RBX

Front bumper has been started.

Start

87hoerunner

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rustED

iTrader: (2)

Wow, cool bumper design! I saw your drawings of it earlier, nice job. Did you cut out all the pieces, or pay someone else to do it? I've been wanting to build one myself, especially after seeing how well Redeth's front and rear plate bumpers turned out, Really looking forward to seeing yours come together, I hope you take lots of pics!

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

Whoa Im getting anxiety just looking at that picture. Hahahaha. So many pieces... Its going to look great when you are done.

rattlewagon

Talk about a puzzle! Cant wait to see it together

RBX

Thanks guys, I started tacking the wings and center together but no pics yet.

I did some work for a friend of mine and in return he gave me material and time on the torchmate to cut out all those pieces. Center section is all 1/4" wings and out ER ends are 3/16". I'm hoping its strong enough with all the cutouts, guess I can always add steel.

kornhuskerwizard

It reminds me of that little puzzle box off of hellraiser. cool. cant wait to see it come to life

RBX

It's not such a bad puzzle, almost every piece has a tab and slot association. So I just need a right angle magnet to start fitting.

Teaser:


Currently the whole bumper is fairly light weight, but the winch weighs around 80lbs and hasn't been added yet.

kornhuskerwizard

That is very interesting. you think up that design yourself?I like the x gussets inside.

RBX

Yes it's my design. I'm hoping its overbuilt, but fear the center section may need some gussets, but I'll have wait till I do some test pulls.

Gizler00

iTrader: (1)

Pretty cool. I also like how you reinforced everything. Cant wait to see it all together and on the rig.

rustED

iTrader: (2)

Nice work so far, you've really put a lot of thought into your design! I like those X gussets, should be plenty strong and shave off some additional weight too. Can't wait to see some more pics!

RBX

I have a short list of things to do on the rig this weekend so she can get on the road and get a proper shakedown, temps should be in the low 40°s!!!
The winch bumper will get more attention as time permits, should be able to get a few more pics of the progress.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Great to hear! I look forward to seeing the "Next"!

RBX

took her out for a spin. Need to get an alignment, but I got it close(or so I think).
the front end is very predictable and doesn't shimmy when hitting bumps at speed like my brothers 98 Disco(solid front axle) nor does it want to pull in a certain direction when it hits a bump on one side and not the other. I don't trailer my rig, so road manners are very important to me.
The rear leafs on the other hand, now feel mushy. They probably were like this before the SAS but my IFS was in sad shape, making the rear feel much better in comparison.

now I have to save up and figure out how I'm gonna 4-Link the rear(fuel tank location).

So, the front feels great, the rear, not so much.

celica22rte

how long did it take you to put in all that dynomat? did it make a big differnece?

JBurt

Congratulations! how did it feel to be back behind the wheel? I'm glad you didn't ruin into any issues/death wobble once you took it out for a shake down.

What about a zuk mod to hold you over till you get to the rear suspension?

RBX

I don't recall how long. Long enough to remove the entire interior and clean all the metal surface with acetone and denatured alchohol. It was a couple years ago. I didn't use dyno mat cuz that would be $$$$. I used roofing butle and air duct rap from HD.

RBX

Yes feels good. Wheels seem to balance well also at speed, got it up to 70mph, but have to break in the gears before I do any prolonged hwy runs.
I also installed a bilstien 5100 stabilizer ment for an F250 to avoid any death wobble.

CamTom12

Good deal! Also curious if you'll ZUK mod to hold out until you figure out the rear suspension...