4x4 Labs Front Bumper Build- Lowrider version
- Thread starter gcorduan
- Start date
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Nice work! Very clean looking.
That looks great, did you chop the side plate and the wing around the frame horns? it looks like you are projecting forward a little bit too, yes?
- Thread starter
- #26
Good point on the tack welds. I was thinking the same thing. Even at 200 bucks I don't want to have them walk away.
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- #27
It really didn't take too much work. I cut an inch and a half out of the main pieces that mount on the inside of the frame rails. Once I cut the inch and half out I welded them back together. all the mounting holes still lined up. I cut above them. On the two smaller mounting pieces that wrap around the frame I cut the tabs off that make it key into the larger piece. Those two smaller pieces were then welded to the main pieces mounted on the inside of the frame rails. All the holes stilled lined up well. Once that cutting and welding was done I only changed the winch tray. I comes from Luke angled forward to give more room for the winch. I brought the winch tray up level and dimpled skid plate fit without any changes. The side affect of changing the angle meant that I had to cut about 12 inches out of the middle of the valance below the grill. The winch was a tight fit. I didn't make any changes to the wings. Just spent a lot of time getting the pieces together and making sure they were level under the blinkers. A great tip from Luke was to use thin washers between the bumper mounting brackets and the frame while mocking it up. I definitely made it easier to slide on and off. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I got into the build and was focused on not screwing it up.
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- #28
I did find a couple photos while I was putting it together. Not that great but maybe they will help. I did make the pull points stick way too far out. might cut them off and redrill. Should have cut a couple inches off the back side and slid them in further.
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- #30
Nice work. Looks like the winch fits perfectly. Well done!
Thanks, it was a little tricky keeping everything symmetrical- well at as close as possible. I will shoot some paint on and then put the skid plate on and then finish paint. The compound angles of the bends are pretty cool and some serious R&D went into the design of this kit. I disassembled and reassembled but it would be interesting to see how much easier this would have been with a raw kit. I cut it down 2 1/2 inches so the core support wouldn't be so exposed. I used the washer/shim trick as well- a definite must. I basically dropped it straight down. I could have moved the anchor points further in but wanted plenty of room for movement and fingers.. The winch knob has about 1/4" clearance, I tipped the plate down to miss the knob and to drain.
This was a lot easier than building my own bumper for sure..
A cool trick for the clevis is to cut down some rubber hose and put it over the bolt portion on both sides, if snug, it will minimize the rattle and can still be removed- picked that up from Heron..
Welcome, it kept me from eating too much
I sliced 1.5 In. off the top, cut the bullnose to about the same 1.5 and rewelded It back on and pieced in the remainder of what I cut off to meet the bottom side of the wing. I also cut a small amount off the bottom of the wing where It touched the frame mount. All the rest of the fab stayed the same.
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How long did it take you guys to get the fab complete? On average, not including weeks taken off.
@Kief welded mine together for me. Not sure how much time it took, but he picked up my truck Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and was ready Sunday. That also included cutting the previous attempt of the build completely apart and starting over.
Haha ok. So I could probably have mine done in a week. Maybe I should tack on a could days for the screw ups that will inevitably happen.