RollinWOT's Ramming Bumper

[basilfaulty]

Stay away from the convoluted and perforated area of the frame, don't weld to the frame. Frames today aren't mild steel they are HSLA and heat weakens them. The convolutions and perforations are engineered crumple zones, if they are altered in any way it will affect the way the truck performs in a crash (energy management) and also change airbag timing. Anything you make should bolt to the original mountiung points to avoid this issue.

 

[RollinWOT]

No crashes=no problems. But on a serious note, I really haven't noticed any problems with the way my cousins truck has adapted to that bumper. Welds are strong and clean with no deformations made to the frame. From Wikipedia- "HSLA steels vary from other steels in that they aren't made to meet a specific chemical composition, but rather to specific mechanical properties. They have a carbon content between 0.05–0.25% to retain formability and weldability." Besides, my truck is a '98 and from everything I've read and heard, the Gen 3 frames are very robust. I've even talked to one of my friends who owns a frame repair shoparound here and he said everything will be fine if I weld it to the frame.

 

[Bennybooster]

A 98' is a 4th gen

 

[RollinWOT]

^Oh, excuse me then, 4th Gen. Even still it will be fine. My frame shop buddy said that the frame horns and frame design are strong enough to take a major hit without causing very much frame warp.

 

[Grey_04]

I have nothing nice to say about all this, so I'll stay quiet

x2

 

[RollinWOT]

Guys I really don't care. I'm pretty thick skinned and it takes a lot to offend me. So go ahead and say what you want, I welcome criticism. I want as much criticism as possible to help and refine my ideas, so have at it.

 

[Boggin]

GROSS! Seems kinda like a copy of the classic Jeep surf board racks. But no, mine isn't going to be cumbersome and ugly. It's a tight fitting but heavy duty bumper. If I wanted to ram things for a living, I'd just get an M1A1.

umm..

Ok sorry bout the slow response time, been dealing w/ family issues lately Anyway heres a pic of the one we made for my cousins Ranger. It has a reciever where he can slide in a winch. Mine will be almost an exact copy.

you say its going to look like his, but you say its not going to be cumbersome and ugly. make up your mind!

 

[4.0B2]

lets just see some fab work! and pics

 

[RollinWOT]

It looks really big on his truck but its actually really close and not overly big. Albeit it is bigger than the original bumper, it's almost the same size. It just looks bigger because of where it is on the frame. It's positioned higher up than a stock bumper would be for clearance on the trail. And sorry guys, no fab for the next couple weeks. Finishing up my last little bit of school then it's back to work on the bumper.

 

[RangerSVT]

I'm going to chime in here....I wouldn't go with two 5" pieces (not to mention your talking a lot a weight at 1/4" thick times 10 ft) I would take one piece, cut it in half, and take the 2" stock you have and put that between the two halves the width of the frame, then gradually bring the two halves together at the outer most part of where you want the bumper to end. You got to remember, you have a 2WD truck with the 3.0L, your stock springs will sag quite a bit (close to 1.5 to 2 inches) if you put 10 ft of that tube, plus the weight of the flat stock as well as the other material used on the bumper. don't forget the winch your thinking of installing on the front ( almost 100 lbs, not to mention its past the bumper, which calculates to even more load/weight on the springs). Every little part of the bumper adds weight, and where it is located also translates to more weight...
SVT

 

[The Jester Race]

Ok sorry bout the slow response time, been dealing w/ family issues lately Anyway heres a pic of the one we made for my cousins Ranger. It has a reciever where he can slide in a winch. Mine will be almost an exact copy.

Meh, I'v seen worse. I really hope it's just because it's a crappy picture but to me it looks like those tabs are welded to the tube, which I assume is .120 wall, and not to the back plate, which I assume is .25" or thicker. God help you if those clevis tabs are mounted the way they appear to be in that picture.

-Jester

 

[RollinWOT]

SVT-I plan on upgrading to aftermarket coils and a set of lift spindles soon. And yes I'm not using 10 feet of the 1/4" 5x5 I'm only using 46" The 46" piece goes on the frame and then the tube gets bends to match the body lines and welded to the 5x5. I know it's kind of hard to picture, but you guys will see what I mean when I get some more pics up.
Jester-Yes, indeed it is a crappy photo, but my cousin took it with his phone. He must have just added the clevis tabs before he took the pic because I saw him 2 days before and they weren't there. He doesn't exactly think ahead when it comes to fabrication, just "oh I think I'll do this...looks good to me!" I definately won't be welding clevis tabs to the tube. If anything, I'll get them welded to the 5x5 base.
The tube he used is 10ga. round HREW steel. The tube I'm using is 16ga. round HREW steel so that will make it quite a bit light than it would be with the heavier stuff like 10ga. in it, and easier to use in the bender. Any more advice or ideas guys? Thanks for your input Jester and SVT.

 

[4.0B2]

my advise- get to building and show some pics... then let us criticize or admire

 

[RollinWOT]

B2-Dude, I know. I've been feeling the pain of not being in the same town as my bumper. I live in Tucson and I'm building it on my ranch in St. David simply because there's enough space out there to work. I'll be able to finish the build once school lets out in a couple weeks. It's actually almost finished I just need to finish the bends and weld the tube to the base and then the entire bumper to the truck.

 

[4.0B2]

man i about died from waiting for my bumper... i dropped off my steel and everything back before Christmas- it was almost march before it was finished and on my truck... i'm not patient enough for all that crap! lol