A REAL Bumper (come at me, Bro!)

That's the plan- I very much want the plank to UV bleach and grain to become more pronounced; my first impulse was to employ a surplus rail-road tie. As for water, the plank will receive periodic refreshment of tongue oil.

 

6011 is similar to 6010 in that it would be used as a root pass.

7018 is not only easier to lay down, but also stronger. You would've had that nice bead profile with 7018 as well.

Fortunately your lacrosse balls would absorb whatever impact you receive from the neighbor's Huffy, but that 6011 is brittle compared to 7018.

 

K
Freshness applies to ability. The more you practice the better your welds, and based on the boogers on that bumper I'd have to make a pretty educated guess.
Idk if you know what physics are, but a big heavy cantilever on two very small pieces of stamped steel doesn't make for a very good base for a receiver hitch.
Didn't you say you got hit several times in the rear end? What happened to the factory frame horns? Oh that's right, they became the hinge in your fulcrum. But previously you didn't have a massive block of aluminum hanging off them. You slam on the brakes with a loaded down trailer behind you and it's going to be the same situation. Brake Biased is towards the front, so the ass is going to hike up, meaning all the momentum is transferred non-linearly into your big bumper, folding those little frame horns right up. But what do I know. I wouldn't trailer anything behind that more than 2k lbs total. It's practically bumper tow rated.

 

The bumper brackets are necessarily designed to fail before the vehicle's body frame. Regarding the bracket mounts to the body frame, we see the bolt receptacles are slots- before the bracket is taxed to failure, the clamping force of those bolts must be overcome before the assembly is pushed back far enough to bear directly on the frame. The elastomer bumpers just add another layer of progressive compression to that sandwich. As with mitigating the damage of any impact, lengthening the rate of deceleration and targeted absorption is key.

 

As you say, they are designed to crumple, not hold a dynamic load. You previously compare it to 'higher capacity models' but fail to realize that the class III receiver hitch on those are attached to the frame, not those brackets.

 

Waiting for his argument that his bumper and hitch are one integral piece

Those welds tho

 

All he'd have to do is add some thicker brackets to the frame where the factory receiver bolts in and I'd walk away. Don't want this guy folding his truck up pulling more than those brackets can handle and flipping on the interstate and killing someone.

I also don't think I'd trust aluminum over steel personally for a receiver. Though I'm not sure if there are aftermarket hitch bumpers in aluminum flavor. So I can't argue that point without knowing. EDIT: Looks like Coastal offers the 2" receiver on their aluminum kit.

 

I completely missed the part about aluminum being used; my eyes were elsewhere

 

Looks like metal termites got to it. Idk how I'd feel about running a bumper like this personally...

 

Hummm... starting with another provocation. This bodes well. Let's see-

The drop and moment arm from the trailer wheel base to the bumper brackets is the same as the stock bumper.

"Aluminum"? You're confused- there was no mention of "aluminum". Maybe my typo of "6011" instead of "7011" for the stick put that in your head.

It's not intended to exceed the capacity of the stock bumper and brackets on this vehicle- the receiver tube was used not to increase the capacity, but to allow the bumper to present a uniform face for the plank, without a cut-out for an inset ball, when the drop is not in use.

I have no interest in thicker brackets- I'd much rather the brackets fail as designed, as they are easy to replace, as opposed to the body frame, which is not.

No aluminum here.

 

Focusing on structural integrity, without getting into the specifics of where supports are used or the overall layout of your bumper...you still used the wrong rod

Even a crash course in AWS structural code will teach ya that

 

I pumped too much heat in too short a period when attaching gussets to the opened tubing, causing the "webbing" between to warp; consequently, when re-attaching the quarter section of tubing to the back, there were progressive gaps. I wanted to see if I could bridge those gaps, rather than repair the deformation- again, familiarizing myself with what is possible with stick welding. Bridging the minor gap wasn't difficult, and I was able to hit it front and back, but attempting to produce a smooth transition with filler welding was a mistake, and proved to be more time consuming than I cared to dedicate, abandoning endless grinding and touch up spot welds for the sake of esthetics. I could have hid the ugly with a filler, but preferred to be reminded of what I learned.

 

The wrong key, maybe- I typed "6011" instead of "7011" -and if you re-read, I wrote "almost exclusively": 7018 was used for the fill on critical elements, such as the receiver tube and the quarter inch gussets receiving the bumper brackets. That said, I wouldn't make a habit of using stick for welding that required heavy fillets, as the risk of incorporating glass into the weld is too high- for me, anyway; I'm sure there are pros for whom it ain't such an issue. It was fun to try my hand at MIG after all this stick- So. Very. Easy.

 

Im not sure what im looking at here but interesting

 

Fair to say you've been a victim to some of these lacrosse balls that made their way outside the playing field?

 

An option to draw a different level of attention would be to remove the wood. Grind and bed line the metal under structure.

Put white LEDs across the bottom holes tied to the reverse circuit. Red LEDs in the rest of the holes tied to the brake circuit. Cover the face with a thin layer of smoked plexi to obscure the lights when not in use.

 

Jeff Foxworthy enters the chat

 

Nope, that was before our meeting. Post meeting we agree we have seen some shit…truth is yours qualifies as shit, it’s a hack job from start to finish. It doesn’t fit the bill for form or function. Might help with birth control tho.

Looks like something my 9 year old would make from Legos. Maybe add a spring and call it a diving board?

Looking at a real tow hitch made for the truck you’re missing like 6 or 8 bolts. So yeah, unsafe at best.

Don’t make a post “ come at me bro “ then get all butt hurt when we tell you what we think of your abortion clinic.

 

But can we all stop arguing and take a moment to just appreciate this sentence?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6amRqbEj4rs