Bumper Build 101 (1 Viewer)

[REZARF]

Well, I should have worked on my camping/expedition style trailer today, but I wanted to get a jump on a new bumper since my lovely wife got me some new Hella 4000 lights for Christmas.

I had the camera handy so I thought I would go ahead and document the whole thing and do a little write up in case someone wants to learn how easy some of this stuff is.

I started with an old winch bumper that I have had in my garage for years. I like the look of upswept "wings" so I marked off what I thought looked nice. I like to use soap stone for marking things up, if you don't like the lines you can simply wipe them off with your hand or a rag. That is my soap stone marker "pen" by the mark.

Next I made a quick template out of some scrap paper and cut it out with an xacto knife. Then you simply flip the template and measure from the middle and you have identicle sides. Another nice thing is using a silver sharpie, I just recently was told about them and they are awesome on metal!

 

[REZARF]

After both sides are marked it is time to bring out the grinder with the cut off wheel. The key to getting a good clean line is allowing the cut off wheel to just score the surface while you focus on keeping it straight. After your first pass the grinder kinda runs inside the groove you just made. A good cut off wheel is worth the cost over crappy ones IMHO.

A few minutes with the grinder later and I have both ends cut to size and shape.

FWIW, I like to wear ear muffs and EYE glasses are recommended ... remeber kids, safety glasses look dorky, but a patch is for life!

 

[REZARF]

Next, since there was a coat of paint on this thing, it is time to clean up the edges so the welder can do its job. I used a 3M rust remover wheel, and a flap disk throughout this build, both work well. The rust remover wheel really rocks at getting old paint off.

Next I bent up a piece of 2" x .125" flat stock to the shape and profile of the new cuts I made on the bumper. I simple measure the piece, cut it to size, put it in the vice at the bend point and beat on it with a 3lb hammer until it fits just right. FWIW, I probably went from the vice to the bumper 8-10 times per side until it was right. Slow and steady wins the race... I guess

This is about where you want your gaps to be.

 

[REZARF]

Then once in place, tack all the corners so it doesn't warp out of position when you start to make a bead. After everything is tacked up, I flipped the bumper over and put in a few 1" or so, stitch welds to really hold it while I run the exterior bead.

Here you can see that I went ahead and ran the 3M remover over the entire bumper to remove the previous paint. I might work all this smooth with a few flap disks before finishing it.

I love welding

 

[REZARF]

Next I filled in two holes with the welder. I am not sure what they were for, maybe a license plate mount?

Anyhow, now it is time to grind, this is by far the most tedious part of fabbing things up. This is one of the reasons I think that strong welds that also LOOK good are so cool, instead of grinding everything down you can show off how good your welds look. This wasn't the edge to show off

The key to grinding your edges into a clean smooth nice looking edge is really easy IF you:

1. Knock all the big welds down first.
2. Keep the grinder perfectly level to the surface you are grinding on.
3. Just feather the weld into the original metal... THEN STOP.

To make a nice rounded edge you:

1. Keep the grinder moving fast up and down the edge.
2. Each pass you over lap the last to start to make the curve.
3. If you have ever used a hand plane in wood working, it is the same idea.

To clean it up, use a flap disk it is much less aggressive and it will give you a nicer over all look.

 

[REZARF]

After the foundation was where I wanted it, it was time to move onto a few of the doo-dads that will make this a fun little bumper on the front of my 40. First, I wanted to add a bit of winch protection and a little protection (though not much) for the lights as well. So, I bent up a piece of 1.5" .125" tube of HREW steel. A big prop to Ullr for using his JD2 bender, it makes light work of bending up steel.

The hardest part of mounting the tube is cutting the bottoms correct and flush and EQUAL. Then it is simple as a tack weld to hold it while you burn the rest of the tube in.

 

[REZARF]

Recovery points were next. I sourced these screw pin shackle mounts from a dude in Colorado Springs called Rocky Mountain Machining, they are really nice and beefy, you can find him on Ebay.

With something this big and thick it is important to bevel the edges so that you can make multiple passes with the welder. Remember, these mounts will experience HUGE loads and making these stick is a MUST. If you don't feel like your welds/skill/welder won't penetrate enough steel to keep these mounts in place, then source it out to a pro or a friend who can make the correct, safe welds. I used my 220v Lincoln on the hottest setting and did two slow passes to burn them in properly.

 

[REZARF]

This first pic shows the weld after one pass, the second pic is after the second pass with welder.

 

[REZARF]

This is where I ended up tonight will all the major fab work done. I like the way it came out Nothing really new, I just wanted to give some insight into what goes into making something like this.

 

[PabloCruise]

Drew - you have skills!

Nice work!

 

[REZARF]

And one pic with the reasons for the bumper build...

Now I simply need to clean the rest of the metal up for finishing. I may use a simple rattle can, but I have thought of trying Hammerite (sp?) Finish, any use this stuff, I have heard good things. If the metal cleans up without too much work I may consider powder coating it. Either way, I hope to wrap it up soon.

For those who are intimidated to start fabbing up some of their own stuff, I couldn't weld as of August 07! But my friends in my local club Rising Sun got me headed in the right direction.If you have wanted to do something like this, I say GO FOR IT!

 

[RicardoJM]

That bumper is looking real good. It is impressive to think you didn't start welding until the end of summer. Good work!

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

Looks good. What are those two arrow shaped things?

 

[REZARF]

Drew - you have skills!

Nice work!

Thanks TJ!

That bumper is looking real good. It is impressive to think you didn't start welding until the end of summer. Good work!

Thanks for the nice words, welding is a lot of fun and I have run about 4.37 miles of welds on my trailer I am building, so I have been able to practice a TON over the past several months.

Looks good. What are those two arrow shaped things?

Those are magnets for holding things in place when you weld. I used them like kick stands so the bumper wouldn't keep face planting on my make shift welding table.

Rezarf <><

 

[ken richardson]

thanks

Drew,

Thanks for the insight. I have never welded and am debating if I ever will. i have an M416 coming as soon as I pick it up and at this point am day dreaming about mods.

Dont own a welder yet but figure I will before its over.

Again, Thanks for the in depth look at how things are done.

Good stuff,

Ken

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

The red arrow shaped things are welding magnets. They hold things at either 90* or 45* conveniently and easily.

Doh, too slow, Drew beat me to it.

 

[GzrGlide]

Just curious why you didn't get longer shackle mounts and weld them to the bumper on the front and rear faces (you'd have to cut a hole through both faces)? Is just welding them to the front going to be good enough?

Great looking bumper! Excellent work.

 

[REZARF]

Just curious why you didn't get longer shackle mounts and weld them to the bumper on the front and rear faces (you'd have to cut a hole through both faces)? Is just welding them to the front going to be good enough?

Great looking bumper! Excellent work.

That is a good option, but if you weld them on right, it isn't necessary. Thanks!

 

[AxleIke]

If you don't powdercoat, use the hammerite. It is the strongest paint in a rattle can I've seen that still has a really nice finish. I hit my bellypan with that stuff, and its held up well even with rock hits.

 

[green73]

Appliance epoxy in a spray can goes on very nicely and dries like Powdercoating. Check your local Lowes/Home Depot. It comes in black, silver, almond, and white. I have used that and hammerite paint, and I like the Appliance Epoxy better.


Very nice design!