96-04 Elite Off Road Plate bumper

right now people from canada are just having it shipped to the closest fastenal on by the border and coming across to get it. i'll talk to the guy at fastenal on monday to see if he figured out anything else

 

Installed the bumper last night! Looks great. Still need to wire up the winch and spool the rope on, but the bumper is fully painted and attached. I did modify it to add a 2" receiver - breaks the clean lines a bit, but I move enough trailers around to warrant a front receiver point. I used a 12" receiver tube, with about 2.5" cut off. It is welded front and back, and rosette welded through two holes cut in the bottom of the winch mounting plate.

Here are the bumper mount points - it ties in using the front threaded hole, two directly below it (not visible here), and the two on the outboard side of the frame, for 10 total mounting points! I added another weld bead to reinforce the threaded insert in the frame. People who do heavy winching should cut that insert out, and add a new one made out of much heavier material (1/4" angle iron slid into the frame and rosette welded is popular).


Test fitting the bumper - currently attached with only the main front mounts. I lined up the other mounts (left unwelded on mine by request), bolted them in place, then tack welded while the bumper was on the truck. Perfect alignment. The jack is slightly tweaking the alignment while I tighten everything up. It is really hard to get a socket into those holes for the main mount positions! I did install the bumper myself, with the help of the jack and some quick bolting, but two people would certainly make it easier.


As you can see, the fit is perfect! Of course, my truck has taken a few hits before, so IT isn't perfectly straight.


The backside of the bumper, with mounts welded in place.


The final fit, with winch mounted, and fairlead attached. Looks great! I painted with Rustoleum Hammered, which I'm about 70% satisfied with. The black isn't as black as I hoped it would be. Also, when brushed on it is very hard to maintain an even thickness. ALSO, it is darker colored out of the spray can than out of the quart can. Sigh. I'm really just being picky, it looks good, and is durable. I'll repaint after I bash it up a bunch.


Side view of the finished bumper. The light hoop is in exactly the right place - it sticks out about .5" farther than anything else, and you can just see it sticking out over the hood while driving - any higher an it would be annoying, but as it is, it makes it easy to park without bashing stuff with the new, longer front of the truck.


-Sam

 

Nice job Sam. Your a better man than me. Took two of us with the winch in there and another set of hands would've made it even better.

Looks really, really good! Nice write up too. Tim does does GREAT work doesn't he!

 

God I want one so bad... Do you have any pics of the full grille guard version? Also would shipping to alaska be ridiculous? =/

 

probably be 150 and i'm working on the 1st full grill guard right now on stillar's bumper

 

damn good job man! and i cant thank you enough for that write up, i never expected that from anyone but ya thanks a lot! and it looks awesome!

Thanks! i does does a lot of work haha

 

Alright cool lookin forward to it... Wish I was still in washington

 

it'll be completely finished tomorrow so check back tomorrow night for photos

 

Fixed it!
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oh haha i does does GREAT work lol

 

most of the time

 

lol

 

Got the first full grille guard done today turned out pretty sweet if you ask me. here it is when i tacked it together on the truck last night.

 

Are you still building these? How long does it take to build? Are you backed up?

Thanks!!!

 

yep still building and if you ordered now you would probably get it within a month

 

Well you still be taking orders around christmas/new years time? I probably won't have the money to order till then.

 

yep i'll still be doing it. send me a PM and i'll send you my contact information and you can call me when your ready

 

gonna post some more pictures of the full wrap grille guard in a second!