The Frankenstein Build! LT/Expo/Trail rig..and BS

Yea it's been a crazy journey. Long from over too yes boost is in my plan...just undecided on it. Supercharger would be nice but I think id rather turbo. Or twin charge..or motor swap...lol idk yet haha don't have the money for really any of those things, but I defiently will be getting more power somehow as it would be very nice to have.

Regearing has helped tremendously though. But I still wish it had a bit more go.

 

So this isn't much of a "write up" like i normally do. Mostly because..well..i hadn't planned on it at all ha. But since Mike took enough photos figured id mention it and show it off cause...damn..it turned out awesome! I do have to apologize though. I do NOT have near as many photos as my usual write ups do for the detail. But you'll all live.

Basically, this is the rear bumper that I made. I can't take 100% credit as my very good friend Jon came and helped a lot. While it is almost all my design, he did a lot of the welding, and I did the details and cleaning haha Either way, this HurrDurr and FrankenFab collaboration turned out fucking bitchen Like i didn't want to give it away cool. But i did.

Too start, Mike had expressed how he wanted a new rear bumper. Mostly after staring at Frankenstein's ass so much he wanted the swingout and “kitchen” setup. I agreed to give it ago and we hammered out some details.

1. Mike wanted a swing out with a tire mount and two jerry cans as well as the folding table and possibly the HiLift jack on it too.
2. Mike wanted it slimmer then the Badlands bumper he had on it.
3. Plate design of some sort, but a hybrid would be fine
4. wrap around protection
5. reverse lights
6. built in 2'' receiver
7. Tire couldn't be very high
8. License plate mount
   Then there where my requirements

• Be strong. Very strong
• Look damn good while being strong
• Beef as fuck
• Be very slim and tight to the body
• 3/16'' plate and ¼'' plate all around
• Beef as fuck
• Be stronger then my Elite bumper and better designed
• Have a camp light
• Beef...as..fuck

So. Pretty standard to do list for a bumper build. So I got busy with coming up with how to make it all happen with the tools and time I had. Of course my time line ended up being VERY far off, but whatever.


I'd be lying if I said I didn't base a lot of my design off of my own Elite rear bumper. Because, come on. It is like one of the best looking a functional bumpers ever made IMO. And seeing as to how Tim is MIA and no longer making them. They are even cooler. But there were many weakness's in mine that I wanted to address, mostly with the swingout and spindle setup.


Here is the original bumper that Mike had. Badlands built! Really its a strong bumper and has served him very well. Ben now has it on his rig. But after looking at it more..it hangs very low. The 2'' lower pipe is completely under the truck a good .5''. So 2.5'' below the body. No wonder he drug it over everything..


SOS extras-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_3208.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_8904 by digirat99, on Flickr


Plenty of room for improvement.


However knowing I didn't have a CAD and laser cutter or anything super fancy to make the super pretty but small beveled edges, I did what most do and bought some tubing. But I bought much bigger then most buy. Most guys that do DIY bumpers go with the classic 5''x3'' square tubing. I went for 6''x3''.


I then cut it half along the edge to make two pieces that where L shaped for the main section. Cut out holes for the reverse lights and the 2'' receiver.


IMG_8907 by digirat99, on Flickr


To mount the bumper I bought brackets made by Eric at Relentless Fab in his DIY section. I bought the spindle and tire mount and lights from him too. The brackets where well made. But, I did not like them for my own design. They stuck out too far and too high. So they where modified. I cut a lot off, about 2'' I think to really suck the bumper up to the truck.


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Then I cut holes for the lights and the recovery points. The recovery points tie straight into the .25'' frame mount plates. Mounting the spindle was tricky. I used a square and my eye to get it as close as possible. But really you have to wait till putting on the swing bar to really see how it lines up.


Roughed in..


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Of course many people stopped by to BS it was a fun time


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Then got back to work. I used .25'' wall square tubing to match the 2'' receiver and triangulated it back in a way that half of it was on the face of the 3/16'' plate on the bumper and the other was on the .25'' mount brackets. I also added another section of 3/16'' to the bumper side to make sure any pulling done with this thing would hold.


IMG_8927 by digirat99, on Flickr
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Lovely tac welds..
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Burned it in


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Then Jon got there. Head of HurrDurr Fab. Where I told him of my vison and what I wanted and how I had roughly planned on how to implement it. He wasted no time and jumped in to help


IMG_8940 by digirat99, on Flickr


I gave Jon the job of cutting the pieces for the side protection and the corners. My Dad stopped briefly to help with me with the swingout tube


IMG_8954 by digirat99, on Flickr
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I had bought just the right amount of tube and there was a perfect full size section to do what I had wanted to originally for the side protection. I did just like I did with main section and had Jon cut in into two Ls.


IMG_8957 by digirat99, on Flickr


As you can see. It not only allows for plate for the under side protection but has the nice top beveled edge. Which makes it stronger and looks a hell of a lot better then straight plate.


IMG_8960 by digirat99, on Flickr
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Of course the bed sides aren't right angles, it slopes in. So to make ours bend in. We did a nice whiskey bend. Used the cutoff wheel to cut a line right in the crease of the tubing on the inside. While this usually works great with just a hamer and some wrenches, Jon and I could not for the life of us get it to move. Then I had the idea of putting in the press. Worked great!


IMG_8964 by digirat99, on Flickr
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Now that Jon had a good idea on what to do he went on to finish the two sides while I continuted to work on the swingout. One of the biggest annoyances I have with my Eliter is that the bumper can't handle the swingout when it is open. You can see the bumper flex a lot where the spindle is mounted and the whole passenger side flex. To help keep this from happening, I took 3 of the gussets that came with the Relentless kit and cut them down to stuff up into the bumper to help stop this.


IMG_8968 by digirat99, on Flickr
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Jon then needed help holding stuff as he had finished cutting out the pieces for the side protection. He did an awesome job.


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Jon got back to getting the driver side pieces cut. And I returned to the swing out. I had a bit of an issue as I had made the bumper super tight to the truck. The swingout was now out further then the bumper. So to make the latch work I needed something for the swingout to get clamped too.


After some thought and consultations with Jon and my Dad. Came up with this cool idea.


IMG_8982 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_8984 by digirat99, on Flickr


Then added a small leg to the swingout. This stopped to from ever hitting the tail gate as well. The lip on the mount held it from coming out without lifting the swingout just a touch so it would never swing wildly open.


Then the tire mount went on. Mike didn't want the tire super high. Which I agreed with. I often think many swingouts have the tires way too high. He loved how mine sat so we got roughly the same measurements off it for height and got busy. Jon came up with just notching some of the scrap .25''x2'' for the smaller 1.5'' tubing to sit in. Made it very easy to build this.


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Angled towards the truck to match the topper


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I used a double lock 2000lb rated latch too. Learned that the hard way with my own bumper.


Then we had a debate. Mike wanted the HiLift on the bumper and Jon was pretty set on doing it. After having my own bumper and using it and modifying my Dads, I just knew the weight would be way too much for the swingout with the single spindle. And it just wasn't fitting in well at all with the flow and design of the bumper. The jerry cans where in the way. So I finally was able to convince them to scrap the idea. Was better to keep the HiLift out of the elements anyways.


IMG_8999 by digirat99, on Flickr


So we moved on to the jerry cans. We repurposed a CBI dual can holder. For the price Mike got it, was hard to beat. Plus, saved us a lot of fab time. We raised the whole thing up to be out of the way of the departure angle.


IMG_9004 by digirat99, on Flickr


With the main stuff done, Jon burned it in as he is a much better welder then I am...i mean..come on. Have you seen his truck?? lol I did the grinding and buffing. Amidst all of this we added 3 bottom plates for underside protection and a support tube from the wings to the frame plates. Sorry for lack of photos


IMG_9005 by digirat99, on Flickr
IMG_9011 by digirat99, on Flickr


I also wanted to cap the ends of the wings cause it just looked like shit..and would make it a tad stronger. Turned out good. Ended up being even smaller though as they ended up being super tight to the truck and had to take into account body/frame flex.


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YAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! SPARKS!!!


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Looking like a bumper now!


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The spindle was out a ways and to make it look better, plus..gusset ..Jon found some scrap 1''x.125'' strap to put on the left side. Made it look much smoother.


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Added a small piece up top to make the corner look better. Also added another gusset to the spindle.


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The gussets did help. It still flexes a tiny bit, but not NEAR as much as mine.


Then we put on a second spring loaded pin latch to catch the bumper from swinging open and hold it at 90º.


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Here is the underside with the final bottom plates in


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Coming together!


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Then we painted it...well..Mike painted it while Jon and I took a break and discussed how to mount the light to the swingout.


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Which involved Jon getting super hammered once haha


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And when the bearing jussssttt doesn't want to go in..and falls out....after you've packed it with grease...awesome..


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because we settled on no HiLift jack, we put two supports under the jerry cans like I originally wanted.


IMG_9067 by digirat99, on Flickr


Then the table got added. Its jut a sheet of aluminum held on with bullet hinges. The hinges are welded to the swingout arm and then the other haft to a 3'' piece of 1/8'' strap. We used flat top allen head stainless bolts to bolt the aluminum to the steel. Cable holds it up when its open and some plastic handle nuts hold it up when its folded up.


The big light thats on the swing out is held in with hose clamps. Jon cut some random tubing we had that the mono pod fit into and attached them in a way to allow the hose clamp to go around the tube and the mono pod. Was quiet clever. The mono pod allows the light to go 65'' up to cast down light on the whole “kitchen” area easily. Its a 5'' led light and is something like 28w I believe. More then bright enough for this and casts a lovely flood pattern. Switch is right next to the light and I coated the switch with liquid electric tape to help keep it water sealed from the Seattle rush.


IMG_9150 by digirat99, on Flickr
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this shows the switch and how its mounted a bit.


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I also added a nice light/mount for the rear licese plate. This is 1''x1'' angle iron 1/8'' thick welded to a 3'' piece of 1/8'' strap. So it makes sort of box with the top open. Up inside it are two small LEDs and the lower section the plate mounts to it and that in turn mounts to the jerry can carrier.


IMG_9209 by digirat99, on Flickr
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All the wires run to here


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and are placed so that it just rolls nicely out of the way and down into the bumper when it closes.


IMG_9152 by digirat99, on Flickr


The lights in the bumper come on automatically when the truck gets put into reverse. The license plate lights turn on as stock as they get their power from the oem harness.


And the final product..one sexy bumper!


IMG_9106 by digirat99, on Flickr
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Over all. Was a fun project but took a ton of work. More then I thought it would.


NO I DO NOT PLAN ON MAKING MORE SO DON'T ASK! LOL!


Seriously though..i don't have any templates or measurements. Was all hand made in the moment type stuff. A true one of a kind! It was fun though and got me thinking about making bumpers for my other truck or my brothers 4runner. We will see what happens some day.


It did turn out awesome though and I can't wait to take lots of pictures of it on trips. It looks great, and I think it'll work just awesome too. All built will basic hand tools and a welder and plasma torch. Took us about 8 days of work straight to make not including the few days I spent on it before Jon got there.


Id say it was worth it though!

Total cost i think for parts and such was about a grand if you're curious. And again..a LOT of work. More then a weekend project anyways haha

 

As always Buddy, your work is outstanding and an excellent write up considering you had to rely on photos you did not take yourself.

I can hardly argue with the fact this this bumper is totally unique. Definitely one of a kind. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to you as well as Jon for all the effort that went into making this piece of art. Thank You.

 

Thanks mike! I am super glad it turned out as good as it did. Glad I'll get to see it through out the years too! Haha

You're most welcome buddy

 

Wow

 

Amazing write up, absolutely love the bumper!

 

It definitely attracts interest where ever I go. I always see guys craning the necks to check it out. Today, when I came out of the supermaket, there was a guy laying on his back looking closely at the redhead's privates.

I had some fun with that one.

 

Nice write up man! To much work for me but it came out great.

 

Its slick!

Thank you! It's turned out good

that is hilarious haha

Thanks man. Yea..was a lot of work. Makes the 1500 bucks seem worth it to me most shops charge.

 

Bumper looks great guys! It honestly looks better than the elite! It's nice to see how you guys mounted the CBI can carrier. Seeing that should help when I get a chance to mount mine up.

 

Nice write up Monte! The bumper is badass in person! You guys pumped out a masterpiece Mega Mike

 

Funny you say that, I told mike the same thing haha. I actually had to go examine Montes up close to see what was different.

 

Looks AWESOME!!!! Finally he gets one, its been a while

 

Well..it's after the elite..haha but I do agree..looks much better. I just built off what I didn't like about mine haha

Can't believe you haven't finished that still haha

Thanks man! I'm mega myself haha

It's little things..but they add up.

Thanks man! He is a lucky dude

Haha.....maybe..

 

Any particular reason you didn't go for a sleeved spindle?

 

What d you mean? Like a double shear you mean?

I don't like how with those it puts the swing out further out on the bumper and lower.

Other then that no. Double shear is stronger but I've have no problems with mine.

 

There are kits that have a sleeve that you weld to the bumper and then drop the main spindle in to. Like this:



By welding the sleeve and not the spindle, this preserves the heat treatment of the spindle and its fatigue life.

I'm not trying to imply that you did it wrong or that I think it will fail. I'm just interested in any thoughts either way.

 

I used that exact spindle it looks like, just didn't have the sleeve. Wouldn't you still have to weld it to the sleeve anyways??

But I have never seen that done really. Not don't on mine or my dads or any other that I had seen so guess I just didn't know about it. Probably still wouldn't have used it though just cause it seems unnecessary to me.

 

Even if you weld the end of the spindle to the sleeve, the heat affected zone is going to be far from the highly stressed area on the spindle. It definitely takes up more room but I feel that its worth it.

The cyclic stresses are the concern.. which is also why I want to come up with a latching mechanism that offers some torsional support to the swingout arm. My biggest fear with this is having the whole thing fall off on the highway 5 years later.

 

Haha I doubt that would happen. Mine isn't held in with much at all and is doing just fine. It's doing great with my 35" tire and Jerry can and me driving it crazy haha

But go for it man! That's the beauty of doing your own stuff

See. You never post pictures of anything you do so no one knows this stuff...lol

But interesting. I guess I though it was just a sleeve it could slip in and out of even after it was welded.