Holy CHIT that's funny.

you missed your calling there, old man!

 

Man, that's hilarious!

 

Really like your bumper Andy, looking forward to seeing the tire carrier addition.

 

where the hell have you been lately ryan? hiding in a book or up a skirt?

 

Very good looking bumper, one of the best that I've ever seen. Can't wait to see everything else you plan to do with it.

 

Haha. Mostly the former, a little bit of the latter Just been really busy with school and basically ignoring my 4Runner, so havent spent much time on YT except the few threads I am subscribed to. I have been reading a lot, but not posting.

I really like your bumper, better than the West Coast setups Ive seen. I think the tire carrier is going to be badass.

You got any extra SEC tickets?

 

lol... SEC Championship tix? not me, but i bet you could get some off some of the Tennessee fans REAL cheap if they still have any...

 

My SEC tickets are a case and a spot on the sofa. Go Dawgs!!!

If allready stated, how much $$ in materials do you have in just the bumper, with out tire carrier mods?

Eric

 

i got all the steel for the bumper and carrier for about $200 - very cheap considering that some i got out of the supply company's scrap bin and they cut me a good deal on everything else. that includes the 3/8" thick plate that i got the shop to cut and punch for the spare mount yesterday. one company that i called w/ my initial list wanted nearly $500 for only about 80% of what i've already purchased.

i have maybe $100 in the consumables like wire and cutting/grinding/sanding wheels.

i have another $200 in the Stainless Steel latch, Stainless Steel hold-open pin, and Slee HD Spindle.

i should have everything here now with the exception of the poly support tabs on the carrier and the hardware to mount them, the hardware to mount the tag frame, and the studs/lugnuts for the spare and hi-lift mounts. all of that will be about $30 or so at most.

i still need to reroute the exhaust, but i'll just reuse the piece that i cut off the end for the reroute. if i need more, i'll just bend some stainless schedule 5 tube here at work and use that.

it looks like about $140 or so for the steel for JUST the bumper and the rest is for the carrier.

in the end, i'll have about $500 in it and about 50 hours of blood, sweat, and tears, and i'll have a custom rear bumper w/ carrier that's painted to match.

 

so how much do you think your time is worth? at a minimum I would say $20, if so then you will end up with a $1500 bumper after you add the 500 materials cost to your 50 hours of labor.

In all the years I have been metal fabbing and wheelin I have never seen a single pivot point tire rack last more than 2 seasons of ACTUAL HARD wheeling. They always fatigue at the pivot and snap off. Granted they were all with 35" and bigger tires. the repeated stress of swaying back and forth all day on the trail will fatigue any single pivot design. That is why you are seeing the big shops push to build dual hinge carriers even though they are less asthetically pleasing to the eye. Many of these failures were built by world class fabricators and included various methods to strengthen the known weak point. No matter what you do that joint will see tons of stress and will eventually fail.

 

im really impressed with the fab work you've done here. I always wanted to see a nice rear bumper done that actually took the stock bumper's look and made something beef out of it. Reminds me of the one slee does for cruisers that a certain former member here has. . .

 

Man, I wish our 3rd generations already came with a rear tire carrier !!!...your build looks great Bamachem! You guys are making me spend alot of money with lifts, and tires, now I am hooked on a rear bumper/tire carrier

 

I have a theory on this. Most of the single hinged carriers lack a support on the end with the clamp. I think that this is what's causing a lot of the failures, since here's a lot of side load put on the spindle unless there is support on the other end, in my opinion, moreso than having a tire hang out the back. Now, I could be wrong, but I'd recommend support on the clamp end - maybe even something that is 1/8" or so HIGHER than it needs to ensure no side loading. To keep it from rattling, place some HMMV(?) or other plastic like material on the support.

Just a though.

 

possible, but when the latch end is mounted solidly with no flex the spindle will still see side loads due to the bearing play on the spindle. The only effective way is to split the load to 2 pivots. or run soo much preload on the bearing nut that you cant swing the assembly out.

To be specific i have never seen the spindle itself break, but usually the sleeve or the material the spindle is mounted to fatigues. A major limiting factor is the area on the sleeve that you can actually tig your material to is too small to run multiple tube, so you end up with one peice of material welded to the main pivot point = tons of stress right there. That one 360 tig joint has to hold all the torsional stress for that side of the rack. I use to run rockstomper spindles on my rigs, but i made sure they were chained to my bumper so when they break i wouldnt kill anyone behind me.

 

thanks for the input. i've put a ton of thought into this one and i really don't think it's going anywhere...

the rockstomper spindles suck. they break. this is a slee spindle that is machined from a single chunk of hardened steel - NOT cast like the rockstomper junk. the hub is also machined from hardened steel - not just a pipe w/ bearing race stops welded in.

this hub isn't going to split and this spindle isn't going to break. if anything gives, it will be the 3/16" wall of the main bumper tube. the way i have it mounted, i don't think that's happening either. it' on there.

i'm using a 3/8" thick HDPE load support on the bumper and on the arm in 3 to 4 spots to support the load and keep stress off the hinge. the latch that i have is good for 2000# and i will probably have it pull down for about 500-800# of pressure on the HDPE. it will be rock solid and stout. if the tire moves, it's cause the frame itslef is moving.

 

That thing is looking really nice. I still can't believe that no one has offerred an aftermarket 3rd gen rear bumper yet. Thus far your design has the best compliment of features both performance and aesthetics wise IMO. Keep the pics coming.

 

Wow, that has got to be one of the nicest bumpers I have ever seen! Can't wait to see it with the tire carrier. Nice work there, Andy.


For some reason, when I read that, I started singing it with the tune from the "On the first day of christmas" song.

 

thanks!

no pics, but i got the main carrier beam shaped to fit the bumper and then welded to the spindle. w/o any bracing yet, this thing is stout....

 

What? No pics? Tease!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:

 

maybe later tonight. i'm at work right now...