I bought a High Rider...

[Shran]

what's the sidewall on the tubing? I'd hate to see you do all this work and have it be .120mm wall (about 1/16") and bend on the 1st bump.

IMO, .250 would be best but .180 would work. (about 1/4", 1/8" respectively)

It's 1/4" wall pipe - 3" sch 40 I believe. The truck will bend way before this bumper will.

I had intentions of using something much thinner and lighter, 1/8" wall would have been OK but now that I'm adding a receiver hitch to it I think the heavy wall pipe will be the better choice anyway. Not that I plan to tow much with it, but I do want it to be pretty strong.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Part of the problem with an indestructible bumper is that the frame will bend in an accident... I would use as light as practical.

 

[Shran]

Part of the problem with an indestructible bumper is that the frame will bend in an accident... I would use as light as practical.

Ironically that's why I ended up with this truck to begin with (the high rider donor, not the stepside truck.) It got rear ended and the receiver hitch took the impact which twisted the frame. My buddy and I grafted the back half of another frame on but he had a lot of electrical problems with it and I ended up with the whole thing. That frame and electrical issues are long gone though.

 

[Curious Hound]

what's the sidewall on the tubing? I'd hate to see you do all this work and have it be .120mm wall (about 1/16") and bend on the 1st bump.

IMO, .250 would be best but .180 would work. (about 1/4", 1/8" respectively)

I wouldn’t use anything less than .120” which is 1/8” (0.125” = 1/8). .180 would be nice. .25 starts getting heavy.

My front bumper started as a Jeep bumper. That tubing is paper thin. Now that I’ve destroyed most of the tubing, I’ll redesign something else after my New Year’s Eve trip.

 

[dvdswan]

I wouldn’t use anything less than .120” which is 1/8” (0.125” = 1/8). .180 would be nice. .25 starts getting heavy.

My front bumper started as a Jeep bumper. That tubing is paper thin. Now that I’ve destroyed most of the tubing, I’ll redesign something else after my New Year’s Eve trip.

Numbers were off. lol I just remember .120 wall would bend if you kicked it.

 

[Curious Hound]

Numbers were off. lol I just remember .120 wall would bend if you kicked it.

My rock sliders are .120 wall and are taking their beatings quite well. I wouldn’t be afraid to build a bumper with decent sized .120 wall tubing. But that’s the very thinnest I would try to get away with. I’d be quite happy with .180”

 

[dvdswan]

My rock sliders are .120 wall and are taking their beatings quite well. I wouldn’t be afraid to build a bumper with decent sized .120 wall tubing. But that’s the very thinnest I would try to get away with. I’d be quite happy with .180”

I just remember the tube steps in the 80s and 90s were really weak and rusted easily. I thought they were .120. like I said numbers were off. That's my story and I sticking with it.

 

[Shran]

Made a bit more bumper progress the last two evenings. Having a CNC plasma cutter really speeds up my work and it looks great too - now that I have figured out how to run it reasonably well I can crank out parts. For this project I needed two plates that bolt to the sides of the frame and are welded to the round tubes, and two smaller rectangle plates that will be welded to the other plates and bolted on the bottom of the frame.

Basically I draw start with a cardboard template, draw it up in CAD software, import the drawing into another program which creates a code file for X/Y torch movements, then that file goes into the CNC controller program. There was a very steep learning curve with this machine, even for me (I have used CAD quite a bit and have many years of fabrication experience.) So it's nice when I start getting good results.

 

[Roert42]

I’ve never used any CNC equipment, but I gotta imagine the hardest part is getting your feeds and speeds correct. With manual operations you can make adjustments on the fly so it’s that that big of a deal if your too hot, ect when you start.

In the last year I got a cheap plasma for the shop at work. Night and day difference on cutting parts, especially since we do a lot of stainless.

 

[Shran]

I’ve never used any CNC equipment, but I gotta imagine the hardest part is getting your feeds and speeds correct. With manual operations you can make adjustments on the fly so it’s that that big of a deal if your too hot, ect when you start.

In the last year I got a cheap plasma for the shop at work. Night and day difference on cutting parts, especially since we do a lot of stainless.

Yeah the torch travel speed is the hardest thing to dial in. It can vary even by the shape you are cutting - circles and curves are annoying because often I get a beveled edge on two sides of circles but straight cuts will come out perfect. You have to be cognizant of heat warpage during the cut and also the order in which things are cut... you want to cut holes inside a bigger piece before you cut the bigger piece itself...for example. If you don't do that, the big part can move and everything will be thrown out of alignment.... or an inside cut scrap can fall halfway out and bind up the torch... like I said, huge learning curve!

Biggest thing that's helped me is keeping a notes file on my computer and I document travel speeds and any issues I had every time I use the machine so I can troubleshoot.

 

[dvdswan]

Good thing the CNC makes better circles than you do. Looks awesome.

 

[Shran]

I finished the mounting plates on Monday and got the whole thing welded together. I also cut the receiver tube off my old bumper and made a little slot on the bottom tube of my new one for it to be recessed into just slightly. Also made some gussets on the back side of it.

At this point I need to figure out a license plate mount, license plate light, and a little tab for my trailer light plug. Minor things, then I can get it sandblasted and painted.

So what color should I paint it? I am thinking silver, to match all the diamond plate.

 

[Shran]

Bumper is painted and on the truck... finally. I really struggled with the paint and consider yourselves warned by me that "Old 55" or Van Sickle paint from Fleet Farm is crap. Their TDS is very vague about hardeners and reducers and how much to use if any, gun tip size, dry times, etc. I may end up repainting this at some point, I shot it with 1:8 reducer/paint as the TDS suggested and even a light mist ran everywhere. Tacky and gummy for days after... I ended up wiping a bunch off with acetone which caused its own series of issues and I can see edges under the next few layers I sprayed but it is what it is, sort of just looks like imperfections in the metal so I let it slide. I'll never buy that paint again.

 

[Curious Hound]

Bumper is painted and on the truck... finally. I really struggled with the paint and consider yourselves warned by me that "Old 55" or Van Sickle paint from Fleet Farm is crap. Their TDS is very vague about hardeners and reducers and how much to use if any, gun tip size, dry times, etc. I may end up repainting this at some point, I shot it with 1:8 reducer/paint as the TDS suggested and even a light mist ran everywhere. Tacky and gummy for days after... I ended up wiping a bunch off with acetone which caused its own series of issues and I can see edges under the next few layers I sprayed but it is what it is, sort of just looks like imperfections in the metal so I let it slide. I'll never buy that paint again.

That turned out nice.

 

[Roert42]

From the pictures is looks awesome. Just like it's supposed to be there.