My new tube bumper - lots of pics!

[yosh18981898]

Well, I've been planning this thing for a long time. I finally got to build it over thanksgiving break. I got some plate steel and made the brackets out of it here at school. The only problem was that I needed to drill 2-3/8" holes in it and biggest bit they had was a 3/4". But being a cheap skate, I just used that. It took me about 45 minutes to make each one, they are 1/4" plate heresa couple pics:

My dad got 20' of 2" rigid galvanized conduit from work for FREE. This really cut down on the cost, as this stuff is usually $60 a stick (10 feet). Heres a pic of it for all you naysayers who said that conduit would be too weak. This stuff has a 0.147" wall.

I got home wednesday night and my brother and I got right to work on it. It took everything the 12 ton bender had to bend this stuff!

Heres a pic before we cut it down to size:

We got up thanksgiving morning and started welding. Heres a pic of my brothers welder; its ancient, but hey, it works!

After about an hour of welding, we had this:

Believe it or not we didn't die of welding galvanized metal

Heres a pic of my X going bumperless :

Then my cousin and his dad stopped over to show us his freshly killed 9 point buck that he got with bow and arrow. Made me wish I would have been hunting instead of welding

And here's the painted, finished product:

When I get back for Christmas break I'll be welding on my grill guard and possibly a receiver hitch.

 

[general x]

wow great job! thats the type of bumper i would go for if i ddint want winch compatibility

 

[general x]

BTW what did you use to cut the curves in those flate peices of steel?

 

[dman726749]

looks pretty good

 

[yosh18981898]

Oh, it'll be plenty winch compatible after I get the receiver hitch welded on!

 

[yosh18981898]

BTW what did you use to cut the curves in those flate peices of steel?

A 3/4" drill bit in a drilling/milling press. Thats why it took 45 minutes to make each one!

 

[general x]

nice, make sure you post pics when u do!

 

[bmxking5]

That looks really nice. It looks a lot like those smittybuilt bumpers that they discontinued.

 

[SVO]

*subscribed*

 

[Kirby N.]

Welding Galvanized will kill you

 

[yosh18981898]

Welding Galvanized will kill you

...but it didn't

No, we were welding in a shed with the the door up. We made sure there was plenty of fresh air.

 

[FoxFan]

a good winch pull would buckle that thing!

 

[Bronco638]

You also might have a problem with the paint sticking. Most galvanized EMT that's been painted eventually peels. Otherwise, looks good.

 

[yosh18981898]

a good winch pull would buckle that thing!

You really have no idea what rigid conduit is, do you? You're thinking that its made out of EMT conduit, which is what everyone thinks of when they hear the word "conduit". Rigid conduit is galvanized HREW tubing. You think that 2" DOM tubing would be great, yet you condemn this stuff as weak. However, this stuff has a 2.375" OD and 0.147" wall opposed to the 2" OD and 0.120" wall found on the DOM tubing. Having actually seen it in person, tested it in person, and seen what rigid conduit will hold up to (this isn't the first thing I've made out of it), I can assure you that it is plenty strong for any winching or towing job I can throw at it. Another indication of its strength is that it took everything the 12 ton bender had to bend this stuff. It was creaking and making weird noises and we had to put a cheater bar on the pump handle of the jack in the bender. This same bender is capable of bending 2" DOM.

If it takes 12 tons of force to bend this stuff in the first place, how could winching out a 2.25 ton vehicle bend it? It's simple physics. The maximum force the truck could exert on the bumper or winch cable would be the mass of the truck times acceleration due to gravity, which is 2.25 tons. That's hanging the truck vertically from the winch cable. If it is on a hill of say 45 degrees (a very steep hill) than the force exerted by gravity is mass times acceleratio due to gravity times sine of 45 (sine of an angle is always less than 1, so this force comes out less than 2.25 tons). Then you have the frictional force which is mass times gravity times coefficient of friction (usually between 0 and 1) So the frictional force is usually less than or equal to 2.25 tons. There are only a few circumstances where the coeficient of friction can be greater than 1. An example is a soft piece of rubber on rough concrete. Even then the coeficient of friction is no larger than 2. To get the net force on the winch cable (and bumper) you have to take the vertical component of the force (the force due to gravity) and horizontal compenent of the force (the force due to friction) and find the magnitude of the resultant vector. This magnitude comes out at a maximum of about 4.00 tons (assuming the highest possible coeficient of friction)(This is why a 8,000#, or 4 ton, winch is usually considered to be "enough" for an explorer). So any winching job cannot even come close to producing the force necessary to bend the bumper.

Sorry about all the physics, I can't help my self. I'm a physics/engineering major.

 

[davidmmm69]

Now why would you post a picture of somebody holding up an innocent Bambi...I hate that i hope that you didn;t use a gun or a rifle to shoot it!!!

 

[Blee1099]

Nice bumper & nice buck.

 

[Con Seann3ry]

Looks good, gave me some ideas for when i get around to fabbing up a bumper

 

[yosh18981898]

Now why would you post a picture of somebody holding up an innocent Bambi...I hate that i hope that you didn;t use a gun or a rifle to shoot it!!!

I posted it because it makes the post funny, because all of a sudden I go off topic and show a picture of the buck and then just as suddenly I am back on topic.

That particular buck was harvested with a bow and arrow. However, we do own guns and use them to harvest deer. As far as killing deer goes, would you rather it was shot by a hunter, run over by a car, or died of the genetic mutations caused by inbreeding? I don't know where you're from, but in the midwest, where I'm from, the deer population is wildly out of control. There are a lot of deer dying from inbreeding. Chronic wasting disease in deer is traced to their inbreeding from overpopulation. In the midwest, car insurance companies spend more on deer accident claims than regular car vs. car accident claims. Hunting is an excelent way to deal with the overpopulation problem. There's nothing wrong with not liking it, as you do. But you have to face the fact that there is a problem with overpopulation and do something about it.

Actually one of my primary reasons for building this bumper is because I know that will take out a deer without even flinching. I'v personally hit 2 deer in the last 3 years, my dad has hit 2, my mom has hit 4, and my cousins family (the one showing off his deer) has totalled 2 vehicle and damaged several others by hitting deer. Its unfortunate that vehicle manufactorers don't make vehicles deer proof do begin with, I am just doing what Ford should have done in the first place.

 

[Con Seann3ry]

I have nothing against hunting at all, but I do have something against your logic. How is killing them off supposed to stop inbreeding? Won't this only give them fewer mating options?

 

[osker75]

Looks Good Wish I Would Have Seen That Buck Last Weekend Unstead Of The Little 4 Point I Got.