Shaped Bumper for purpose (1 Viewer)

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I wanted to build my own rear bumper. I have a 4+ on the front, and it's fantastic! Really well made and just enough without being too heavy. I got it as I was in a hurry to go north for a moose hunt and we were going into new territory and I needed a winch for the 'just in case' that might happen. North being 300 kms north of Ft St James, BC.

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So a year later, after an incredible 5 month tour in India, I get home and need to get to work with my hands and figure out what I really want.
A shaped bumper that looks good. Not like some redneck welded a 2"x5" pce of tube to his truck.
I have a #6000 warn winch to tuck in the back for those embarrassing, what was I thinking?, moments. I will also need to pull my firewood/quad/lumber trailer. Weight is always a consideration, so I want a removeable tire carrier. Maybe a fuel can/propane tank rack on there as well. And underneath ideas of a long range fuel cell or a carrier basket for fuel cans.
 
First off, got to figure out how to attach it to the frame.

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So after 2 days taking off the rear crossmember. My f**#$in! christ@!!!! And a $90 Snap On cold chisel. It was done...............

So I started thinking.., Oh Oh... :eek::rolleyes:

So I made some measurements.

You know that it's not safe to drive your truck around without the bolts holding the body to the frame? :p

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Gonna follow this one....
 
You ditching that tow hitch? It hangs really low and kills departure angle, I'd assume you'll integrate one in the new bumper?
 
How is the cut on your Hypertherm 45? Do you need to grind/buff the cut edge on thicker material quite a bit? I think I'm gonna go with the 65 or 85 when I get my table. Enough of that...

I'm in on this build too. I was going to look at a few different styles of bumpers/accessories for the 40/55/60/80 series along with Tacos, 4Runner, and Tundras too.

Looking good so far. Keep it up!

J
 
I wanted to template the brackets first, because I wasn't sure where the top of the bumper was going to be in relation to the tailgate. I had made a plywood template of the top of the planned bumper to get dimensions for width overall, depth in the middle and eventually having a spindle for tire carrier.

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This is 6" deep, and after many discussions with Rob, this seemed like the best size. Now all measurements are made from the inner frame. On my truck it's 41 5/16", and centerline was verified with the trailerhitch.

FYI, I am keeping the trailer hitch. If you draw an imaginary line from the bottom of the rear tire, to about 1" below the bottom of the frame, the trailer hitch is around 1" in the way. Not a big deal, makes a hell of a skid plate.
And I have plans for the hitch, soon to be seen.

I ended up designing the bumper 1 3/4" above the top fo the frame.

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Glad to see you are back on your feet, hows the back? Keep the pictures coming. :popcorn:

Hey, thanks, bones have mended. I'm not too sure about the shoulders. I'm afraid to fire heavy caliber rifle yet.

In the above pic, I made a template bracket. It was only 3/16", believe me not the final bracket!! I was getting used to the plasma cutter, and didnt' want to waste material on a mistake. And this one was of poor dimension. It was only 1 1/2" above the frame. I decided it wasn't high enough. So I corrected it on the final cut.
 
I also make a template of the bumper design I wanted. I guess this is where I wanted something different, that will look really clean and functional, and have shape. I pounded this out on a vise using a piece of that steel used on chain link fencing.

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The basic design is 6" on top, 5" on the face and then 2" each as it makes shape. The thing is, I needed a huge shear for cutting and a big ass brake for making this possible. I settled on 3/16" for the bumper, pretty heavy duty, but not overkill. After checking it is the standard of choice thickness of most builders.

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One thing I learned, if you can, try to make a template first. Measure everything so many times your head hurts! Then cut.
 
Nice work and rig!
 
Pilot, are you free handing the plasma or did you buy a CNC plasma table?

TFJM

I use handmade jig pieces. Here is cutting the 1/2" brackets. the hard part is being 'smooth' while drawing the cutting handle. With mine it's 1/4" offset with 1/4" thick guide material. And making the cut 'vertical' on the side to side plane.

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