Bored Clerk's Rear Bumper Build

I'm excited too! Should see some good progress this weekend.

 

Put in a little work this evening.

I needed to figure out the best way to mount my De-sta-co clamps. They have a mounting foot and an adjustable but limited reach. So, after some measuring and figuring, here's what my plan is.

I need to move the clamp farther back on the swing arm. By that, i mean, I can't mount it on the face of the 2x2 square tube. I need to offset it back from the front face. I decided to use some 1/4" wall angle. Should work great.


I had to make clearance for the angle steel clamp mounting point so I cut these back.


This is the plan with the angle. I'll mount it back to back and weld it up solid. Should be stout. It will also allow me to set the clamp exactly where I need it. I had just enough angle steel laying around. Perfect!

Back on it in the morning!


Oh, side note for those out there wanting to get into some personal fab stuff:

You don't need a ton of stuff. You can get mad amounts of work done with a simple welder, hacksaw, some files, and a drill with bits. However, if you want to save time, get an angle grinder! The various wheels get spendy but it saves so much time. Worth it!

I'm finding that it would be nice to have three angle grinders. One for a flap wheel sanding disc, one with a cutoff wheel, and one with a stripping disc. Man, I spend a lot of time swapping back and forth. If I planned my build really well, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd do all of one thing then all of the next. But, if you're creating as you go? Lots of switching!

That was a bit random but there it is.

 

I try to show all the steps to some degree. Well, today is more of a One, Two, Skip a few kind of update.

I finished my clamp mounts. Doesn't seem like much but it's big for progress!


Angle steel cut and tacked in place.




All welded and ground down to something approximating 'smooth'.




Stainless steel 2000lb De-sta-co clamps mounted and ready-ish for duty!

They'll just come back off shortly but it was important for me to get this done. I still need to get an appropriate set of rubber bumpers to mount on the backside of the clamps to give some pressure back to the clamp. Keeps things tight and rattle free. I also picked up a small remnant of 1/4" thick King Star Board. It's just HDPE that has been UV stabilized with some sort of additive or something. Anyway, I'm going to try to bed that over the main bumper tube to be used as both the vertical alignment plate as well as the surface that the rubber bumper contacts. We'll see how that pans out when I find a good bumper.

I don't know what else the weekend holds but I'd like to start getting the spare tire mount mocked up. Plus, there are a few other bits of welding that need to happen on what I have now.

A few things off the list...a ton left to do!

 

Last update for the day:

I figured out how I want to do the tire carrier so I started laying that out.



See! Figuring out how much I want the tire set away from the upright...how long the upright is and how long the extension is. I have a cut list and the material already loaded. I'll head to work first thing in the morning and get it handled on the horizontal bandsaw.

 

Just a note. HDPE is not as good as UHMW. If you can find the UHMW it will last longer. Some gravel trucks use it to line the boxes as it has the same impact resistances as steel, yet is light weight and can handle impacts with out cracking during temperature fluctuations. It also has a better tolerance for temperatures then HDPE. Heat gun works for bending just go slow. A blow dryer can bend it or an oven if nothing else, Just do not get it to hot or it melts like aluminium. I believe Mcmaster Car carries it at a decent price in the states. I believe it is or can be UV treated. I use it on goalie pads and have taken > 100mph shots that hit the plastic and did not crack. HDPE would have cracked.

 

UHMW is what I wanted. Haha, I think I got lost in acronym hell! Thanks for the reminder...and the tip on McMaster.

 

Tire carrier in process!



Went to work this morning to cut some steel.


I then marked out where I wanted the arm that actually holds the tire to intersect the upright. I wanted the tubing to intersect so that it had more support and weld area. May not really matter...


Got the arm and upright welded together. Then I went about clamping the upright into position on the swing arm. Yeah, that's Frankenstein level jig making there. Don't worry about it. Haha.




Partially welded in place! I'll finish weld it when I get the tubing supports bent and in place. Gonna be sweet!...I think.

Not sure if I'll get anything more done today. It's nice out and I'd like to enjoy that a bit.

 

Did some prep work tonight. Wanted to do some cutting and welding but it was just too damn hot to put on the welding jacket.


Marked these for cutting. These will become the lower braces on the swing outs.


Marked two of these to cut. These will be the basis for the wings that wrap around the side of the truck.


Used this cool thing...


To figure out the bend angle for the two tubular braces that will ride shotgun on either side of the main tire carrier upright.


Bent two of these. I only need to cut the one end of each at 60 degrees. Cutting tubing at angles steeper than 45 degrees is a pain because that's as far as the saws I have access to will do. If anyone has a tip on that, I'm all ears! I can get the angle okay by eyeballing/drawing a rough line but the rotation is a mess.

 

Angle grinder with a chop/ cutting blade. I used my sawzal for mine with a lazer blade. Also remember that if you are smart you can cut it backwards as you only ever need 45*+1. I know that is not always possible with pipe but it sure works for wood. A band saw can also do it if you have a good brace or clamps.

 

Very nice build

 

Thanks!

 

45 + 1? I don't follow... Sounds like some Jedi stuff to me. Haha. I thought about the bandsaw but using a big bandsaw on tubing can be scary is you're not set up perfect, as you mentioned. I may just make a jig that I can clamp to that gives me a lot of good visual reference and just use my angle grinder.

 

Wait. After thinking about it on my lovely walk to work, I think I have this 45 + 1 business figured out. That would work really well on a table or chop saw. I'll have to take a look at our chop saw here at work and see if that is possible. Work holding will be the issue.

 

I need to figure out some kind of bumper to go between the swingarm and the main bumper tube. Something to keep constant back pressure against the clamps.


I ordered two sets of different bumpers that looked like they may work.


Not sure how I feel about them. The big ones were a little too big in diameter and softer than I was hoping. The smaller diameter but longer ones fit like a glove but seem too soft. I clamped it in place and left it there. We'll see when I get home. I'm almost thinking something hard like Delrin would work better. At least something way harder than these. FYI these are in the shore 80a range.

 

There won't be a ton of updates likely for the next several days. We are FINALLY tackling our super ghetto front yard! Excited!

Where I'm at right now:
Sent some files out for laser cutting - spare tire mount with the wheel stud bolt hole pattern and the safety chain plate that I'll weld onto the bottom of the hitch. These are both parts that would have super sucked to hack out at home with the finesse that I wanted. I should have these parts back middle of next week.

If I have time over the next week I'll be finalizing my latch bumpers, glide plates for the swing outs, and spare tire upright braces (the tubing I bent a few days ago)

I'll post up progress as it happens. I'm hoping the yard goes very smoothly and gives me time to get all of this done by mid next week.

 

Oh, and it's getting very close to time to cut my bedsides. An angle grinder doesn't feel like the right tool as I'd like better visibility and line of sight. I guess an air tool with a small cutoff wheel would be best? I'd love to hear suggestions. My ancient 5 gallon compressor will be stressed but I don't need to cut much and it's pretty thin metal.

I'm really nervous about this step. I really want a straight line that's the same on both sides and parallel to something on the truck.

 

Did a scrap of work:


This is what the bracing for the tire carrier will look like. I just need to trim to fit.

 

can't wait to see the finished product!!

 

All trimmed and half welded into place! Me likey! Too bad it'll be covered up by a giant tire! That's okay. I'll know it's there.

 

really cool and exciting bumper build! Coming along really nice!