twofiftyseven
New member
Bumper Build Write Up
Being fed up with my previous DIY bumper my dad and I decided to make a new one. Not wanting to spend the money, none of the 4th gen bumpers on the market appealed to me so we decided to design from scratch. The design was certainly inspired by others I’ve seen but Its definitely unique. I have made a few bumpers over the years, each an improvement and each a little easier. My previous bumper was made of 1.5” circular tubing which was a pain to work with so we used square for this one. Although I have a harbor freight tube bender, I figured because I was using square tubing I would stick with blunt angles rather than more circular bends. In order to accomplish this, we used the notch and stitch method(this probably isn’t the actual name but Il get into it later). Like any project we ran into little roadblocks along the way but the entire project wasn’t too bad. Neither my dad or myself have any engineering background but are both fairly confident with building and geometry. It all bolts up quite easily and isn’t too heavy. I may eventually add a winch as the center would make a nice winch plate location, however I don’t know if I trust my welds!
Sorry for the mediocre write up, but I wanted to get it up as soon as possible. Let me know if you have any questions or advice; I'd love to hear it.
Thanks
Time: ~ 20 hours over 5 days
Materials:
30’ of 1.5” x 1.5” steel square tubing (1/8” wall thickness)
4’ of Angle iron 2” x 3” (1/8” wall thickness)
Various pieces of scrap - mostly (1/8” thick flat steel plate)
Accessories:
2 - 18w LED pods (eBay)
1 - 25in LED light bar (eBay)
Potentially a winch in the future
Tools:
10” Miter saw with metal cutting disc/blade
4.5” Angle grinder
Bench grinder
Gas mig welder - Lincoln 140hd (Little 110v mig welder)
2 cans of Rust-Oleum spray paint (Anti rust coating)
1. Building the base plate to bolt on to the frame itself
I worked off of the stock bumper mounting location. It features two 4 bolt arrays on each side in a triangular shape.
The using a piece of 2” x 3” angle iron I cut a section the width of the entire bumper mounting location

2. Building the supports for the bumper
I cut two pieces of the square tubing roughly 12inch each and cut an arbitrary angle which looked right.

I altered the angle to a less steep approach. I then tacked them both on.
3. Building the cross member
I then cut a piece the same width as the supports and tacked it on as well.

4. Building the main wrap around piece
I got a larger piece of tube and laid it on top. Although I didn’t know how long I wanted it or where the bends were to occur, putting it up made it much easier to visualize the final product.

5. Trying to figure out the angles of the main wrap around piece.
I didn’t have a good way of figuring out what the final piece would look like. I eventually just tried to follow the shape of the car. I used pieces of scrap figure out the ideal angles. I also tried to keep it consistently 1” from the car.

6. Picking the bend locations
After figuring out the approximate angles and locations I marked where I was to bend.
Once I knew the distances I picked the angles. I cut pieces of paper to better visual the angles.

7. Making the bend using the “notch and stitch method”.
By essentially cutting a wedge or notch out you can bend the edges together and then stitch them. This creates a an angular bend or corner. Using our miter saw, we cut the two sets of angles on each side of the main wrap around pice.
In hindsight I should have cut the angle from the center of the line rather one side. For example if I were to cut a 30 degree angle, I should have cut two 15 degree angles from the center rather than one 30 degree from the side. The reason for this is the edges would have been equal length. Mine were not, however it wasn’t too big of an issue.
I then bent the edges together creating the angular bends.

Then I tacked them together so they wouldn’t move.

6. Building the front bar of the bumper
I then cut a piece that mimicked the cross member I made earlier. This was welded to the front top piece. Its purpose was to protrude and push whatever was in its way.

7. Building the light bar cage/ winch area
I got carried away and forgot to take pictures along the way, but I essentially created a 3D triangle where a light bar could sit or a winch.
I then finished and closed the box up.

I then added a few other pieces and tacked everything together
8. Welding everything together.
I actually ran out of shielding gas right as I was finishing. I really wanted to finish and finished the last non structural welds without gas. You can see the difference in quality.
9. Painting
I hung the bumper in the garage. It probably weighs a total of 60lb.
I did 3 light coats and used 1.5 cans of the gun metal spray paint.
The final product
Being fed up with my previous DIY bumper my dad and I decided to make a new one. Not wanting to spend the money, none of the 4th gen bumpers on the market appealed to me so we decided to design from scratch. The design was certainly inspired by others I’ve seen but Its definitely unique. I have made a few bumpers over the years, each an improvement and each a little easier. My previous bumper was made of 1.5” circular tubing which was a pain to work with so we used square for this one. Although I have a harbor freight tube bender, I figured because I was using square tubing I would stick with blunt angles rather than more circular bends. In order to accomplish this, we used the notch and stitch method(this probably isn’t the actual name but Il get into it later). Like any project we ran into little roadblocks along the way but the entire project wasn’t too bad. Neither my dad or myself have any engineering background but are both fairly confident with building and geometry. It all bolts up quite easily and isn’t too heavy. I may eventually add a winch as the center would make a nice winch plate location, however I don’t know if I trust my welds!
Sorry for the mediocre write up, but I wanted to get it up as soon as possible. Let me know if you have any questions or advice; I'd love to hear it.
Thanks
Time: ~ 20 hours over 5 days
Materials:
30’ of 1.5” x 1.5” steel square tubing (1/8” wall thickness)
4’ of Angle iron 2” x 3” (1/8” wall thickness)
Various pieces of scrap - mostly (1/8” thick flat steel plate)
Accessories:
2 - 18w LED pods (eBay)
1 - 25in LED light bar (eBay)
Potentially a winch in the future
Tools:
10” Miter saw with metal cutting disc/blade
4.5” Angle grinder
Bench grinder
Gas mig welder - Lincoln 140hd (Little 110v mig welder)
2 cans of Rust-Oleum spray paint (Anti rust coating)
1. Building the base plate to bolt on to the frame itself
I worked off of the stock bumper mounting location. It features two 4 bolt arrays on each side in a triangular shape.
The using a piece of 2” x 3” angle iron I cut a section the width of the entire bumper mounting location

2. Building the supports for the bumper
I cut two pieces of the square tubing roughly 12inch each and cut an arbitrary angle which looked right.

I altered the angle to a less steep approach. I then tacked them both on.
3. Building the cross member
I then cut a piece the same width as the supports and tacked it on as well.

4. Building the main wrap around piece
I got a larger piece of tube and laid it on top. Although I didn’t know how long I wanted it or where the bends were to occur, putting it up made it much easier to visualize the final product.

5. Trying to figure out the angles of the main wrap around piece.
I didn’t have a good way of figuring out what the final piece would look like. I eventually just tried to follow the shape of the car. I used pieces of scrap figure out the ideal angles. I also tried to keep it consistently 1” from the car.

6. Picking the bend locations
After figuring out the approximate angles and locations I marked where I was to bend.
Once I knew the distances I picked the angles. I cut pieces of paper to better visual the angles.

7. Making the bend using the “notch and stitch method”.
By essentially cutting a wedge or notch out you can bend the edges together and then stitch them. This creates a an angular bend or corner. Using our miter saw, we cut the two sets of angles on each side of the main wrap around pice.
In hindsight I should have cut the angle from the center of the line rather one side. For example if I were to cut a 30 degree angle, I should have cut two 15 degree angles from the center rather than one 30 degree from the side. The reason for this is the edges would have been equal length. Mine were not, however it wasn’t too big of an issue.
I then bent the edges together creating the angular bends.

Then I tacked them together so they wouldn’t move.

6. Building the front bar of the bumper
I then cut a piece that mimicked the cross member I made earlier. This was welded to the front top piece. Its purpose was to protrude and push whatever was in its way.

7. Building the light bar cage/ winch area
I got carried away and forgot to take pictures along the way, but I essentially created a 3D triangle where a light bar could sit or a winch.
I then finished and closed the box up.

I then added a few other pieces and tacked everything together
8. Welding everything together.
I actually ran out of shielding gas right as I was finishing. I really wanted to finish and finished the last non structural welds without gas. You can see the difference in quality.
9. Painting
I hung the bumper in the garage. It probably weighs a total of 60lb.
I did 3 light coats and used 1.5 cans of the gun metal spray paint.
The final product
