The Red Runner bumper build

[Myrunr2010]

So little bit of knowledge to be documented for anyone else that wants to build one of these in the future. Make sure you consider how you're going to get the bumper on and off!

I thought about being able to attach the bolts, but I failed to think about the size/openings of the mounts and how that lines up with everything. When I went to pull the bumper off to weld everything up, the top plate didn't clear the back of the frame before the cutouts in the frame mounts hit the body mount.

As you can see I ended up having to cut small notches/boxes out of the top plate to get it to clear the frame.



I also had to cut the exhaust back some in order to get the frame mount to clear it. I haven't quite decided if i'm just going to leave it how it is now, if i'm going to weld the original pipe back in place, or if i'm going to try and find some alternative path to route the exhaust.

Additionally, I used a ratchet strap to help slowly lower (as best i could) the bumper down.



I think for being a 100 dollar harbor freight flux machine, it lays a decent weld, other than all the random slag drops, which doesn't matter much since i need to grind everything down anyways.

 

[Chuckles89]

I love the design!

 

[Myrunr2010]

Just some progress pics. Got most all of the bumper welded up, started grinding down the welds to square everything up.

Lights came in today, not sure when the wiring/switch is due in, which is fine since i'm more concerned with finishing up the bumper and getting it mounted first.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Cut out a template for my lights tonight so that I can trace it on and cut it easily when I get the time. I'm not a real big fan of how "bling" these lights are, I think they will clash with the rest of the bumper since everything else is a pretty matte look. So my plan is to run the flap disk over them to knock all the paint off and then paint them (bedliner) same as the rest of the bumper. I was really hoping to find a light that mounted behind the bumper, but these were the most economical. I feel like them mounting on the outside of the bumper makes them seem more like an afterthought rather than something I was planning from the start.

 

[Myrunr2010]

One of the minor things about aftermarket bumpers that has always bothered me is how you can see between the bumper and body panel since the aftermarket ones don't hug the body quite as tight. My wife and I were discussing it and she suggested using bed liner on the lower body panels in order to make the gaps less obvious.

That being said, I took the time today to go ahead and put some bedliner on the panels. I think they turned out looking pretty good.

 

[Myrunr2010]

So its all welded up, at least the main portion. I need to weld some supports from the mount to the portions just behind the tire to keep them from shaking all around. Also need to drill the holes for the lights. Other than that I just need to prep and paint. Oh, and figure out what i'm going to do with my exhaust, although I have almost a year before inspection is due....

I am still undecided if I want to try and put a tire swing on at some point. I have a friend with some extra 2" square tubing, which would probably work great for it. I think for the meantime i'm going to get it all painted and put on and if I want to come back in a few months it won't be that hard to sand down a little bed liner to get some clean welds on it. I'm thinking I should go ahead and put some gussets on the bottom side of the bumper to support a tire swing though in case I decide to do it down the road. I think (theoretically) I should be able to fab up and weld on a tire swing without pulling the bumper again.

Anyways, hopefully the next post will be a finished product!

 

[FMFwarrior]

So its all welded up, at least the main portion. I need to weld some supports from the mount to the portions just behind the tire to keep them from shaking all around. Also need to drill the holes for the lights. Other than that I just need to prep and paint. Oh, and figure out what i'm going to do with my exhaust, although I have almost a year before inspection is due....

I am still undecided if I want to try and put a tire swing on at some point. I have a friend with some extra 2" square tubing, which would probably work great for it. I think for the meantime i'm going to get it all painted and put on and if I want to come back in a few months it won't be that hard to sand down a little bed liner to get some clean welds on it. I'm thinking I should go ahead and put some gussets on the bottom side of the bumper to support a tire swing though in case I decide to do it down the road. I think (theoretically) I should be able to fab up and weld on a tire swing without pulling the bumper again.

Anyways, hopefully the next post will be a finished product!

Man, thats looking good. I might have to hire you to help with welding some plates on my frame. My dad has been welding for 40 years and I never bothered to learn. I'm a disgrace to my familyhwell: but seriously if you are interested...

 

[Myrunr2010]

Man, thats looking good. I might have to hire you to help with welding some plates on my frame. My dad has been welding for 40 years and I never bothered to learn. I'm a disgrace to my familyhwell: but seriously if you are interested...

I don't mind helping if you're talking about just doing a little welding, but I don't think i'd be able to find the time to help with a full bumper build. This was a pretty time intensive build.

 

[Myrunr2010]

So, its finished. Huge shout out to my wife not only for helping me out with it, but also for encouraging me to build it to begin with!

All said and done it weighs 126 pounds, the stock one weighed right around 40 pounds. I figure if i'd made it out of 3/16" in lieu of 1/4" then it would have saved me 32 pounds.

I used a total of 16 cut off wheels, 3 thick grinding disk, 2 flap disk and 5 pounds of flux core wire.

I still need to wire the lights up. I realized tonight that I can go ahead and wire them up to the reverse lights, and then once the switch/remaining wiring comes in I can go ahead and wire the the auxiliary switch.

I think it turned out well. I've thought up how I would attach a tire swing, but i've realized that the spindles are semi expensive, so that will be a little bit down the road.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Wired the lights up. I haven't gotten the front switch yet so these are wired right into the standard reverse lights. I'm excited to get the front switch put in as well, I think it will look pretty good. Anyways....

 

[Sean K.]

Buy the swing out spindle from etrailer.com or some other trailer place....that's all they are...it's just the 4x4 places have figured out they can mark them up sky high.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Buy the swing out spindle from etrailer.com or some other trailer place....that's all they are...it's just the 4x4 places have figured out they can mark them up sky high.

I was thinking something like what they did here. About halfway down, a post by jlocster. We did some basic calcs making some assumptions on design and it looks like that would be more than sufficient, and it would fit into my bumper design better I think, plus, much cheaper.

 

[Sean K.]

I was thinking something like what they did here. About halfway down, a post by jlocster. We did some basic calcs making some assumptions on design and it looks like that would be more than sufficient, and it would fit into my bumper design better I think, plus, much cheaper.

Bronze bushing would definitely work.....though I'd say people over complicate this when you could use just a big bolt in some steel tubing. Would it be as smooth? No. Would it rust?...if you didn't grease it or lived in a particularly wet climate. Would the steel tubing wear out? Eventually...but how soon is really a function of a lot of different variables.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Got the dash switch all wired up. I think it looks pretty good.

 

[PATCO]

Nice job on the bumper!!!

 

[Myrunr2010]

Just sold my old bumper for 60 bucks, meaning this project cost me even less