Bumper question... (1 Viewer)

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DanS HJ-45

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So, I'm busy fabricating a bumper for a min truck.

I'm using 1/8" wall 2x6" rec tubing for most of it. I'm going to weld some points for D-Rings to the rear of the bumper for recovery (oh, and because they look cool ;) ). But I'm a bit torn as to how to tie the bumper to the frame brackets.

I'm using 1/4" sheet to tie the bumper to the frame, but will also add 1/8" sheet perpendicular to the 1/4" sheet, just to keep it from flexing laterally. I notice that the OEM bumper used a stamped bracket with flanges like I'll weld on to mine, and the smittybuilt tube bumper simply uses 3/16" sheet.

Anyway, I can weld the brackets to the back of the 2x6 tube, or I can cut a slot in the back of the bumper, and insert the bracket through the back of the tube, and run it up to the face of the bumper (and the D-ring tabs). This would be stronger, but I'm not sure if it's important to have the bumper able to compress in the event that someone runs into it from behind.

Anyone have an opinion? I like the idea of allowing the bumper to absorb some impact if need be, but I also like the idea of having the recovery points tied directly into the frame brackets.

Dan
 
1/8" wall thickness on a 6" span sounds a bit thin to me to take a high recovery load without deforming but I haven't ran any structural calculations to verify that, thus my opinion is rather "seat of the pants". I would make the D rings long enough to go all the way through the rectangular tube with a couple of inches overlap with the frame brackets. You can then slot the tube on both sides, run the D ring through the slots, weld up the seams all around, and weld the last inch or two of the D ring to the frame brackets.
 
here is my build up post.
there is a bumper section in there, I can't see why it would not work on any truck really.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/79-95-toyo...ld-toyota-solid-axle-rock-crawler-thread.html

You've never met me, have you? :D

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, as it were. I don't think I could live with myself with a big huge tube bumper on there.

I'm going along the lines of....
bumper tease.jpg

More pics and progress when I get home.

I think I will bring the frame brackets through the tube, and to the recovery points. If someone hits the D-ring brackets, then they will transmit (and receive) the full structure from the frame. But if they hit the corners or the center, then the bumper should have a *little* bit of give to it.

Dan
bumper tease.jpg
 
I'm really not a tube bumper kind of guy either. I like the bumper but I don't really see how you're going to mount the brackets to the frame or the bumper. Mine had bracket stub-outs hard welded to the bumper. The frame part of the bracket then bolted to the bottom of the frame with full side contact. You then had to "mount" the bumper where you wanted it with the frame brackets bolted into place. The two parts of the brackets then had substantial overlap and they were welded together in place. The bumper can be removed by simply unbolting the brackets and the entire thing can be removed.

If you run the brackets through the bumper, as you suggest, you need to somehow weld the bracket ends to the inside of the same wall as the recovery points. Otherwise, I think the bumper will deform when you try to use the recovery points. That's why I suggested that you should instead run the recovery points all the way through the bumper. It just seemed simpler to me.

It looks like a great start and I'm sure you'll figure out what works best for you. As I'm not a great welder, I had to buy mine:
Back left side no tag.jpg
 

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