BLACKnBLUE's Rear Bumper Build

Yesterday we got quite a lot accomplished (probably because we worked on it from 9am til 9pm...).

Since we cropped up the quarter panels a couple weeks ago, we were able (as you've previously seen) to piece together the dimensions of the bumper-sides. Moving forward from that point, we had a few pieces left to refine with the grinders. After piecing together the pieces under the tail lights and along where the tailgate lowers, we tacked the steel together and took the bumper back off the truck.

Next came a lot of welding! And more welding. Finally, we took to the mounts on the trailer-hitch and, with the welder, reinforced the mounts with plenty of weld.

We're happy to announce the bumper-unit is complete and now just needs to be "cleaned-up."

We did end up needing to cut the quarter panel a little further up, so that the top of the bumper sits about 1/4" below the tail lights.





^I let my buddy, Chris, do this, as he's shown better skill with the cutting wheel than I. And since this was a critical cut...



^Welding the sides



^Coming along



^Finally, a whole-bumper test-fit! It's now easy to imagine how the final bumper will look after the "clean-up" process and paint.



^The driver's-side needs a little bit of help (fortunately Chris has a highlift jack). Brackets from the rear frame of the truck and additional mounts nearer to the wheel-wells will help to maintain the bumper in this position.



^This is a pretty cool camera angle. It was starting to get pretty hot outside by this point.



^ Rear view of the bumper and it's recent additions. Did I mention that it's getting quite heavy, maybe near 200lbs... BETTER TRACTION!



Here's a good corner-perspective. We are planning on grinding the "points" where the side-piece meets the rear-piece so that it has a similar-beveled curve as the rest of the bumper already has. It should make for a real nice comprehensive look.



^Here's a great shot of the new 12 count LED license plate light that I picked up off of Ebay for not too expensive (maybe $15). Does a GREAT job illuminating the license plate for our friends the PoPo.

And finally, not everyone escaped injury. I, foolishly, set my forearm down on the bumper while preparing to reposition it during one of the welding sprees... OUCH.

***

Still on our to-do-list:
#1. GRINDING (lots) to refine all the edges and welds)
#2. Configure and fabricate remaining mounts/brackets
#3. Clean-up with the friendly wire-brush attachment
#4. Paint-prep with a friend's sand-blaster
a. also includes smoothing out the welds on the shackle-mounts (and other inside corners) with Bondo.
#5. Paint with Spray on Bedliner.

We, finally, are reaching the end of our project. Maybe a couple more weeks and we'll be done! (but don't worry, we already have our next projects in mind!). Thanks for looking! As always, questions, comments, and suggestions are always more than welcome!
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damn! that shits beefy, looks good man.

 

I'm not saying that I want it to happen AT ALL, but I'd pity the person that rear-ends me... and it'd probably be some stupid rice-burner

 

thats what i was saying when me and buddy were building my bumper haha. but yea building you own shit is so much fun and worth it. heres mine

 

I like the low-profile look of the bumper! Nicely done! Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Burn looks real gross today though.

 

Apologies to all those of you who are actually still following this thread. The bumper has actually been finished for weeks but some "almost emergencies" came up which, to resolve, required most of my energy and time. Good news is, it all got sorted out. And now that I have a few minutes to call my own... here comes a big update!

 

The last post update that I made showed the mocking up of the corner pieces. Since then, the individual pieces of steel have been cut, refined, and assembled.



Unfortunately, we got in this "get-it-done" mode and forgot to take good pictures. Here, Chris (my buddy), is attaching the side pieces to the already assemble corner pieces. This was a very hot day...



Here you can see the main side piece attached. We repeated the same process of assembling the corner pieces for the opposite side.

But before we could move further along in the construction process, we decided it was time to get the rear quarter panels out of the way for ease of test fitting and measuring... this part was a bit scary...


And more cutting...


In the end, we ended up grinding the quarter panels up just a tad more for a better fit (better too long than too short when it comes to cutting...).



With the quarter panels out of the way, we were able to move forward. Here, we're using a high-life jack to help fit the assembled side, and more importantly, make sure the bumper is in alignment for construction of the opposite side.



^Here's a cool picture of the high lift jack doing it's job!

Here's one of the final test fittings we did after both sides were finished and attached:



More pictures of the semi-finished bumper on the truck:



As you can see, it doesn't quite sit where it should... but it will get there.



Driver's side is completed...

About a week later, we spent all day wrapping up this project. Unfortunately, we were horrible at taking pictures! However, it's safe to say we did LOTS of grinding, polishing with flapper discs, and finally, clean up with bondo. We used bondo primarily to clean up some of the weld-seams on inside corners and around the shackle mounts. As the sun set, we started spraying on the spray-on bedliner. And here's the final product! Thanks everyone for the questions, insights, and participation!






Since then, we have cropped up the tail pipe so it doesn't stick out awkwardly, and it also helps the truck sound a bit cooler!

 

really impressed by your bumper build

 

Thank you, that means a lot. None of it would have been possible if it hadn't been for my good friend, Chris. He had all the tools and experience. This was my first delve into the world of metal working and, subsequently, had much to learn! It was a lot of fun but very time consuming what with work, school, and family!