Custom/DIY Armor Thread

[daprotege5]

Can we start a thread with just custom home made armor, not company made. are armor thread is great but its humongous and most of it is of company DIY kits. can we start one with just the people who have built there own with details.
what size plating or tubing you used, the tools you used. just general info to help the next person that wants to make their own shit or how to save a buck or two on custom stuff you made that helped you with your build.

 

[thegame7]

A couple I have built for mine. Currently working on a third lol.

Both bumpers attach to factory threaded holes in the frame with 1/4” plate. All of the round tube you see is 1.75” .120 wall DOM and 1.5” .120 wall DOM tubing (round).

Everything is MIG welded with a Miller 211 using C25 gas and .030 Lincoln wire. I do own a tube bender which is a JD2 model 32 with an electric/hydraulic ram (super nice) as well as a Woodward fab tube notcher.

Other tools to note:

Milwaukee portaband with a Swag offroad table for cutting tube to length and cutting pieces of 1/4” plate, very nice since it’s not as loud as using a grinder with a cut off wheel.

4.5” angle grinder for clean up work or fine tuning tube notches.

Drills, dremel with various bits, milling machine for making big holes if needed.

Tape measure and calipers for measuring.

20 ton press with a Swag Offroad press brake for bending plate, full dimple die set too as my second bumper has 16 gauge steel dimpled plate on it.

I also own a Hypertherm power max 30 plasma cutter and Lincoln Square wave TIG welder but those weren’t used to make these bumpers.

I think this is the gist of it, probably close to 10k in tooling in my garage to be able to do this kind of stuff. That being said though, I didn’t always have all these nice tools. I started out with a $200 welder off Craigslist and a 4” angle grinder and I was making bumpers and sliders out of box tubing with just those. You could also make your own plate bumpers with a grinder and a welder.

I’m a big fan of CAD when building stuff, cardboard aided design. I’m not at a point where I have a 3D scanner to do legit CAD work on the computer but that’s just the next level up!

 

[daprotege5]

A couple I have built for mine. Currently working on a third lol.

Both bumpers attach to factory threaded holes in the frame with 1/4” plate. All of the round tube you see is 1.75” .120 wall DOM and 1.5” .120 wall DOM tubing (round).

Everything is MIG welded with a Miller 211 using C25 gas and .030 Lincoln wire. I do own a tube bender which is a JD2 model 32 with an electric/hydraulic ram (super nice) as well as a Woodward fab tube notcher.

Other tools to note:

Milwaukee portaband with a Swag offroad table for cutting tube to length and cutting pieces of 1/4” plate, very nice since it’s not as loud as using a grinder with a cut off wheel.

4.5” angle grinder for clean up work or fine tuning tube notches.

Drills, dremel with various bits, milling machine for making big holes if needed.

Tape measure and calipers for measuring.

20 ton press with a Swag Offroad press brake for bending plate, full dimple die set too as my second bumper has 16 gauge steel dimpled plate on it.

I also own a Hypertherm power max 30 plasma cutter and Lincoln Square wave TIG welder but those weren’t used to make these bumpers.

I think this is the gist of it, probably close to 10k in tooling in my garage to be able to do this kind of stuff. That being said though, I didn’t always have all these nice tools. I started out with a $200 welder off Craigslist and a 4” angle grinder and I was making bumpers and sliders out of box tubing with just those. You could also make your own plate bumpers with a grinder and a welder.

I’m a big fan of CAD when building stuff, cardboard aided design. I’m not at a point where I have a 3D scanner to do legit CAD work on the computer but that’s just the next level up!

ya i'm slowly building the arsenal. luckily my dad did woodwork years ago so its a matter of changing to metal cutting blades. here at 41, regret not taking reins of the machine shop he had when i was a kid. could have been a master at creating stuff by now.

i was heavily looking at the woodward fab bender and the replicas but i'm waiting to see what direction my welding endeavor takes me. those dies get expensive.

both bumpers look amazing, and were the style i was looking at when i'm ready to build, except i want a swingout. have been searching for an argon tank locally waiting for a good deal so once i find that i can start practicing with scrap.

did you basically remove the stock hitch, and rebuild it into the new bumper??

probably closer to the beginning of the year, i'll yank the bumper off and start making a template to bring to life.

 

[thegame7]

ya i'm slowly building the arsenal. luckily my dad did woodwork years ago so its a matter of changing to metal cutting blades. here at 41, regret not taking reins of the machine shop he had when i was a kid. could have been a master at creating stuff by now.

i was heavily looking at the woodward fab bender and the replicas but i'm waiting to see what direction my welding endeavor takes me. those dies get expensive.

both bumpers look amazing, and were the style i was looking at when i'm ready to build, except i want a swingout. have been searching for an argon tank locally waiting for a good deal so once i find that i can start practicing with scrap.

did you basically remove the stock hitch, and rebuild it into the new bumper??

probably closer to the beginning of the year, i'll yank the bumper off and start making a template to bring to life.

Cheaper benders certainly work fine too but may take a bit more effort to bend tubing. I am actually planning on adding a swing out to the version 3 bumper. The nice thing about building stuff yourself is a lot of companies sell DIY parts already. Want a hitch? Buy a bare metal DIY hitch off Amazon for $15 and weld it to your brackets. Want a swing out tire carrier? Buy a locking hinge for $150 and a latch for $50 and weld it to your parts and pieces. Both bumpers I built started from this hitch, everything else on the bumpers were custom cut, formed and welded by me.

https://a.co/d/ai3W6z7

Also for welding gas, if you are TIG welding you'll want Argon. If you are MIG welding, you'll want C25 gas (Argon CO2 mix).

 

[wicket27]

Built a high clearance bumper for my 03, was scraping the oem one a bit. Need to take some updated photos with supports and larger tires. No plans for a winch and wanted something light while keeping a semi stock look in the front

 

[MrSeth]

20200104_114950

I built this a few years back out of DOM tubing and some cheaper plate steel. Held up fine for many years! I had a basic MIG welder and metal blade chop saw.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

DIY’d my own skid plates. Most of my designs were loosely based off the diy skid plates that member [MENTION=429038]y=mx+b[/MENTION] made and generous enough to share his notes with me.

Main engine skid made from 1/4” plate. Used some 1.25” wide c-channel for the core support bracket. Built stand-offs from 2x2 1/8” wall tube at the front crossmember and made some small stand off spacers for the rear crossmember from 1/2” UHMW plastic.

Made the transmission skid from 3/16” plate.
Used some 1x2 rec tubing for the crossmember stand-off.

Still working on the t-case skid here and there.

Borrowed a buddies plasma cutter, used numerous 4.5” cut off wheels and my trusty old Lincoln Weld-pak booger welder.

 

[Gmutoagrsv]

I hope this thread takes off. Definitely great idea for a thread. Looking forward to seeing what everyone is doing the first two rear bumpers are right up my alley. Definitely dig it great to have ideas on what I wanna do.

 

[daprotege5]

I hope this thread takes off. Definitely great idea for a thread. Looking forward to seeing what everyone is doing the first two rear bumpers are right up my alley. Definitely dig it great to have ideas on what I wanna do.

definitely agree, i mean the armor thread is great but alot of it is for DIY kits from companies, wanted to have a record of custom build by your local garage mechanic DIY person.

i'm a couple months away from actually building mine, i have the welder, i have the cutoff wheels, trying to save for an argon bottle and i can start messing around. i seat here during breakfast and look up ideas and videos almost every day so anxious and excited to start my own builds.

so hard deciding which direction to go because both front plate and hybrid bumpers look amazing on our rides. same thing for the rear, i'm liking the hidden swing arms that come out of the stock bumper than the whole metal bumper itself so...... decisions decisions....

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

4yrs ago this was the first version of my Prerunner style bumper when the 4Runner still had the stock length suspension. This was built using pictures as a guide by Apex Fabrication, Merritt Island, Fl.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Now I have a Dirt King +3.5 LT front suspension, so I decided to give the fabrication and welding a try myself, and extended the main tube to match the fiberglass last month. I also wanted to fill in the center section a little, so I added a nerf bar w upright supports and a larger aluminum plate.

 

[daprotege5]

Got a good deal on a 75/25 argon bottle, so hopefully some fabrication will start soon. Waiting for my electrician now to throw the outlet for the welder.

 

[daprotege5]

and the brainstorming begins.........

i like the style of the coastal and relentless bumpers, but i also like the look of the hybrid bumper, so most likely going to be mainly a plate bumper.

anyone have a good starting point as to what size steel plate i should get, to be able to create a whole bumer out of it???

 

[daprotege5]

who did the integrated swing out???? saw one recently and looked awesome! i loved the idea of keep the bumper whole and welding the swing out to the rear tow frame back there.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

and the brainstorming begins.........

i like the style of the coastal and relentless bumpers, but i also like the look of the hybrid bumper, so most likely going to be mainly a plate bumper.

anyone have a good starting point as to what size steel plate i should get, to be able to create a whole bumer out of it???

The center plate section of my True North Fab bumper is a combination of 11 gauge for the outer and 1/4” for the main mount to the frame and the winch plate

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

who did the integrated swing out???? saw one recently and looked awesome! i loved the idea of keep the bumper whole and welding the swing out to the rear tow frame back there.

[MENTION=122249]originalg00kster[/MENTION] had a swing out mount built into the rear frame before doing the bash bar. Maybe he has pics of that still?

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

who did the integrated swing out???? saw one recently and looked awesome! i loved the idea of keep the bumper whole and welding the swing out to the rear tow frame back there.

[MENTION=122249]originalg00kster[/MENTION] had a swing out mount built into the rear frame before doing the bash bar. Maybe he has pics of that still?

 

[daprotege5]

The center plate section of my True North Fab bumper is a combination of 11 gauge for the outer and 1/4” for the main mount to the frame and the winch plate

thanks for the info, apart from saving money for material. i feel like i'm right around the corner from building myself a front and rear bumper. just getting all the ideas and thoughts together.

the rear most likely, i like the integrated bumper, the stock look with the swingout there, to me has looked the best look so far. the curves on the flares are just a pain to get them right, from what ive seen in metal.

now the front, most likely; I'm liking the hybrid look more. saw an arb all plate at the beach recently on a lifted 4runner and didn't like the up close appearance to it. looked bulky.

 

[Hi-desertT4R]

I was torn between the hybrid kit bumper I went with and the Coastal Offroad plate bumper. It all came down to cost. The Coastal price went up when the True North went on sale. There’s someone on here who bought the plate center section from coastal and fabricated the tube wings for a hybrid style and it’s pretty sweet. I really like the full plate rear bumper from North West Trail Innovations but I’m gonna stick with the plan to just do a bash bar hoop and retain some of the plastic bumper cover.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

I’ll attach a few I saved for inspiration and try to credit the ones I can remember.

1. @Porcupine_62
2 & 3 [MENTION=122249]originalg00kster[/MENTION]
Hope y’all don’t mind me sharing your rigs