Thoughts on my bumper design (1 Viewer)

[bhicks]

I'm a teacher and on a serious budget for building my 80 so I decided I would build my own bumpers. I teach mechanical engineering so I figured with the software and tools at my disposal this shouldn't be too difficult. I wanted strong, simple, and light. I didn't want the rear tire swing or anything that would add any unecesary weight. I needed shackle mounts and a 2" receiver for my universal winch mount. The tubing is 1.5 DOM .120 wall. The bumper/frame mount is made of 3 seperate pieces of 1/4 thick plate. I thought about using just one piece of 1/2 plate to cut out the frame mounts buy my buddies plasma table couldn't handle that thick of steel. My question is simple. Any improvements I might want to add? I havn't started welding anything up yet. This is just a rough draft. I'm sure changes will occur before I start fabing it up. The rear frame cross member will be removed to make this work. The bumper will sit up very flush with the rear hatch. This should improve my departure angle by quite a bit. The top of the frame mount plate will sit right at the top of the frame itself which means the bottom of the upper DOM tube will be flush with top of the frame. That should fill in the weird gap between the door and bumper (leaving about a 1/2" gap). I will try to photoshop this onto an 80 tonight. My photoshop skills are terrible so I'm not sure how good it will look.

 

[bhicks]

Here's a couple more

 

[BruntForce77]

Simple and effective. I like it. Basically the same way I want to do mine, but without the wrap around side protection. I like your idea of stacking the plates for the recovery points, I may have to steal that. I was not looking forward to trying to cut through 1/2" plate with a cutoff wheel.

 

[bhicks]

I meant to mention that the main frame mounts go on the inside of the frame. The body mounts are in the way on the outside. Here's pics of the frame plates. The inner (middle) plate is the big one. The plate inside that one is smaller. It still has a couple bolt holes for some grade 8 hardware to add strength to the shackle mount but it doesn't go all the way back. I am trying to keep it as light as possible and that's just more unnecesary weight. All 3 plates will be welded together. The outter plate just adds thickness to the shackle mount. I may just remove that and have the shackle mounts be 1/2" thick and not 3/4".

 

[landcrshr]

I like it! Not a fan of swing-outs either.

Will you still be able to keep the spare in the stock location?

 

[bhicks]

I like it! Not a fan of swing-outs either.

Will you still be able to keep the spare in the stock location?

No spare in the stock location. I already removed the spare and hardware. The plate that goes from one side of the frame to the other that the spare hangs on it also removed. It will be in the way for mounting. I keep my 35" spare in the rear ratchet strapped to the floor. When I need the 3rd row I just remove the spare. This bumper design isn't ideal for most, but its exactly what I need/want.

 

[427060]

Looks really good. If your students build things for class projects, you've got minions to build it.

 

[bhicks]

Looks really good. If your students build things for class projects, you've got minions to build it.

My students are already doing structural load testing on it. I will find out if this design has any weak points. It needs to be able to handle a 12k winch mounted to the reciever with zero major stress points. It will take them a few days to gather all the data and I will report back. My guess is that the DOM and grade 8 hardware, and 1/4" plates should be totally sufficient for the abuse it will endure.

 

[Newps]

I like it, nicely done.

 

[bhicks]

I forgot to add; Don't worry vendors. This is not for sale. I don't have the skills, tools, or desire to mass produce these. This will be built one time for ME. If anyone likes any of my ideas feel free to use them. If you don't like my ideas and have some useful criticism them feel free to share.

 

[Rybones]

Very nice. Can we see it from other angles? What CAD program did you use? Will you provide the files for download?

 

[SIZZLE]

Looks great on paper, can't wait to see it on your truck

 

[bhicks]

Very nice. Can we see it from other angles? What CAD program did you use? Will you provide the files for download?

I used Autodesk Inventor. It's not the ideal program for this application but it's the only software I had available to me. I can convert it into any CAD format rather easily. What angle do you want? I provided the top, side, front, and isometric view. I would rather not sent out the file until I have actually built it and know for certain if there is any fitment issues. If there is, then I will update that on the drawing. Once it is all built and installed I will make a final updated version of the bumper that I would be happy to send out. My current version is simply a rough draft to aid in fabrication.

 

[PacNW94]

I really like the design! Just wish there was a way to retain the stock spare location...

 

[Skegger]

Stout, straight forward, and clean. Looks like a fun project. Like it.

 

[bhicks]

I really like the design! Just wish there was a way to retain the stock spare location...

You could just chop off the extended hitch square tube from behind the two cross bars and remove the diagonal supports. The diagnol supports could be reversed which would give enough room for the spare tire but not give me the structual confidence to run my 12k winch. Reversing the supports gives you a stronger rear collision option but weaker winch option. One force is pushing in and the other is pulling out. I designed it off what I wanted. I'm also not doing that approach because my universal winch mount goes all the way into my 12" reciever pipe which would go right into the spare tire. To run my particular winch mount I can't run a spare in the factory spot so I utilized that space to reinforce the bumper. Works for me, but not for everyone. here's a few pics of what you might like. The last ones shows a 33 x 11.5 x 16 "tire" in the factory spot. As you can see my winch mount would hit the tire and not slide in properly.

 

[bhicks]

Here's the top view with a 33" spare

 

[LittleRock80]

I really like the simplicity of it. It reminds me a lot of MARLIN'S mini-truck bumpers--which I've often thought (due to the low cost) of modifying to fit the rear of my 80.

I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Good luck and post up some pics during your build process.

JWP

 

[bhicks]

I really like the simplicity of it. It reminds me a lot of MARLIN'S mini-truck bumpers--which I've often thought (due to the low cost) of modifying to fit the rear of my 80.

I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Good luck and post up some pics during your build process.

JWP

I will make sure to take plenty of pics. I will start the build next weekend. I have two weeks off so I should have plenty of time to get it done.

 

[BruntForce77]

I meant to mention that the main frame mounts go on the inside of the frame. The body mounts are in the way on the outside. Here's pics of the frame plates. The inner (middle) plate is the big one. The plate inside that one is smaller. It still has a couple bolt holes for some grade 8 hardware to add strength to the shackle mount but it doesn't go all the way back. I am trying to keep it as light as possible and that's just more unnecesary weight. All 3 plates will be welded together. The outter plate just adds thickness to the shackle mount. I may just remove that and have the shackle mounts be 1/2" thick and not 3/4".

What are you going to be using the cut these plates?