New bumper
The next thing on my list is a custom bumper. I finally got tired of beating the crap out of my Limited bumper AND putting on/taking off the winch and transferring the license plate.
I'm not skilled in Autocad or any other deign software so I reverted to pencil and graph paper (old school).
I picked up some 2" square tubing from Arsoul (same stuff my sliders are made of) THANKS RYAN! and started cutting.
A wheelin buddy loaned me his Lincoln Weld Pack 100 and I was finally set to start building.
I don't have a big shop and cool tools to aide in fabrication so I cut wedges out of the square tube with a recip saw and bent the tube with a big pry bar.
I used the mounts from the stock front bumper and added mounts for the opposite side of the frame rails that I removed from the stock rear bumper to sandwich the frame horn.
Since I was removing the receiver the Multi-mount originally went into, I wanted to make sure things were strong enough for the winch. At first I was going to continue using the multi-mount so I could put the winch in the garage when not on a ‘run’ but as time went on and since I have only moved the winch to the rear mount once since I bought it, I decided to permanently add it to the new bumper.
This was to be the first time I have ever welded. Seen a lot of it on TV and watched other people do it for me but this time I wanted to do it myself.
So, frame mounts built, time to weld on the top bar and fill in the relief cuts on the back side ( I know those gaps are awfully big to fill in with weld but I have very limited tools and was unable to make the relief cuts more accurate)
Since the front end of an X is a little round, I cut a notch in the center and put in a little bend to maintain consistent distance between the bumper and the body. I added a short section to the back side for more support and a larger surface for the HF receiver to attach to.
Next was the lower bar. I wanted it low enough to cover the ends of the frame horns. Same notch in the center to match the top and keep it from looking like a flat bar, then angle up the ends starting just past the frame.
A single bar rounding the corner looks too small so I doubled it up. If I were to do it again, I would separate the two bars by an inch or so to the differences in bend radius aren’t so noticeable.
Now, lots of welding to tie everything together.
I mounted it to the truck to check fitment and see how the winch would look. I gained about 4”-6” height to the bottom of the multi-mount. This meant I would still have to find a better way of mounting the license plate or move it from one spot to another every time I took the winch off. If I permanently mount the winch, the plate could live in the receiver hole until I need to push the tent trailer into the back yard.
I used some of the thinner wall 1”x2” to make extensions for the front winch bolts and added short verticals for the fairlead.
A little grinding and some DupliColor spray on bed liner and I’m ready for a test run. Headed out to the snow and backed into a rut I couldn’t drive out of. Time to see if the bumper would stay on the truck, or bend (there were 3 other rigs to help out if I had problems). I guess I didn’t tighten the bolts enough and the bumper rotated a little but did NOT bend.
We headed up to Evans Creek and I loosened the bolts, straightened it out and re-tightened the bolts as much as a 12” ratchet could (grade 8 bolts) but didn’t need to use the winch for the rest of the day.
A set of Hella fog light arrived Tuesday and I tacked on some mounting tabs as well as supports for the big driving lights.
DONE!
