1988 4Runner Winch bumper opinions

[Robinhood4x4]

I like the sheet metal ones better, too, but once you start doing the calculations you find that tube is lighter and easier to design for the stresses. Filling in the gaps was an idea I had as well, but I couldn't figure out if it would look good or not.

You might find that once you weld up the winch cradle, the gap will close up a little and squeeze the hitch tube, making it hard to put in and take out. I used some card stock on either side of the hitch so I would have a proper gap, but that wasn't enough. However, at this point, I don't remember if I had the winch tube and card stock in the cradle as I welded or not. I had to do a lot of grinding and filing to get the hitch tube to fit again.

If I were you, I'd keep all the tubes the same size, or at least bigger than 1". Personally, I think 1" tube looks funny on a bumper. Looks too amateurish.

[corax]

I was going to use the expanded sheet metal (mesh stuff) as something for the fiberglass to adhere to and sandwich around as well as the general form - that way even if it cracks or gets hit, it won't fall off or dump contents. My issue with welding sheet metal in there is that I've seen how metal can warp sometimes and get all wavy when.

Steve, thanks for the tip about the receiver cradle. I used a pair of old burned up Sawzall blades when I originally tacked it all together. I guess I'll leave them in there along with the receiver tube itself when I stitch weld it all together. The 1" tubes would have only been the upper ones on the fiberglass model - the forward lower and far lower tubes I planned on 1.5" since those be the one that take the brunt of any impact

[Robinhood4x4]

Oh I understand that about the tubes, but I still think it'll look odd. You've got these bit beefy tubes and then these little sticks...just doesn't look right.

[04 Rocko Taco]

My front bumper is 1.75" Which I think looks really amateurish. I think it looks to big. The bracing on my stinger is 1" which looks better.

I would build the bumper from 1.5" and then use 1" sparingly for any braces, like the ones on my stinger.

[corax]

I'm pretty sure I'm going with the tube design using 1.5" HREW schedule 40. The only snag is that my HF pipe bender is at the front of my trailer on the floor . . . the trailer's currently packed up to about eye level, so there's literally half a ton of crap that needs to get moved out to liberate the bender for about an hour's worth of work. I'd love to find someone local that's willing to bend the tube for me without having to specify the angles of the different bends - in other words, bend a bit, hold it up to the truck, bend a bit more, etc.

So I finished up the center section of my bumper. I decided to angle the inner gussets to help with any side loads I might generate. Luckily, the receiver cradle only tightened up about 1/32" after I was done welding so there was minimal grinding needed (only at the front by the main plate.

[Robinhood4x4]

Looks good.

I hear you on the tube bending. It's so much nicer when you have the tools right there and you can "guess and check".

[corax]

I found a guy on Portland Craigslist advertising that he could bend tube. So I sent him an email asking for an estimate based on my google sketchup photo. He came back with $350-$400 for 10 bends and approx 20' of tube . . . I could buy prebuilt tube bumper for that. Looks like I'll be spending a day digging the bender out of the trailer. So far I'm only $50 into this, with the tube I'm hoping to be right around $100 give or take a bit.

[corax]

So how's this look for a headlight guard model? The main tubes off the winch plate are going to be 1.5" sch 40 pipe which is 1.9" OD. The guards will be smaller 1" sch 40 with an OD of 1.3" The angle back on them should work to lift branches and I don't think I'll regret not having a higher center hoop that way. I'll probably match the overall height of the guards with the front edge of the hood - in sketchup, they look a bit too tall.

(please note the scale and centering is a bit off because the bumper isn't actually "attached" to the truck in google sketchup, just kinda hovering in front of it)

[Robinhood4x4]

Yeah, the hoops do seem to be a little too tall and I'm not diggin' the lack of a center bar. Are the hoop corners actually going to be bent 90 deg or are they going to be cut and welded like in the picture? Usually bent and cut doesn't look professional.

[corax]

The headlight guards will be bent, just haven't figured out curved lines on sketchup yet (still also getting bitten by drawing on the incorrect axis and having to move stuff around till it looks right). I think the goofy effect of not having a a bigger center hoop will be diminished a bit with lower headlight guards - maybe I'll try to redraw it tonight if I have time