Bumper welding questions

If you get a welder I recommend the Hobart 210 MVP
Cheaper than the similar lincoln and Miller. Dont go with 110
Heres a good article actually
https://pickwelder.com/compare-top-3-best-mig-welder-210amvp.html

 

I have a Home Depot 110volt Lincoln welder the 140 HD I think it was with argon/co2. At work one of the welders we use 240 volt miller, it's awesome!
My bumper is not a single piece, I used miter 2 cuts to make the angles. PM me if you go this route I learned a few tricks in construction on doing miter cuts that aren't a normal angle or if you don't have an angle finder/know the angles degrees.
My bumper
Bed Cage
I was limited on my design because of not having a tube bender, but I made it work lol. These were made with that Lincoln with flux core, I only recently bought a bottle for the solid wire mig. Solid wire with gas is Sooooo much better. Some welders have different pigtails too. So you can use 110 and swap the end out to a 220 plug if you upgrade your electrical box to run a 220 outlet.

 

Yeah, I think if you're going to invest in a welder you might as well invest. Get a 220 mig with a gas bottle. Not too expensive nowadays. I feel that with 110 you'll regret it once you weld a little thicker material, especially with the price difference. They have the 2 pig tails you can swap out for 110 and 220.
One of my buddies has an adapter that plugs into his washer or dryer 220.
Idk how sketch that is though.

 

Check out ChuckE2009 on Youtube for welder reviews.

 

Its fine the welder draws less amps then the dryer.

A 220 hase the ass of a 454, vs a 110 115 welder runs more like a straight 6. The 220 is worth the money if you do more than 1/8in material and will be.

Hobarts small 220/210 and lincolns are a good at home welder. Drag on the flat and uphill with flux core only, push or run downhill/ uphill with gas.

@JDawg562 not frenchie my bad.

 

A good flux core machine is fine if all you are doing is building a bumper, you don't need a 220 for that. I did my SAS with a hobart 140 and a lincon weld pak 100 from HD fwiw. The 140 was blowing through sections of the stock frame if it was turned up too high, would have sucked with a higher rated machine, even with it cranked down.

 

Started building bumper for a buddy’s tundra.
Using a Lincoln and some 1 3/4 tube. Got quite a bit done today. None of us have ever built a bumper so it was a lot of trial and error.

 

Depends how thick the bumper is. Most of mine is 3/16 and 1/4 for the mounting plates. I'm not going to spend all day trying to get a good weld with a 110 for that.
Yeah you could get it done with a hobart 140 but I live by different standards I guess. If I can spend a few more hundred dollars for something more versatile that will allow me to do more than a one thing then I'll def spend the extra money.

 

I've been pretty happy with my Lincoln 125HD (paid the extra $10 for the nascar sticker, lol). If I was building more than one set of sliders or a bumper or 2 with it, yeah, I'd probably go for something bigger and with gas, but it definitely gets the job done.

So I grind the welds a bit - who cares... Give me a $20k industrial welder and I'm still going to grind the welds (because I'm a grinder, not a welder, lol)...

 

Somewhat related. I ended up pulling the trigger on a trail gear low-profile that is arriving this afternoon. The tool $ tally started adding up real quick for what i want to do at the moment. Down the road i still plan to do sliders and whatnot myself. I like how your Tundra one is turning out.

Anyone removed the frame rail "ears"/"fangs"? Do they need to be grinded/cut off? someone around here mentioned knocking off with a hammer but i was skeptical that would work.

 

Uhmmm,
I think the "cans" are attached with a bolt. What year truck ? Mine is an 03 and they were bolted.

 

Look inside the hole

 

Thanks, should have thought of that. I didnt realize it wasn't welded. Got both off, one was squished so couldn't reach bolt till i cut a way to reach. Surprised with how fast a grinder+cutoff chopped through, was so soft.

The trail gear cross member is <cm too tight on the sides. I'm thinking in going to have to grind a baby amount off either inside wall then it should fit. WIll post pics.

 

Grind all things!

 

Does anyone have any theory as to what this guy used for the black strip that’s wrapped and bolted around the top tube on this bumper?

 

That's a pretty common style for the go fast, sudo trophy truck guys to run. I think it's just thin aluminum sheeting, most prerunner bumpers don't offer a whole lot of support they're just for good approach angles.

 

I figured it was some kind of relatively thin sheet metal shaped and bolted to the top bar. I just didn’t know if there was a common material and method to making a bumper like that. Thanks.

 

You could probably make a really nice version of that with 1/8" abs abs plc sheeting. It would be more sturdy than aluminum and wind noise would be reduced. I like the look with all the bolts though

 

Yeah the bolts across the front complete the look for sure.

 

What about kydex stuff, I have never prices it.