Man, I'm really having a hard time picturing that, but it could just be me. Let's move this gas tank discussion to another thread, okay, and let's keep this focused on the rear bumper for now.

Chris

 

as for your bumper:


i would box in the ends of the framerails with the bumper. this means you would either have to use a tall peice of tube or have a nasty gap. i would go with the gap and just use the tire carrier to cover it.

taper the ends etc. i understand that you want it to sit really high and everything, but personally, i prefer this method simply for the strength

my $.02

 

I sure wish I could do photoshop the way you do to show what I'm talking about, but I'll just have to wait to show you with pictures, I guess. The hitch is going to be notched into the top 3x2" tubing as I drew out on the initial page. There won't be a tire carrier, and the main tube is the 3x2" tubing. So the lowest point on the 3x2" tubing is going to be the hitch tube. From the bottom edge of the 3x2" tubing, I'm using 3/16" flat plate angled back towards the bottom of the frame rails, and the side pieces will be somewhat similar to Trail Carnage's design on the sides. Does that help?

Chris

 

I just installed my 1 1/2" body Lift today, if it don't rain next weekend, I'll get my front bumper mounts reworked and add shackle points . I then will continue with the rear bumper project. Hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be able to post some photo's with some real progress.

 

something like this?

 

Yep, pretty much! But, the hitch tube wil hopefully be higher up recessed into the 3x2 tubing, but I'm afraid it won't be able to because of the hole for the hitch pin. In addition, I'm going to have a sheet of 3/16" that runs from each frame rail to the next, nd I'm undecided on the how I'm going to blend it into the side pieces yet. So the frame rails will be covered up. But, damn you're good with whatever program you are using to draw on my pics. That's awesome!

Chris

P.S. I bought the 2" flat stock I needed for the two bolts that are closest to the front of the vehicle on the frame rails. They are basically 1/8"x2" flat stock with the rearward end bent up so you can easily grab if with a coat hanger or whatever you can feed into the frame rails to grab the lip. The nuts will be welded to this piece just like stock. The only real reason for replacing this was because my stock ones broke because they were so rusted out.

 

depending on how far you want the pinhole back, you could mount the reciever flush with the bottom and flush with the face of the bumper and just put the hole behind the main tube.

thanks, considering that im just using paint

 

Yeah, I've got to experiment with it, because I have to make it work with the sheet being angled down too, so we'll see what happens.

Chris

 

Well tonight we're working on the rear bumper again, so stay tuned for more pics later tonight!

Chris

 

Well, here's a few pics of the progress we made tonight:







Tonight, I notched out the 3x2" tubing for the hitch tubing. My buddy finished up the inserts that go inside the frame with two welded nuts to attach to the c-channel. Everything went very well, and I can't wait to get this thing done. It's a lot of fun! Any questions or comments, I would love to hear them.

Chris

 

looking very nice chris. hopefully mine will be lookin that good soon

 

Thanks man! Last night we did some more work on it, and it came out real well. We worked on the shackle hangers, which are probably different than what most people do, yet again. Instead of just welding them to the surface of the tubing, we cut square holes in both 2" sides of the tubing, resulting in a weld on the back side of the tubing, and a bunch of weld on the front side too. If these things break, something else has definitely broke too. Here's the pics:

Here's a quick shot of the spots that's holding the hitch tube in the 3x2" tubing. I'm taking the whole bar in Monday to get a custom bent support brace made that will increase strength tremendously:


Here's just a straight down pic of the square hole we cut out of the tubing to slide the shackly hangers in:


This is a pic of one of the shackle hangers. We did some grinding, because the guy that made them for me kind of sucked, but after my friend Paul grinded them down a bit, they are perfect:


Here's a pic of the backside of the tubing. I beveled the edges of the tubing along with a big bevel on the end of the shackle hanger. I did this so I could grind the excess weld off, still have a super strong weld, but look like it wasn't even welded once painted:


This is just a top view of the shackle hanger with just a couple of spots on it:


And here's a pic of the finished product:


Hopefully, if everything goes as planned, Sunday we'll be doing some more work on it. Stay tuned!

Chris

 

My main rear bumper bar is 2"x2" and I want to add shackels, can I weld them direckly to the rear or should I cut it like you? I like your new crossmember, mine is gonna be lower with just 2"x2" siting on the frame rails. I am gonna have two bolt holes so I can connect the rear bumper to that for overkill
I am gonna use 6" 1/4 plate steel for the sides. I don't want to put the spare under the truck or build a tire carrier. I have a speaker box in the rear so interior room would be limited

 

I actually got some of these for my shackles, just grind a bevel at the base and weld them directly to the tubing. I seriously doubt you'll be able to pull them off if your welds are good. After I raised my front bumper, I added them to the TJM bumper mounts.

 

we bought some 1x2 solid stock to make these recovery points, almost exactly like the rockstompers

 

Good stuff guys! Today me and my buddy spent some time welding up the hitch tube and welding up some spots for chains to attach when towing a trailer. All I can say is this tubing is strong as hell. After my buddy welded up the hitch tube, we were going to take it to the fabrication shop to get a piece made to reinforce it some more, but after what we found out today, I'm not going to waste the time, money or weight.

After he got done welding it in place, we noticed it was bowed up, which was sort of frustrating, but at least it's upward and not bowed down. While it was still warm I drove my truck up on it to see if it would bend back down, and it's didn't really even flex. Needless to say, this things is unbelievably strong. I'm going to take it in to see if we could leave it in a big press overnight to see if it will help straighten it back out.

Next, we used some of my 1.5"x1.5"x1/4" tubing to make the attachment points for chains. We cut a 45 on them and welded them flush to the outside edge of the 3x2" tubing. We drilled a 5/8" hole in the top resulting in a perfect place to hook the chains without decreasing the departure angle at all.

That was is today! Stay tuned for the mounting and cutting of the c-channel!

Chris

P.S. I tend to do things a tad overkill, so that's why I chose to do what I did with the shackle hangers. There is no possible way they would ever pull out with the amount of welding we did on them. If the concensus is that welding flush to the outside of the frame is strong enough, then that's what I'd do if I had it to do over again simply because of time.

 

when I was first putting the idea for a rear bumper together, I noticed a lot of overkill going into other peoples designs. Even though I want mine to be strong, I want it to give when needed, so I will design in some crush points that can be easily repaired. Where it'll be the strongest will be where I'll be using it to tow. The rockstomper shackle hanger were cheap enough, that the cost/time to fabricate them was a wash. The big thing you need to remember is the frame isn't that strong and you don't want the bumper stronger than it, otherwise you frame will fail first.

Look into adding detachable mudflaps, I plan on mounting them to a piece of angle iron with simple wing nuts to hold them on for daily driving.

As for the mounts for the safety chains, I have some round stock that I will bend and weld in place similar to the way my stock trailer hitch has them.

Try and keep the weight down, where ever you can.....

 

What do you feel is overkill?Where are you wanting these crush points? I agree! My shackle hangers are way strong, probably way more than needed. If was going to do this in production, I would definitely go the route you are going. That's why I'm using c-channel instead of just the L bracket that most people I've seen do. It's really beefed up the strength of the frame from the bend back, at least.Since I have the limited fender flares, and my bumper is actually going to be just wider than the flares, I'm not really concerned with mud flaps. All the dirt will be sprayed up onto the underside of the bumper, and not up on the truck, really.Yeah, I got the mounting points for safety chains mounted today, and I think they'll work real well. Weight is definitely an issue, but I'm the type that leans towards overkill on function and strength before weight, that's for sure.

Chris

 

When I said overkill, I didn't mean yours, since it isn't completed yet. Just giving you heads up and use thinner materials where strength isn't needed.

The side panels will be made to crush easier than the frame, but still stronger than the stock. Bracing the frame rails to support the bumper is fine, making the midsection strong to withstand bending while towing is a good thing.

In some ways my main tube, will be heavier than yours, but hopefully I'll reduce the weight by using a holesaw to lighten it up a bit. I'll then weld in some very thin sheetmetal to seal the holes to prevent buildup and rust. for my main braces, I'll be using 3/16 plate, for the lower sides 11 guage and 14 guage for most of the rest.

So far your on track to building a fine bumper.....

 

Thanks for the heads up! It's been a fun process as we build as we go. The side pieces are probably going to be the most challenging thing, but we'll see how it goes.

Chris