Kert's Classy Bumper builds

[kert0307]

Well, it's been awhile since I've shown the explorer some love and with the SMORR run coming up I figured it was time to make some bumpers that weren't made of scrap steel and were actually presentable.

Out with the old... Notice all the rust on the rear, gotta love living in the rust belt! I had to cut off most of the rear bolts.

From this point I took measurements of the stock frame mounts and other possible drilled holes that could be used farther back on the frame.

 

[kert0307]

Here is what I came up with for the front. The bumper will be made from 3/16 steel. One of the plates is .5" that the hitch mounts to and it runs through the front for the D-rings. I also extended the center section back to offer protection for the radiator.

 

[kert0307]

I made the rear similar to the front, integrating a hitch into the structure of the bumper. I also continued the .5" thick mounting plate through for d-ring mounts. I trIed to keep this bumper a little smaller, even-though they both ended up weighing a little over 100lbs each.

I have sent all the parts to my laser cutter and should have some metal by mid next week to start welding them up. I'm planning on welding the backside of both bumpers with my mig and tigging the outside for extra bling factor.

 

[Orange99Exploder]

any updates?

 

[kert0307]

YUP

I got them all welded up in a mad scramble after work yesterday and tonight. I'm going to bedliner them tomorrow morning and hopefully be making my way down to SMORR by the end of the day Friday. The rear bumper went together great, but the front was a different story. I had to completely rethink my mounting strategy. Here they are as primed...

 

[lounge lizard]

sweet looking bumpers!

will be looking foward to post build pictures when you get back from smorr.

 

[Mounty 09]

If you don"t mind me asking, what did you pay in metal and for it all to be laser cut? I really like the design of your front bumper. Any plans to put some tub work on it?

 

[Dannyboy]

Just curious, any chance you looked at Turdle's front bumper before building these? He has my old front bumper, this is so close to that design it is scary. I had d-rings on mine front and back exactly like that but cut them off, I told the builder they needed to go through the bumper and bolt to the frame, he said they were fine, I didn't want to chance someone's life on a design that had not been tested and a builder who could be held liable.

They look fantastic!

 

[kert0307]

Danny, I have seen your old bumper, but I haven't looked at it recently. To be honest, I've been saving images of off road fab for quite awhile that I liked.

I honestly have not gotten the bill for the steel yet. It was from a supplier we use at work a lot, so all I have is a guess. If there is a decent amount of interest though I may consider making more.

Here are some more pictures of the bumpers loaded on the out of commission Super Doody...

 

[joshuaj0214]

That is some beautiful work! I've been wanting to do something like this for quite a while! Would def like to see some more pics!

 

[kert0307]

What angles do you want pictures of? I tried bedlinering them with rustolium and they came out really bad. The bedliner wrinkled all the paint and primer and it looks really bad, which is weird because the primer and paint were both rustolium paint too and they had a couple days to dry before the bedliner was put on.

 

[tgreene92]

those bumpers look great, they look alot like the one i built for a friend, yours are much cleaner though. What kind of cutting tools/benders/welders did you use.

 

[kert0307]

They were laser cut parts from DXF's of the SolidWorks models that I made. The main centers of both bumpers were bent at the laser house on a cnc bender and all the welding was done by me with my old school Hobart Beta Mig 200 (200 amp wire welder)

 

[gmanpaint]

Looking groovy man.

Sorry I didn't get to see them in person this past weekend. Someday tho.

 

[kert0307]

If you don"t mind me asking, what did you pay in metal and for it all to be laser cut? I really like the design of your front bumper. Any plans to put some tub work on it?

I got the bill for the laser cut. It was honestly a little higher than I expected, but I would bet that it was because of the low volume of it. If I figure my garage "overhead" into it I bet I have about $475 into the front and $425 into the rear. I would guess if I did a run of 5 or more I could get them down about $100 less on each bumper.

 

[99_X-PLODER]

hey can i get some dim.s on the bumpers that almost exactly what im looking for and how far dose the front stick out? are you going to eventually put a grill gaurd on it?

 

[00rowe]

nice bumpers

Hey i like how the bumpers look and are made i was wondering if i could get the dxf file because i was look for a project for shop class at gladewater high school . The school as a plasma cam that i can get my hands on or could i get the dimmintions so i can build some for my 2000 explorer sport 2 door.

 

[kert0307]

Bumpers are moving on... Jturkey69 came over and I added a swing out carrier to the rear and sent him on his way. We did have to adjust the rear back a little to clear the tire carrier since it wasn't originally designed for one. It came out great, and the best part is these will now get to see some use!

 

[gmanpaint]

Looks like another street ride being converted to the off road community.