Well, I've been holding out on you guys. I've been building a rear bumper for almost a week now. A couple 8-12 hr days and a couple hours here and there during the week. I wanted something custom for the rear and I wanted to be the one to build it. Of course I was going go plate since the front is also plate. I also wanted to weld it to the frame, not bolt it. It had to be build like a brick shit house because our rear bumpers take a beating when coming off obstacles due to the departure angle. I also wanted the bumper to suck to the body as much as possible. I wanted to decrease my departure angle, not increase it. I liked the idea of a tire carrier because lets be honest here, it would be embarrassing to have to call a buddy to come help me out because I got a flat tire but we are prepared for almost anything else. And running double beadlocks makes using an inter tube for a flat impractical.
I am building this with nothing but a welder and grinder. I don't have a plasma cutter or any special tools. I hope you like geometry. It's all 3/16" steel plate except for a couple parts. I have gone through more than 55x 4.5" metal cut off wheels for my angle grinder... So far...
I started with a 2x3" 3/16 wall rectangle tube I had laying around from when I put the bumper on the '02. I didn't have a full length piece because my band saw broke and started cutting retarded when I did the front bumper. So I sleeved the 2 pieces.
I am running double shield on my welder because it's what it came with and I just haven't used it all. (It's a 33lbs spool) I still get a little splatter.
I also plated it on the back side.
I cut the frame back a little to fit the new cross member there just right.
Got it tucked into the frame.
Then I took some measurements and started cutting this. At this point the cross member is tac welded in place. I will cut it out later to grind and paint everything.
Aaaannnnnddd here's about where I went full retard. The supports I have here are probably a little overkill but like I said, "brick shit house". You can see the gap between the new cross member and the frame. It will be filled in with some 3/16" plate and welded.
I also wanted some beefy recovery points in the rear. The 2" receiver is plenty strong enough for recovery duties but I wanted a couple more just in case we had to use a pulley or 2 for a recovery. I also wanted something I would NEVER wonder if it would hold up or not. So I welder 3x 3/16" pieced together and went to town with a 1" hole saw so I could run 7/8" shackles. These were a pain in the ass to make. Mainly because of the hole saw. What is really funny is I found a 1 1/2' x 2 1/2' 5/8" steel plate in my back yard the day after I finished these. :gun5: Would have been perfect...
Right at the frame rail:
I had a battle with myself about how I wanted to do the access to the receiver pin. I thought about making an access on the top but behind the rear hatch. I thought about just having to access it from the back side of the bumper. Or, cutting 2 holes in the main face of the bumper. I did the last because it breaks up the main plate. It gives it a touch of character I think. I used a 1 1/2" hole saw on all 4 corners then used a grind and a cut off wheel to connect the dots.
All cleaned up and test fitted on the truck.
I am lacking a little on pictures in the next section but I will share what I have. I also have the bumper tied into the old bumper mounts on the body.
In the last 2 pictures you can see the square below the tail light is almost at a 90 degree angle to the body/bumper mounts. I didn't like that so I gave it more angle as you will see in the later pictures. More measurements and more cutting. Not all my cuts are the straightest but it's better than nothing. Really wish I had a plasma cutter right about now.
I got the top side piece measured and cut and the lower sides. Card board is a life saver here. Soda can or beer can boxes work the best. Had to make sure it would clear.
I also found some 1" .120 wall square tube in my backyard. Awesome... I can put that to use. Cleaned it up and made supports for the sides. I will be making 1/4" frame plates for this as well.
Found some use for the lawn chairs. I cut the tac welds and pulled the bumper off to burn everything in.
I also wanted some sort of protection for the tail light. I figured the 1" square tube to do nicely. Just for gits and shiggles I matched the angle of rub rails to the front bumper's grill guard.
After grinding and welding ALL EFFING day
