Front Bumper Project

[ckblum]

This is my bumper me and my Dad are working on. I designed it myself to fit my truck based of the basic prerunner style. I just bought a tubing bender on Friday and started working on this as soon as possible. It is almost done, just needs finishing, gussets and some light tabs as soon as I get some lights to put on it. Other projects coming up include a tire gate and maybe a bed cage/light bar kinda thing.

Made of 1 5/8 OD tubing, 1/8" wall and some smaller stuff also 1/8" wall. All welded with my Dad's old arc welder.

 

[Destroyer000]

not bad.. good start. what kinda of bender did you get? how much did it run ya? iam in the market for a bender.

 

[koda6966]

Looks nice. Id make one for my truck as well, but i dont have 4x4 so it would just smell like rice.

 

[ckblum]

The bender I bought cost me $100 at KMS tools. It is a 12 ton and can do up to 2" 1/8 wall. Might even be able to do a bit more, but the biggest I'll ever go is 1 1/2" probably. It also came with 6 dies, smallest is 1/2".

Koda, what do you mean by "smell like rice"?

EDIT: one thing about the bender is that it was pretty tricky on some bends, like sharp angles, getting it consistent without wrinkling or kinking. On the main hoop you can see the left bend is a bit squished, but it's not even noticeable on the truck because of the angle.

 

[koda6966]

Koda, what do you mean by "smell like rice"?

Well, rice as in ricer.
You do know what a ricer is right?

if not...
I would personally describe a ricer as something that looks like its a performance oriented vehicle, but is really just one overloaded with exterior and interior mods.

ex: Lund Scoops, Ghetto rims, Excessive tint, performance stickers for parts you've never even seen, etc etc.

And yes, that includes lifts, big tires, and bumpers on trucks that will never see the off-road.

 

[ckblum]

Ohh, I hope mine isn't considered a ricer. I haven't even really driven it myself yet other than moving it into and out of the shop and backing in. I'm cutting my 3" body lift down because I think it is a little much and I like the lower hung look like the prerunners style. I have 31's on it so they aren't too big but still good off road. I saw a guy put 33's on a stock height Gen 2 Ranger with some trimming so I think I can fit it fine with a bit of trimming.

 

[koda6966]

Id say it wouldn't be a ricer, you made the bumper yourself and youve prolly got the off road capabilities with your truck.

 

[ckblum]

Yea I was thinking about just buying a light bar and mounting it onto a custom bumper. Hey koda if you wanted the more aggressive look on your truck without over doing it you could just put a light bar on the front instead of a full bumper. I was gonna get a pro comp light bar, I think they were around $150 and they mount on your stock bumper. I don't think that would be overly ricer or anything either.

 

[koda6966]

Yea, i could do that. But i think ill just leave it the way it is, i dont see much of a point in putting much money into it. I'm prolly just going to mount my lights right on the bumper.

Besides... I need to save as much money as possible so i can move the hell out of my parents house.
Haha

 

[pillen140]

looks good, i just hope you didnt use that miter saw to cut steel, jk

 

[ckblum]

No its my Dad's wood shop and the miter saw is was just convenient to use as a stand. We have a portable band saw for cutting through the pipe, cuts like a hot knife through butter.