Show Off Your Brute Force-Fabbed Gear!!

About to order my high clearance rear bumper, do they ev e do seasonal sales or anything?

 

Not that I know of. They are already substantially cheaper than any other company.

 

No. He does offer a military discount, that helped me out.

But I will tell you that if you want a swing out, dual swings, table, or any other option, add it. Don’t order it and then instantly wish you ordered something else. His products are built to the T and every option is worth it!

 

Thanks man! I’m definitely excited to finally get this bumper on the truck, how do you like the dual swing outs?

 

I went with a single myself. If I were to do it over, I may have went duals. I love my big table though. That’s what kept me with the single. These are my second set of bumpers, and I can tell you from first hand experience, but exactly what you want! Don’t buy what you can afford now to hold you over, then buy what you wanted. You spent twice as much by that time

The biggest draw back for the single is when you open it, it adds like 4’ of length to your truck. Which means say you’re at Home Depot and buy some lumber. When you swing the gate out, you’re essentially blocking the road. Now no, this isnt a big deal because I park out in the back anyway, how often do you pickup lumber, do you really care if you block the road for a minute? Or carry a trailer.

Either way, get a high clearance and a swingout. Duals or no duals. The table you can actually add later or you could fab your own.

When you’re talking about spending $1000 on a bumper or so, what’s another $100-200 honestly?

 

For those of you who paint your bumpers.

What kind of prep did you do?
Any tips for spray painting? I am using rustoleum prime and semi-black paint.
I've never painted anything this big before.

 

Here's what I did

1. Lightly sand
2. Rinse/wipe
3. Acetone bath
4. Self etching primer (2-3 coats)
5. Spray paint (3-5 coats)

Let dry for a god 10 minutes between layers. First layer of each stage should be light.

 

I used the same paint. I cleaned off any surface rust with scotch pads and mineral spirits, then wiped clean with rags and more mineral spirits. Then paint away, light coats and a thicker final coat.

 

Thanks!

Did you just spray one side and then flip it over? I thought about building some sort of stand.

 

Yeah, I used a little wicker foot stool that is part of my wife's outdoor furniture crap.

Had to respray it white after I got done lmao

 

hahaha that's awesome. I used some ratchet straps to the rafters and hung my bumper by the shackle holes. Made painting MUCH easier!

 

That sounds like a better approach than I had!

 

And I agree. Light sand, clean - I use denatured alcohol, then SELF-ETCHING PRIMER! This is a must for painting these kind of surfaces imho. 2-3 light coats, then paint. 3-5 coats, little heavier toward the last couple. I did experiment with clear coat, ultimately I hated the way it looked so I won't be doing that ever again.

 

Sand, clean, etching primer, duplicolor spray bedliner. $10 a can. Makes touch ups a breeze and gives everything a texture. I love it

 

This isn’t armor, but it is something I got from Billy. Also, I should be getting my hybrid bumper from him in about 6 more weeks

 

Did you sand again after the self-etching primer? The surface seems like it could use it before I apply paint, its kinda grainy right now but I haven't used self-etching primer before.

 

Nope. Just paint right over. The main purpose of the s.e.p. is to give a good surface for the paint to adhere to. If you do multiple light coats, take your time, the finished product should come out looking smooth.

 

I am a novice painter, but just recently painted by BFF bumper.

The primer allows the paint to adhere, but it shouldn't be rough. If the primer coat has a noticeably rough texture, it means that the paint dried before it made contact. This can come from the temperature/humidity, being too far away, or from overspraying.

If you paint over this rough primer, than your paint will take on the same texture.

It is difficult to avoid overspray when painting a bumper. During my primer layer, I had small areas of "rough" texture. I used 400 and 600 grit sandpaper and lightly wet sanded these areas to remove the texture. Then I put another coat of primer on top.

 

Thanks man, yea that's what I was thinking of doing as the primer even suggested sanding again. It was super hot and and I was painting under an ez-up with plastic tarps wrapped around it to keep the dust out so it was probably drying too quickly and I may have gone too heavy on the coats as well.

 

Anyone know the specific timken bearing or have a part number for the one used with the swingout?