Google SketchUp Thread

Hey guys I was gonna start designing a rear bumper but had a question before I starrted. I'm looking to just make a simple bolt on replacement, much like all the others on here, but with a few unique features.

My question:
Can I make a custom bumper work with my receiver hitch? I really do not want to put a hitch straight to a bumper, because that will lower my towing capacity a ways. Can I make it work with a full receiver hitch setup?

 

Not so worried about clearance issues, since I want to keep my full hitch, just for looks and armor.

 

you can put a hitch in a plate steel or tube bumper not a problem.

 

I'm gonna check it all out in the morning and see what can be done. Just figured I would ask first.

 

Designing a bed rack. not finished with it though

 

Does that slide out for a bed tent or something?

 

Sub'd. Will toy around with this and see what I can come up with.

 

yeah it slides out (or bolts on to the side) for a tent

 

i used it in college a lot, i sort of re-taught myself this past year how to use it. i use it at work now when a client requests it. i'm still not that great at it, i have a friend i went to school with that is ridiculous with it. I'll see if i have any of the stuff i did on my hard drive.

 

Thats cool. I'm thinking of making a rack like that, minus the part for the tent on the side, that can hold a basket on top and hilift and shovel on the sides

 

awesome. do you have any designs yet?

 

I will be designing it tomorrow probably. Not sure if it will sit full height like a cap, or just several inches above the bed. I want to be able to mount a hilift on one side and shovel/axe on the other.

Will probably be made of tubing, and hold a spare tire somehow.

 

I use sketch up alot to fool around, I have trouble making tubing in it for some reason.

 

I have problems with it sometimes too. Make sure it has a place to start and end otherwise it will get all screwy

 

This. If you don't have a start and end point it just gets crazy. I have been having a ton of trouble trying to get a bed rack designed.

 

start with a rectangle then place the start and finish locations of the tube.
use a circle.

Then make a path to follow with a line from circle A to circle B.

THEN delete circle B so just the line remains.

Then use the follow me tool and drag circle A to the end of the line.

if you go into view then face style select x-ray. you can use the lines inside of the tube to make them intersect and be even.

 

Wow! glad i saw this thread.. been recently working on a roof basket and bed rack combo recently. Its a cross between the Body armor 4x4 sport rack thing, and B.A.M.F.'s awesome bed rack (hope you dont mind jerry!). I love the look of the sport rack, but quite honestly it seems pretty useless the way it is mounted. It attaches to the bed bolts towards the cab, but then the rest of the support goes into the bed rails. Doesnt seem very sturdy. So i wanted to combine the two, as well as (which isn't in the sketch up) attaching to the roof rack mounting holes.
However, i'm torn. the pic is of the first one i designed, but then i though that i would love if the bed rack was the same height as the basket, and the basket ran from over the cab all the way to the back of the bed. So im currently working on modifying the design to show that. So here's the first rack i made! Please, let me know what you think

 

Looks pretty good

I don't know what your plans are but a RTT wouldn't fit on there due to the bar orientation, either way keep up the good work

 

Been trying to figure out how to get into xray view forever. Thanks! And I'll have to try the way you mentioned for making tubing. I think I have been doing it slightly different and most of the time it just comes out weird.

 

Looks good! I may have missed it in reading your post but do you plan on mounting lights anywhere?