Trail Gear Custom Bumper Design
- Thread starter bhicks
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #42
Got a few pieces tacked together. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some time to tack in a few more pieces of tubing. The main tube piece that goes all the way around is currently sticking too far into the wheel wells. The ends will get trimmed back to follow the lines of the fender. That will happen once I get all the tubing put together.
sleepycruiser
I will get by….I will survive
You willing to share the plans? I have been wanting to get some plans to a fabricator and I really like the looks of this. If not, no worries.
- Thread starter
- #44
I got a little more done today. Please ignore my ugly welds. Once I get it all tacked together with my little Harbor Freight flux welder; I will be taking it over to my buddies with a big Lincoln welder and will do the welding with that. First step today was to move the AC drier up and out of the way as much as I could. Once moved as far as possible without rerouting the lines (I'm lazy) I realized the lower bar would be in the way. I had to put a bend on it to go around the drier. After figuring out the added angles of the bend I realized it took more time figuring out the bend and making the correct cuts and bends then it would have taken to just move the entire drier into the engine bay. Oh well. Too late now. Here's some pics of what I did. You can see the left lower tube and right lower tube are quite different.
- Thread starter
- #45
I don't really have "plans". I just made a 3D CAD file in Autodesk to give me an idea of what I would be doing. It's just a visual reference to guide me as I am bending and cutting metal. Your more then welcome to print out my pics and take them to any fabricator to have it made. I'm also open to sending you any pics your fabricator needs or files he could use.
It's funny how many "off readers" run stinger bars, and have no idea of their intended purpose. A TRUE stinger is set up to keep a vehicle from doing a face plant or endowing. 99% of so called stingers are for show, real stingers are fabbed right into the chassis bars.
- Thread starter
- #47
I have two reasons why I want a stinger. One is to make sure a deer doesn't smash my front end. I live up in the mountains and see deer regularly. I also want a stinger so I have something to attach the bars that go around the headlights. I have busted a few headlights on trees in the past and like having a bar out in front of them to push branches out of the way.
Please... by no means was I "knocking" anyone. Your talents are second to none. Stingers will work great for deer or whatever. I was just stating that most people think they are just for looks. Far from it though, hardcore rock crawlers use them religiously, as well as artic adventurers.... they run front and rear stingers (about 5-6' stingers..... huge) so the vehicle won't fall into large cracks in the ice...... no thank you!
- Thread starter
- #49
Finally got all the tubing bent, cut, and tacked together. I'm happy how it turned out. I had a 3,5, & 7 year old helper so accuracy was a bit difficult. Some angles weren't quite what I wanted but when my 5 year old was holding things in place while I tacked it together you never know what your going to get. It was a fun project even though it isn't perfect. It's better to be a sloppy project with the kids then a solo project done perfect. Here's some pics of it all put together. Tomorrow I plan to remove the bumper and weld it all up. Hopefully this weekend it will get a few coats of paint and be reinstalled. Next week will be the new winch install and wiring and the LED light bar install.
That actually looks really good. Great job!
By the way, where does the winch-mount mount to on the body?
By the way, where does the winch-mount mount to on the body?
looks very similar to the one me and a buddy welded up for my truck. we didnt have any 5 year olds helping but we did have plenty of beer that made sure the bars didnt fit just right. great work!
- Thread starter
- #52
It mounts with 4 screws on each side (provided by Trail Gear). It uses the same holes that the OEM tow hooks use on bottom and the two up on top. 8 big bolts should be sufficient.
Are you filling the tubes with sand prior to doing the bends? The biggest drawback to the HF bender is that it crushes the pipe, unless you fill them with sand. Your bends look nice.
- Thread starter
- #54
No sand needed. I'm bending 1.5" tubing. I have 1.75" shims that go between the tubing and roller wheels. It allows the tube to roll along the wheels without getting creased while you bend the pipe. If you can allow the wheels to roll along the tube freely then it's way less prone to kinking at the bend. Here's a shot of the shims. Works great. Also this is a "pipe" bender and not tube bender and there is a difference. Pipe is measured by ID and tube by OD. The 1.5" pipe mold is way too big for 1.5" tubing. I had to use the 1" pipe mold and then had to take the grinder and grind down the sides of the mold until my 1.5" tubing seated down into it super tight. A 1.25" mold would be perfect but my bender didn't come with one that size. If the mold is too big it's guaranteed to allow movement and kinking. There can be zero movement or gap of any kind. With the shims and the 1" cast ground down to the correct size (1.25") it works perfect. It's a bit extra work but if you have time, it's a big cost saver compared to other pipe benders.
Cool. I have one of these benders so I may have to give this a try and see what I can do. Thanks.No sand needed. I'm bending 1.5" tubing. I have 1.75" shims that go between the tubing and roller wheels. It allows the tube to roll along the wheels without getting creased while you bend the pipe. If you can allow the wheels to roll along the tube freely then it's way less prone to kinking at the bend. Here's a shot of the shims. Works great. Also this is a "pipe" bender and not tube bender and there is a difference. Pipe is measured by ID and tube by OD. The 1.5" pipe mold is way too big for 1.5" tubing. I had to use the 1" pipe mold and then had to take the grinder and grind down the sides of the mold until my 1.5" tubing seated down into it super tight. A 1.25" mold would be perfect but my bender didn't come with one that size. If the mold is too big it's guaranteed to allow movement and kinking. There can be zero movement or gap of any kind. With the shims and the 1" cast ground down to the correct size (1.25") it works perfect. It's a bit extra work but if you have time, it's a big cost saver compared to other pipe benders.
- Thread starter
- #56
If you want to bend 1.75" tubing then use 2" tube shims and the provided 1.5" mold that comes with the bender.
- Thread starter
- #58
And the final version is installed. My light tabs end up touching my winch so I need to cut off a bit of metal on the tabs, but other than that everything is fitting really well. Just need to get the winch and light bar wired up.
- Thread starter
- #59
Got back from our camping trip today and after unpacking I had a couple hours of daylight left so I went ahead and got the winch bolted up and wired up. I then unspooled the steel cable and replaced with synthetic rope. Everything is now done and working properly. I'm really happy with the final product and how everything fits, looks, and functions. Here the last few pics.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #60
BTW, I forgot to mention that I have no intention of selling these or making them for others. I just wanted something very specific that nobody made. Trail Gear gave me a great starting point with their center section. If anyone wants to make a copy of my design; feel free. It was a fun project. The tube bumper from Trail Gear is similar and already done for a great price. If you don't have the skills to build your own, the Trail Gear complete bumper version is a good option.