new homebrew bumper

[rickcdewitt]

BE CAREFUL-now that your bumper is no longer the crumple zone the frame will be.don't get any delusions of toughness.the frame can be an expensive fix.if its even possible

 

[gotmudd]

me have delusions of toughness nah,not me, oh wait, yeah me and FWIW when i crumple a frame i just pop the radiator cap and drive a new truck under it [ only because when i crumple it can't be fixed ] and also FWIW i've only crumpled two frames out of all the trucks i've owned, one my fault, wasn't paying attention and totaled my '81 F150 hitting a tree head-on. second one wasn't my fault, pulled out of my mom's driveway, thought i had enough room,[ there was at least an 1/8th of a mile ] guy was going faster than i thought. dirty S.O.B broadsided me in my chevy half ton 4x4, he was in a dodge omni, his bumper went UNDER my cab, hit the frame and re-arranged his front end. bad for me, served that S.O.B right for going way too fast on a dirt road he said he was only doing 35, i said bullhooie. i tried slamming on my brakes in my moms mid size at 35 and slid 15 feet. he slid at least twice that. anyway as much as i like to play, i've reached the age where i now realize that i'm not ten foot tall and bullet proof, although sometimes i have an attack of alzheimers and forget

BE CAREFUL-now that your bumper is no longer the crumple zone the frame will be.don't get any delusions of toughness.the frame can be an expensive fix.if its even possible

haven't had time to finish bumper either, been out doing the other thing i like to do, kill fish, i figure if i can't kill the people that annoy me, not seriously, but it does sound good sometimes, then i can do the next best thing, get a mental image of the person who pissed me off, mentally photoshop it to the fish i happen to be working on and cut away and great anger management tool . specially when i can make $650 for 3 sets or @ 27 hours FWIW, all comments welcome, if it's negative so much the better, i'm running out of faces to mentally photoshop to the fish i get to kill

 

[funkingonutz]

those are some beefy welds ya got there holy crap!!!

 

[gotmudd]

those are some beefy welds ya got there holy crap!!!

i beveled every joint at least 45* on one side for better penetration with a minimum of 3 passes sometimes 4-5. most people would ask, " why so much and so many passes?" well, i gota tell ya something I DON'T LIKE THINGS TO COME APART. i have a drop hitch on my rear bumper that i perma-fixed [ welded ]@6years ago that i have abused the hell out of by jerking stumps and trees out with and no breakage, unless you count the chain/cable breakage. i have a theory if you weld it together right the first time there's a good chance with even odds that it ain't coming apart any time soon. besides it just wouldn't do to have your bumper come apart when you 'lightly' tap a tree at mild trail speed and then all your buddies are LTFAO while you pick up the pieces and then they really bust a gut when they find out that you done all that fabulous fab work if i hit something/someone head on or slightly off center it would probably survive a pretty good impact, non-movable , maybe 20mph, like say a rock or tree. something movable, like another vehicle[not that i want to, unless you're in my way, just kidding] or wooden structure, i'd guess maybe 30mph. you'd definately feel it but you'd drive away from it, which is the biggest thing. i hit a tree at @40+ mph in my '81 F150 [totaled the truck] with a factory bumper, that FWIW, crumpled before i stopped moving. if i'd had this bumper i probably would have sustained some damage but my truck would have had a 50/50 chance of driving away. with the factory chunk of 'scrap iron' i walked away with a bruise, but my frame was crumpled once in front of crossmember and twice behind, the radiator was laying ON TOP of the motor and all the side glass was blowed out. so with that being said, beefy welds, maybe so but i do know this it ain't gonna break and i pity the fool that wants to play chicken

 

[gotmudd]

here are some pics spanning @ 6 weeks, there's a couple that don't deal with my truck, but they are my other passtime

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[gotmudd]

note to self: keep fingers out of way of real big hammers , while cleaning up the front of my bumper [by adding MORE steel ] i was trying to negotiate a tight fit by using a splitting mall to seat a chunk of angle iron into the space to fit between the ears of the push part of the bumper. anyway i tried to bend some tabs cut in the angle iron for a better fit and smacked my pinky finger, i did alot of , except that my face was more like and i did alot of , anyway hopefully lesson learned, keep your damn fingers outta the way. almost done will post pics of finished bumper when done.