Nice project....its coming along!

 

Thanks bro. I figured I really ought to take advantage of all this expensive equipment while it's at my disposal.

Thanks, I'm way out of practice with MIG but it's coming back. No I didn't want to cut the grille, so yes it does and will stick out a bit, maybe 5" more than stock. However, the bumper is slightly higher than stock as well. I should still be able to take a 2' step just fine, I'll have 24" under the center of the bumper and about 27" under the wings.

I do intend to have it powdercoated when I'm done, I'm torn between flat black and gunmetal gray.

 

More updates!

Cut these top pieces with the CNC plasma table and bent them on the brake. They are just resting in place on this first pic.



Check out those welds!



Front view:



Top view:



I still have to work on the bottom, sides, and brush guard.

 

real SWEET !! ......any plans on going into production ?

 

Thats real nice....And clean lines...

 

Thanks for the compliments, guys. I'd love to go into production with this design, I've definitely come up with a few refinements from putting this first one together. The problem is I won't likely have time to build another one before I graduate, and it will be at least few years before I can afford my own machinery and a shop to put it in.

This could conceivably be built with a handheld plasma cutter (or oxyfuel torch) and MIG welder, but the press brake, shear, and CNC plasma table have proved nearly indispensable.

Updates to come momentarily...

 

Installed the main bottom pieces:



Next came the side pieces and small bottom pieces:



So far, I have only ground down the welds that I felt interfered with the lines of the bumper. I'd like to make it look like the entire front was bent on a brake, which would have been elegant but not efficient with materials.



A little more grinding:



The main top and bottom welds came out nice so I may leave them raw when I take it in for powdercoating, what do you think? They also will be a bit stronger in the event of a crash that way.



I still need to add some small braces to the back to transfer energy from the thin bottom cord to the stronger top cord (again considering impact dynamics). Then I will build the brush guard. I am still torn between weld-on and bolt-on, but am leaning toward weld-on so I don't have two pieces rubbing together and destroying the finish.

 

Are you telling us you can make 5 of these during Spring Break?!

Come on, the first one is the hardest.

 

When are you going to come up here and make mine...???

 

Well it sounds like I already have two orders!

In all honesty, if I had nothing else going on I could probably build one or two of these over spring break. But as it stands I'm trying to graduate, find a job, restore my Nissan, and build a show car stereo in a customer's Corvette. So there will be little to no spare time over spring break this year. I will of course entertain ideas of doing fab work on the side in the future though.

Chris-bob, I'll come up there and build you one when you cover the cost of a road trip to Alaska in my Rover, plus metal and equipment for me to fab with, and plenty of pizza to keep me going. Just think how much you'll save on shipping costs!

In all seriousness, I'm excited about how this is coming out. I decided for sure that I will build a deer slayer/brush guard/roo bar/stinger while I'm at it, so I went ahead and ordered a stick of 2" OD 1/8" wall steel tubing. Here are some pictures of my current design, let me know what you think.

I think the slight forward slant should help push the deer and elk under the truck, without looking too goofy. I don't want the full-on stinger look, those have always seemed bizarre to me. I also would really like the design to work with the lines of the bumper and the truck.

Here's a front view:



Side view:



And top view:



I'll start that on Friday, any input in the meantime would be good.