Mutant Bumper/Tire mount

[Otterav]

Hello,

After working on every body's junk, I decided to pull one together for mine. Decided on a rear tube bumper/spare tire mount combo.
All the tubing for the base mount is .250 wall, the horizontal tube is 2" X 4" X 53". The tire mount will be aprox 46" long and carry all the load of the tire mount. The swing axle is a Ruff Stuff with a couple of greasable tapered bearings. All the tubes will be capped with .250" flat stock and TIG welded. I am thinking of using an axle from the semi-floater I have lying around,to mount the tire its self, we will see. The latch I designed is a composite of misc parts from OSH, a trailer pin, spring and some washers and a roll pin. Don't worry the clevis hitch pin will be replaced with the roll pin before I weld a couple of tabs for the padlock that I use to keep the cretins out of the back of the cruiser.

Here are a few preliminary flicks of the proto project:

The latching mechanism,

The pivot axle,

This bung receives the pin from the swing arm. The hole is through the bung to drip water/grease out the bung onto the ground. Gonna weld it right now!

Close up of the latching pin and temp clevis pin,

 

[Otterav]

Hello,
Day 2 of the bumper/tire mount. The concept of how to securely latch the the swing tube securely to the bumper assembly, was making the inside if my head itch, it just wasn't coming to me. I know that others have used Staco clamps, but I wanted to go my own way. The X/Y axis was covered with the hitch pin and bung in the bumper. The Z axis was making me crazy, I was drawing a blank, then I decided to do the same as the X/Y axis, I used a pin that swung on the X/Y axis. So there are two pins, one on the Z axis which is spring loaded for retraction and one in the X/Y axis that is fixed to the swing arm. I drilled an extra hole for a padlock and am using a clevis pin for extra security when not padlocked The swing arm has a small upward pre-load to compensate for the weight of the tire and to help eliminate any rattling, if any. I bet a couple of flicks will clarify so here ya go:

 

[UNO_RACING]

Very nice...What size metal did you use?

 

[Otterav]

Very nice...What size metal did you use?

Swing arm is 2" X 2" X .250", bumper is 2" X 4" X .250.
Angle iron is .375" cut down to size. All the tubing is capped with .250" and tig welded. I am thinking of making the front and rear bumpers as air tanks for the onboard air planned for at a later time.
Hola
eric

 

[Otterav]

Hello,
Here is the next phase of the bumper build.

Setting the bumper onto the frame mounts and prepping for tacking in place:

On the bench, ready for welding:

Bolted to the mutant:

I Am still in the process of deciding on which side of the cruiser to mount the spare on, stock side(pass), just make the mount and am done, or drivers side and increase visibility slightly, but I will have to move the license plate mount and do some rewiring. Can't make up my mind on the virtues of either at this point. Votes?
Hola
eric

 

[bakocruiser]

I think its awesome. Nicer than paying 900+ to order one. Inspires me to start fabricating. I could build ten of those before I paid retail.

 

[Otterav]

I think its awesome. Nicer than paying 900+ to order one. Inspires me to start fabricating. I could build ten of those before I paid retail.

Funny,
I didn't know how much one would have cost retail! Whew, I think the pivot axle and tubing cost about a "C" note total, my fab time is free. I can also do things like drill tiedown/attach holes and not feel like I am jacking the customer. I think the latching mechanism took about 4 hours of my time, no way I could have done that for anyone but me. All in all I am having fun with it!
Hola
eric

 

[Diesel42]

Hey, nice work. Gotta love Tig, a crime to even want to grind. A thing of beauty. Considering this thing is so stout,are you going to incorporate a jerry(s) can basket, high-lift jack,axe/shovel mounts,etc?

 

[bakocruiser]

Otterav,

Include as many pictures as you can, I want to build something like this. I'll have to grind though, I'm not even close to as good a fabber as your welds are looking. Practice makes perfect though. Fabbing is becoming a lost art.

 

[Otterav]

Hey, nice work. Gotta love Tig, a crime to even want to grind. A thing of beauty. Considering this thing is so stout,are you going to incorporate a jerry(s) can basket, high-lift jack,axe/shovel mounts,etc?

Thanks,
I love TIG welding, its so precise, on the other hand the MIG is a true weldin' machine. The angle iron has scale on it that is a major pain to remove and even when you do, the steel still has inclusions that spit steel on to the tungsten when welding. The MIG just powers through the crud in and on the steel making a weld that isn't as pretty(or structurally sound) as the TIG, but will work just fine for what we are doing.
I wanted the bumper/swing arm to be able to take whatever I wanted to add in the future and not rattle like the stamped steel stocker does with a 33" hung on it.
More to follow tomorrow, I cut the semi floater axle and turned it down to fit the tubing for the rest of the mount, as well as drilled a hole through the center of the axle. The steel is tough and turns nicely with a new carbide insert.
Hola
eric

 

[Otterav]

Well,
Here is the rest of the build:

I originally placed the tire on the right side and quite a bit lower than stock, decided I didn't like it and cut it off and sat back and reevaluate the process. I decided to move the tire to the left side and back to the stock height. I also didn't like the angle of the mount, with the cruiser squat the tire mount looked like it was leaning back. When I cut the mount off I cut the tube with a 5 degree angle and re-welded it so the tire leaned forward.

I was gonna just wire the license plate to the swing gates, but that was too trailer park even for me. I decided that the hole I drilled with in the axle would work out nicely if I threaded it for a bolt. I needed to make a mount for the license plate assembly. I turned a couple of stepped rounds, one that fit into the depression in the semi float axle and one to fit to the tube I was using for a spacer. Welded it up, and decided that I needed an indexing system, some flat stock, some hole saws and a grinder fixed that issue.

A shot of the license plate mounted. When I cut the mount off of the right side I left a stub that I could use for the next phase, I am thinking a basket to hold Scepter cans or a military ammo can for stuff, in the mean time I welded a 4" X 4" square piece of diamond plate so I can use that as step, for now.

A shot of the finished)for now) bumper/tire mount.

Hola
eric

 

[bigassbike]

Nice work!

 

[lostmarbles]

Beautiful! You can see why they retail at $900+ but nothing beats the satisfaction of doing a nice job yourself!

 

[jimhendrixx]

WOW that looks awesome brother!

 

[Otterav]

Thanks guys!

 

[TOBASH]

Doesn't look quite right on your truck... Maybe it would look better on mine...

That is some awesome stuff.

Thanks for posting.

Best,

T

 

[Otterav]

Doesn't look quite right on your truck... Maybe it would look better on mine...

That is some awesome stuff.

Thanks for posting.

Best,

T

$900.00 and I will make you one too!
Hola
eric

 

[Adventure Teq]

Nice job man.

 

[Otterav]

Hello,
Can not stop the process, anyone have a couple of Scepter military gas cans for sale? Diesel cans would be cool. CARB compliant cans suck! Anyone have a couple for sale, gas or diesel?
Hola
eric

 

[UNO_RACING]

Where can someone find a pivot pin/axis?

Overall the construction looks fairly straight forward, thanks to your pic tutorial.