Front bumper build

Started to plan out and design my front bumper the other day. Started by modeling up one side of the frame rails and mounting locations. From there I designed a simple bent bracket to connect the factory bumper mounting point and recovery hooks. Cut a test part out on the plasma and bent it up. First test part fit perfect.

Here is my cad model of the front frame section.



And here is the test bracket.





And here is my first rough design. I need to take some dimensions from the bottom edge of the front grill, headlights, and fenders before I finalize anything.



I will be adding more plate, probably something similar to my rear bumper so they match.

 

Looks good. Whats your CAD software of choice here?

 

Thanks, Fusion 360. I also use it to program my CNC plasma table.

 

Cool. I need to spend more time with it. I used to be pretty good with inventor, which does not appear to be helping me now.

I keep looking at designing a bumper but haven't dove into it yet. Its easy to make them way heavy, or to leave out protection from debris.

 

Finally had some time to take more measurements and work on my bumper design. Pretty happy with the center section and mounting. Still need to work out the details on the bracing for the tubing. Might play around with the recovery points a little more as well.





A few plate mounting ideas, first one probably isn't legal... but looks the best.

 

Hopefully you've at least assured yourself your frame is solid before diving into other projects.

From the pics you posted, I'd be worried about the frame crumbling.

 

Surprised you're the first to mention this

 

The frame was fully plated and boxed in between the wheel wells. I have started plating the rest of the rear half of the frame, and need to plate a small section behind the front sub frame. I'll rebuild as much as I need to, not to worried about it with the tools I have.

 

You've seen my posts, are you really that surprised?

 

Here is how the very front of the frame cleaned up after hitting it with a needle scaler and some krud cutter.

 

Looks good

 

With the exception of the ends being "open" I'm digging the overall design

 

Most aftermarket bumpers use that location under the fairlead for the plate, I don't think it's an issue, looks good

 

Thanks, I will be adding some plates/tubing on the ends.

 

Finally had some time to start on the fab work this weekend.

The winch plate was a touch to wide with the first mockup. A little work with the angle grinder took care of that.

On my frame mounting plates, the stock recovery holes are a touch to small, a little work with the die grinder can take care of that. But I also added holes to line up with the front through holes, and those are off about a half inch. Will probably be redoing those parts.

Overall I am happy with how its coming together, winch tucks in just how I planned on it fitting.

 

Made some good progress this weekend







I still need to trim the ends a bit. I am also playing around with the idea of adding some plate.



Updated my cad model to reflect the lower tube change. And made a lower fill plate, might play with adding some dimple dies before I cut a piece to mockup on the bumper.

 

Wanna make me one?

 

This is looking really good. Are you doing any sort of analysis as to how strong it is?

 

Maybe if you were local

Nah, I haven't taken the time to fully understand how to use FEA in fusion yet. I've built and used a handful of bumpers over the years, and have learned what works and what doesnt. Not worried about this design.

If I knew how to properly setup the FEA stuff I would probably run some tests on it though.

 

Cut some test filler plates out of 16 gauge, need to make a few tweaks to the top plate. But the front plate fits great.

Debating if I want to make them out of 11 gauge, and if I want to add any dimple dies.