4" to make them plumb with truck at normal weight. Depending on what the engineer (legit structural engineer) at work says about some 3/4" dia. bolts... I have 2 options going around. If 4 of the bolts will yield at more than 10,000lbs, I will likely go with option 1.

1: cap the frame rails on either side with 3/8" A36 plate. Both drilled for 2, 3/4" bolts, with nuts welded inside them. Spray-arc the caps to the frame, nut-side in. Have a piece of 3/4" thick A36 to join the frame rails as a cross member, and the base plate of my bumper.

2: Weld the 3/4" plate up to the frame rails with a 3"x3" (triangle) x3/8" gusset on the insides.

I think no matter the tensile strength of the bolts, this will be far stronger, but with this design, the bumper can only be removed with a torch... From there out the design is the same.

Dead center on the plate, have 2 1/2" square tube (1/4" wall, just like all our Class III hitches) drilled for a receiver. Gusset it with 3/8" plate on all 4 sides on the back side, which sticks in towards the motor 3", to allow for enough gusset and weld. Have it stick 6" out to the front, gusseted 4" top and bottom, with more on the lower corner left and right.

A few inches to center from the frame, have 2"x2"x1/4" angle tabs, 2" long, to give support for tow hooks, cocked to the inside to prevent slippage. Somewhere about center height, outwards of the frame rails, have a 5,000lb lift lug (permanently closed) on each side.

Then have a bracket of 1/4" plate, maybe 3/8" if I can't find any 1/4" (because we rarely even use 3/8")... Hold 2, 2 1/2" schedule 40 pipes just below where the OE bumper would sit. This bracket also extending up, to hold another 2 1/2" pipe above the headlights. The pipes would all be on the same plumb line, incase I actually hit something... Or so I can remove anything from the receiver and use it to push. Cut the pipes a foot or so in from each end, and put a 22.5* cut, to wrap around slightly. Between the upper and lower pipes, on both ends, have a 1/2" round-bar going vertically to connect, mostly for looks. With 1/4" round-bar going at even intervals from there to the center, as a brush guard for my lights.

Sand-blast it all before assembly/install. Assemble, paint shop primer gray, then I want to spray it with the green/purple metallic color-changing paint.

If anyone can actually visualize that besides myself. Yes, it'll be horribly ugly and overbuilt (as previously stated), but I can't imagine it actually breaking. Since I plan to put a 10,000lb winch on that hitch eventually, hence the gussets. If I hadn't planned to use a winch/receiver, I would buy a pintle-hook on a 3/4" plate and weld that up dead-center on the base.

EDIT: Yes, I am aware that the truck as it sits weighs less than 5,000lbs. Who says I shouldn't be able to hang my truck upside down from the bumper, like that one (Mazda?) commercial a few years back.

sorry, but overbuilt and Stupid overbuilt are two different things....

believe me, if you see what I do with my truck....then you would know I always overbuild....

however, 3/8" and 3/4" ( other than D-ring mounts ) have no place on either end of a Ranger....1/4" is more than sufficient to make the base of the bumper....

on my original winch bumper I capped my frame horns with 3/16" plate and used three 1/2" grade 8 bolts to mount it per side....1/4" everywhere else and schd. 80 pipe for my tubes....all supporting a 10K winch....and it sagged my front end something fierce...

believe me, stick to 1/4" and smaller and you will be more than happy with its strength....and your front springs will be too...

l8r, John

Um, yea what railman said. I made my 3/16" bumper and I plow over trees with it, pull out fullsize trucks stuck in mud with it, and never ONCE has it let me down.

brinker88 said:

Um, yea what railman said. I made my 3/16" bumper and I plow over trees with it, pull out fullsize trucks stuck in mud with it, and never ONCE has it let me down.

Click to expand...

amen bro!!!! my front is made out of 1/8 plate with a 1/4 winch mount and it too plows down trees..

How much do your front ends actually sag? I don't droop much when my 200lbs climbs on the bumper to play under the hood.

Has anyone actually maxed out a 10k winch on their 1/4" plate? I do not trust it one bit.

You dont trust the steel, or you dont trust your welds? All of us in this thread have abused our bumpers and then some. If you dont trust us, well go ahead and build your "armored tank" bumper. BUT, when it puts your truck out of alignment because of the weight, wears out your suspension quicker (again because of the weight), and just plain KILLS your gas mileage, dont come crying and whining to us asking what to do.

Welding 3/4" plate takes a special welding process to get a good strong weld with pre-heating (But Im sure you knew that).

the most I have "maxxed" my winch was pulling a 3/4 ton Chevy sunk to the frame in mud with one of its tires off the bead....was pulled with my truck anchored to a large tree and with a snatch block doubling the winches pulling power ( effectively making it a 20K pound winch ) .....

all of your arguments for thicker material is moot however....look up Warn ( by far the most respected name in the winch businees ) and see what mounting plates/channels that they offer for thier 10K-12K or even 15K pound winches......you will see that 1/4" thick plate is more than strong enough...

and btw, you can weld 3/4" with nothing more special than a 3 phase Miller rated at 600amps

l8r, John

Thanks. I got the idea for 3/4 plate because of its use on ball hitches, and it's free. Yes I know how to weld 3/4 plate properly. Granted i lack overall experience with spray arc, but i have passed xray testing in 1g with it. Havent tested with 2 or 3g. Anything unreachable with a 250amp mig gun i can hit with some tig. So no, i trust my welds, but not 1/4 plate. Albiet if y'all dont have problems with it then there's no sense in competely overbuilding it.

How much are your bumpers weighing out to?

I would never use anything more than 1/4" for a bumper. My bumper is 1/4" and stupid strong and stupid heavy... do you realize how heavy a 3/4" bumper would be??? that's like triple the weight of mine, OMG!

Only the base plate *would* be 3/4. A little calculator I found says that come out to about 36lbs for the 30x6x3/4 A36 C/S plate. So I figure for the whole deal, maybe downsizing the pipes to 2" or a lower schedule, maybe a tad under 100lbs. Not going to happen getting 1/4" or thinner plate for free though lol. I'd probably have better luck getting 1"...

As I said I'm not concerned in the slightest bit with my welding capabilities, what I am concerned with is the plate bending under high loads. Considering this is a freebie job, I'll take what I can get, but want to be sure to know what I'm looking for. We typically only use 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4. The only 1/4" is nominal thickness pipe in 8"+ dia. Structural shapes are rare too. Not being an engineer (or having a full reference guide) I couldn't tell you how much stronger/weaker a say 4x3x1/4 rectangular tube would be, but I do certainly understand the use of structural shapes. Around my parts we tend to make our own (don't ask why...)

I'm sure as hell not working tomorrow so looking for shapes can wait till Monday. Also the engineer gets back from vacation then, so I can ask about bolt strength. Could potentially put some holes in the frame rail, with say 3/8" plate capping it and going back maybe 6", all welded, then drilling 3 holes on each side with appropriately sized bolts, so I could bolt the thing on. 6 3/4" bolts should have the shear strength...

4.0B2, do you have an actual weight of your bumper, or could you compile a nominal sized parts list?

Good luck with your bumper, post pics when you finish it!

I built one this summer for a '03 1 ton dually cummins 4x4 out of 3/16" and it was plenty thick. I bolted it to the frame with three 1/2" bolts per side and welded tabs for tow points to it. It weighed at least 100 lbs when I was done.

That truck has the weight to break stuff, and I was worried that if I made it too tough the frame would become the weakest link. You start putting anything thicker than 1/4" around there and the frame starts lookin real flimsy. Not as much of an issue as a ranger at least.

I did get to witness the truck getting jerked out of a low spot this fall by my tow points, and it was no problem.

If thicker steel is free then go for it! I made mine out of a 4'x4' sheet of 3/16" and there was plenty left over.

If you do weld tow points to it I would recommend using D rings instead of tabs.

Unless adding armor to a tank,,LOL,,,the plans are way overkill IMHO.

Also, consider grade 5 bolts instead of grade 8. You want the bolts to break before the frame.....

The tabs are for space to weld the recovery hooks I have bolted to the frame already. We have 6,800lb and 20,000lb lift lugs in cut up 55gal drums (buy by the case, use anytime we need to lift stuff really). I was going to snag 2 of the 6,800lb'ers and square them up on there. The lugs are phoenixfit 2-900, from phoenix forge. The engineer at work got me the spec for 3/4" stock studs (whatever grade they buy) and they spec out at about 20kpsi tensile strength (not shear, in my application). Had a chance to cut my base plate the other day from 1/2", and will probably cut some more parts tomorrow. Make final measurements for the pieces getting welded to the frame later tomorrow and maybe get the damn ugly bumper off Wednesday and start welding. Probably have to drive around without a bumper for a few days, but oh well.

I had my woman sit on the hood, and she weighs 120lbs. The truck sank less than 1/4", so once I take the 30lbs? of OE bumper off, the new one will likely add less than 50lbs.

EDIT: to clarify above, I'll end up with 2 recovery hooks, rated at 10k a piece. Then have 2 lugs, rated at 6k a piece. I've seen the 6k lugs pick up WAY more than 6k (although unintentionally, and however unsafe). Safety factor... so they probably have a break strength of at least 10k. Can't really imagine my truck getting THAT stuck hehe.

My bumber has 1" thick shackle points that were extended with 3/8 plate that mount to the stock bolt hole on the frame. made from 3/16 checker plate and it is heavy! hade to use the overhead cranes at work to fit it in place. my best guess is 2-3 hundred pounds...the winch i just put on yesterday and i wont plan on doing any heavy pulls until i double up the mounting area but i have no doubt that I can plow through anything with it.



Edit: If your using high amperage spray welding use methods to reduce distortion in thinner materials..ie. back stepping, jumping around, and keeping your pieces fit up as tight as possible to avoid welds cracking from shrinkage.

I love the oldschool design of that. Really clean work!