Builds Just another 79 build..... (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter c2dfj45
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,242
So with the bumper out of the way, I wanted to play around with how I will build the frame supports and wrap my head around things. I'm having our metal guy bend up some 1/4" steel L pieces that we'll be building the bumper off of.
I made some wood mockup pieces today so I could start visualizing things....I'm going to keep this bumper really simple with a minimal amount of shapes. It's a pretty square truck....it really doesn't need to be very fancy. I do like having a bumper I can stand on so my only requirement will be that it's 6" or so wide. Aiming for 4-4.5" tall......I'll taper the sides ever so slightly. Single swing out. One tail light will get covered by the swing out so I will run some round lights in the bumper. I'll use the existing hitch under the truck I think...not really wanting to have a hitch in the bumper. I don't plan on doing any towing with the truck but who knows. The hitch has served pretty well to keep the truck off rocks and I think I've had my little boat in tow with it. So I think it will stay. Easy enough to remove if I want to.
Need to decide if I want to weld in shackle/d-ring mount points. I'm not sold on them....I have tow points under the truck....but I could remove those. Maybe I will pop some shackle mounts but mount them low. Will have to mock I up.
Roughing it in....
I made some wood mockup pieces today so I could start visualizing things....I'm going to keep this bumper really simple with a minimal amount of shapes. It's a pretty square truck....it really doesn't need to be very fancy. I do like having a bumper I can stand on so my only requirement will be that it's 6" or so wide. Aiming for 4-4.5" tall......I'll taper the sides ever so slightly. Single swing out. One tail light will get covered by the swing out so I will run some round lights in the bumper. I'll use the existing hitch under the truck I think...not really wanting to have a hitch in the bumper. I don't plan on doing any towing with the truck but who knows. The hitch has served pretty well to keep the truck off rocks and I think I've had my little boat in tow with it. So I think it will stay. Easy enough to remove if I want to.
Need to decide if I want to weld in shackle/d-ring mount points. I'm not sold on them....I have tow points under the truck....but I could remove those. Maybe I will pop some shackle mounts but mount them low. Will have to mock I up.
Roughing it in....
I've used a 4x6 square tube before for building a rear bumper for the Tacoma I used to have. Beveled the bottom outside 10" or so to give it some shape. I might do that again. I integrated a receiver hitch into it too for more clearance.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,244
Cool pics. Pretty sure that's how we will do ours. I think I'll have the sheetmetal place bend me up some 3/16" sheetmetal in a C....we'll cut that up and then box in what needs to be boxed in. Need to work out how I will attach the center section to the 4 holes in the frame. I think one of my Dobinsons bumper has a spacer or something that fills up the gap between the frame and the bumper.
2fpower
SILVER Star
Admittadly, I am the king of overkill. When I did the rear bumper for my sons UTE, we could not figure out how best to mount to the frame and not look like a bad bandaid. Finally decided to take a 1/2 steel plate and make a flat bar section that would slide inside the frame at the back corners and for us it worked to continue out and become the shackle attachment points. Then we used factory hole locations (and added a couple) and tapped threads in this flat bar, so you are bolting through the frame into this flat bar to secure it. I will look back to see if I can find any pictures of it.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,246
Didn't even think about sliding the frame pieces in the frame....I like that idea. I was thinking that the L would wrap around the frame and the underside where I can really secure it....both side and bottom mounts. Way overkill.
The relationship of the body to the frame on the 80 and on my 79 is very different....my crossmember is under the truck's bed where as the 80s sticks out. Easy to incorporate the 4 center bolts into the rear bumper on an 80. I'll run a spacer on mine of some sort. Going to work on that today.
These are what I'll run thru the bumper and onto my frame pieces(4.5" long). Might weld them AND put a big bolt thru the backside. Overkill.
2fpower
SILVER Star
Here’s the only picture I can find, you can see the flat bar sticking through the bumper.
2fpower
SILVER Star
My nephew from Orlando wanted to learn about cars, so having never done much more than use a screwdriver, I had him help me tear down an engine and then he learned how to weld and did most the welding on that bumper. There was definitely a little grinding needed..... but it turned out really good.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,252
Notched the side plates today....got them in position(a couple of the bed mounts needed some gridding to clear).....going to drill a few holes tomorrow I think. Might make backing plates for the inner frame rails where there were nuts that you had to hold with a wrench.....that should make things easier to assemble. This thing will be on and off quite a bit.
Notched and leveled.
We'll end up cutting about 3 or so inches off of these mounts. Wanted them a little long.
Here's where we will mount the tow hooks...they'll go thru the bumper skin and attach to the frame mounts. Pretty stout pieces. These will have to go on before the C channel will mount....we'll have to notch that C channel so these can pass thru it.
Notched and leveled.
We'll end up cutting about 3 or so inches off of these mounts. Wanted them a little long.
Here's where we will mount the tow hooks...they'll go thru the bumper skin and attach to the frame mounts. Pretty stout pieces. These will have to go on before the C channel will mount....we'll have to notch that C channel so these can pass thru it.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,253
After a whole bunch of drilling.....we got these guys mounted. Made some backing plates for the 3 rear bolts and on the drivers side, we made a plate for the front 4....they had to be drilled all the way thru the frame as the captive nuts on that side were drilled out. So a plate on the backside with some grade 8 hardware. Should be pretty strong. No idea why the threads had all been drilled out.
Hope to be doing some metal cutting tomorrow. Decided I'm putting a hitch in the bumper too. Fairly certain it will be plenty strong to do what I need to do with it. Easier to do it now vs. going back and having to do one...
Hope to be doing some metal cutting tomorrow. Decided I'm putting a hitch in the bumper too. Fairly certain it will be plenty strong to do what I need to do with it. Easier to do it now vs. going back and having to do one...
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,254
Back on the bumper today......took a while to get to this point, kind of hoping things move a little quicker. The Gturbo goes on tomorrow and I know I'll want to be driving it 
Dropped the spindle in.
Cut the bumper legs/supports/whatever we're calling them to match the 3/16" top....6" wide.
Tacked in....nice and straight.
Been waiting a while to get to this point....downhill from here.......but I bet there will be some uphill sections.
Dropped the spindle in.
Cut the bumper legs/supports/whatever we're calling them to match the 3/16" top....6" wide.
Tacked in....nice and straight.
Been waiting a while to get to this point....downhill from here.......but I bet there will be some uphill sections.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,255
Next up was the shackle mounts....just kind of picked out a placement that looked good. Big tacks on these. When the bumper is off, we'll really burn these things in.
Dog approved so far but just barely.
Good clearance on this stuff....spindle will fit nicely along the side of the truck and will clear the tailgate....really tight fit. Going to work on the DOM sleeve that will be in the bumper. Spindle will be welded into the DOM sleeve. I don't know if it's necessary to do it this way with the spindle I chose but it will be a good exercise in fab work for the shop youngster.
Dog approved so far but just barely.
Good clearance on this stuff....spindle will fit nicely along the side of the truck and will clear the tailgate....really tight fit. Going to work on the DOM sleeve that will be in the bumper. Spindle will be welded into the DOM sleeve. I don't know if it's necessary to do it this way with the spindle I chose but it will be a good exercise in fab work for the shop youngster.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,257
We were able to get the rear center plate cut and test fit. Might try to tack it on tomorrow after we cut out the area for the receiver....I don't think I can pull the bumper off without welding the face on as it will twist too much.
Really digging the way this thing is going to look. Really excited about an idea we are throwing around for the tail lights that will go in the bumper....definitely a bit different.
Really digging the way this thing is going to look. Really excited about an idea we are throwing around for the tail lights that will go in the bumper....definitely a bit different.
DomSmith
SILVER Star
How much do you estimate that bumper will weigh when finished?
Looks good.
Looks good.
c2dfj45
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #1,260
Good question. Probably way more than I wanted it to weigh
I'm sure I will have to add some spring spacers to the rear...probably an inch or something. Kind of bummed about the weight as I really like how the truck sits now(and rides) but some spacers aren't the end of the world to dial it in. The front end will be getting a second battery....but the tire comes off the roof so who knows where I'll end up. Lol.
