95-04 All Pro rear bumper add-ons, hitch & tire carrier *PICS*

In August I won a raffle during the So. Cal. Big Bear trip for the All Pro rear bumper. I already had a rear bumper but I've always like the AP rear bumper but never bought it because it did not have a built in hitch which I need and I didn't want to spend an additional $200+ to use their hitch.

With the new AP bumper that I won I decided I was going to build my own hitch by using TacoDell's design here. I had to remove the fill plates to get better access for welding. I completely removed the top plates and cut out about 5 inches of the bottom plates. I'll reweld them back into place when I'm done.





I kept the main hitch support 3/4" from the top of the bumper and 3/4" away from the bumper using 3/4" wood.



I measured the hitch all the way around to make sure I was going to tack weld it nice and straight. Unfortunately no matter how many times you measure something it always has to get redone. In this case one side of the hitch was welded 1/4" to low. I had to grind and reweld it the correct height.





To add support and strength for towing and pulling I added these support tabs to the center of the bumper.



I'm thinking about adding a small gusset to the end of the main support for additional support. What do you guys think?



I was reading about gussets and it was suggested that you weld a gusset to the top of the metal instead of the middle to avoid possible bends and cracks in the welds.



Their suggestion


Website
http://weldingdesign.com/processes/news/wdf_10914/

Next I'm going to add the drop down hitch receiver support like Dell did in this picture.

 

After I'm done with the hitch I want to build off of the bumper and add a tire carrier. I'm still deciding if I want an outboard or flat carrier. I don't want it to be a gate.

Here's what I'm looking at.

Flat style. However, the flat style might interfere with access to the hitch. I would have the tire half in the truck and half out.


Outboard style