"Homemade" Aluminum 2nd gen front bumper

Started building a front bumper for my 2nd gen. It will house a winch and possibly get some sort of grill guard but havent decided yet.
Design stages. Hot glue and foam poster board.



Here is the final prototype.


Measured everything up and input it into autocad and nested it all for our cmc plasma table.

Load the file and hit the green button.

Lay out all of my break lines for the press.

This is where I am now. Let me know what you think!

 

I think that's totally and completely badass, and that you have some awesome toys in your shop to fab with..

 

Thanks!! Yea being a fabricator comes with perks!

 

Got the pieces broke and tacked together tonight. The material is pretty dirty so the welding part will be interesting.




Might make some more progress tomorrow.

 

Update! Got the stock mounts stiffened with some 3/16” plate and got my mounts made out of 3/8” and 3/4” plate and the front and one side put on.
Ill let the pics speak for themselves.

 

Its starting to look like something now not just a bunch or pieces!!
Got the back braces figured out and more of the center piece put together. Still need to dimple die the lower part and cut access holes for the winch in.
The winch plate will be a tight fit but should work just fine. I'm very happy with how its looking so far.

 

dude, that looks amazing

 

Heat treated aluminum

 

So rad! You have skills dude

 

Thank you! I'm trying my best to make it look original and clean.

6061 Scraps left over from one of the jet boat manufacturers in town here.

 

nice work

 

Look nice, might want to leave more of a gap between the bumper and fender though, otherwise you'll crinkle that fender when the body flexes. Good job reinforcing the mounts from the get go!

 

Thanks! I ended up moving it down about a 1/4" from the last picture with it on the pickup. I looked into a lot of posts where people had either hit things or pulled things too heavy with there aluminum bumper and the mounts always bent and the bumper tore so I decided to just over build it to begin with.

 

Looks so solid

 

Got a little farther on the bumper. had to cut it all the way apart and make some adjustments but got it looking the way I want now. Yes you can still fit a winch in there.

 

So cool!! Great job OP

 

Awesome job op. Skills and tools I wish I had

 

Looks like Baja or Ridged pods will fit in those square openings nicely

 

That’s the plan with amber covers!