Slomo
It's Complicated
I decided to make a bastard rear bumper and swingout with a little of my favorite aspects of each of the above greats creations. No earth shattering design elements but it turned out so cool I thought I would share.
I did cut the rear cross member and the main part of the bumper is two 3/16" laser cut pieces and bent on a press brake. I didn't do the acute angle bend because I wanted to play with the two pieces to find the angle that looked best to my eye. The recovery points are 1" solid steel and go through the face of the bumper and tie in to mounts along the frame rail.
The wing portions are 1/4" and the tubing is 1 1/2" 0.120 wall mild tubing. They are done very similar to Luke's wrapping from the inside of the frame, under and up with two bends. I built the top boxed and tubed like Ken does on his but with the tubing a little lower. The tubing wound up directly in front of the side marker lights becuase I measured on the truck to the bottom of the tubing and when I bent and welded it all up on the bench I accidently built them to the same measurement but on the top of the tubing.
I had already welded it all together without a test fit. Oh well.
I decided on a single swing out with locking pins for the open and closed positions ala Slee but I did the latching mechanism and closed pin a little different. I wanted to keep the latch off the back of the bumper to protect it and to created a pull that would hold the swingout down and in, not just one or the other. I wound up angling it and mounting the catch hook lower than the latch itself. It works good so far but I have yet to wheel with it so the first wash board will show how well it will hold up.
I did cut the rear cross member and the main part of the bumper is two 3/16" laser cut pieces and bent on a press brake. I didn't do the acute angle bend because I wanted to play with the two pieces to find the angle that looked best to my eye. The recovery points are 1" solid steel and go through the face of the bumper and tie in to mounts along the frame rail.
The wing portions are 1/4" and the tubing is 1 1/2" 0.120 wall mild tubing. They are done very similar to Luke's wrapping from the inside of the frame, under and up with two bends. I built the top boxed and tubed like Ken does on his but with the tubing a little lower. The tubing wound up directly in front of the side marker lights becuase I measured on the truck to the bottom of the tubing and when I bent and welded it all up on the bench I accidently built them to the same measurement but on the top of the tubing.
I had already welded it all together without a test fit. Oh well. I decided on a single swing out with locking pins for the open and closed positions ala Slee but I did the latching mechanism and closed pin a little different. I wanted to keep the latch off the back of the bumper to protect it and to created a pull that would hold the swingout down and in, not just one or the other. I wound up angling it and mounting the catch hook lower than the latch itself. It works good so far but I have yet to wheel with it so the first wash board will show how well it will hold up.
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