Gents,
I just happened to talk w/ Kryptoroxx one day and started talking about trucks and all. Told him I was looking at bumpers and he clued me into this little outfit that he patronizes named True North Fabrications. I was instantly sold on their philosophy of DIY weld your own bumpers. Many years ago, I said that the company who can do this right will win the bumper wars (sorta). I know, not everyone has or has access to a 240v welder, but if you do you are in great shape.
So today I received a single box weighing 141lbs, according to the writing on the box itself. I took work off a little early because, well, it was like Christmas in October. I drug it into the garage, went to dinner, took care of some honey-do's and then I opened the box.
All metal pieces and parts bags were fairly neatly wrapped. While I had no intention of welding, I wanted to touch and see the metal to get a sense of the quality. Some pieces are thicker than others, but all are professionally cut. The company designed the pieces to fit into each other with a series of tabs and female holes in others so they can join and be welded together. Unfortunately TNF does not have any videos online, but I did see a competitor's *front* bumper in two YT videos that gives me an idea of the level of expertise and effort it takes.
Of all the designs out there that are DIY weldable, this one caught my eye because the lines are much like the venerable BruceTS bumper that started this craze.
This will be a very sloooooow build because of two reasons: 1) I barely have Ar/C02 gas left (under 500psi). Maybe enough to tack weld most of it, 2) I come home later at night and I'm freakin' tired (getting older lol). Oh and 3) the cheapest place for gas out here is only M-F from 8-5 and I take the miserable BART into the city to work. And no, I'm not going to f@#$g Airgas. Thieves, all of them!
So tomorrow is inventory day. No packing slip, so this step is important.
On another note, the owner of TNF put on the company's Instagram page that he's sold the business to [url=https://www.srqfabrications.com/]SRQ Fabrications[url].