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Be nice guys its my first attempt. I got the courage from CF so I am hoping to return the favor and hopefully inspire some one else. I did the best I could at taking pics along the way.
Steel was around 200, I needed other stuff like cutoff wheels, magnetic square, bedliner, funny shaped vise grips and other random stuff like D rings and what not.
I will say I made my first long cut with a 3" die grinder, then sat down to order a plasma cutter. Being its something I already wanted and has/will be used for many other projects. For guys thinking about going this route, I learned It is not an easy task to cut a perfect edge with a plasma cutter. For precise cuts it was much easier to use a cut off wheel.
Im just going to make a picture story the best I can.
I went with the Al's bed liner and had a local shop spray it for me. They only wanted like 80 bucks. Way better than the mess being in my garage.
This was a very heavy water soaked half burried log! Figured it was a decent test for the d rings.
Thanks guys. Im trying to get my thoughts wrapped around how I would like to do the rear. I tow my drift boat quite a bit so I almost need to plan the swing out with the boat hooked up. (drift boats have a real high forward sweeping bow)
About the paint not matching the sliders, They just have some napa undercoating stuff on them. I figured that would be easier to touch up than the Al's. I was not happy with how fast the napa stuff faded but those sliders have impressed me and saved my doors a few times since the above pics!!
Bumper looks like it turned out really well. I may have to copy the design if I ever get around to building mine, do you remember how much steel you ordered? Is the whole thing 3/16? Did you take/remember any measurements?
Use a guide when using the plasma cuter. Like use a straight piece of metal next to ur cut to run the plasma cutter along. Makes for very nice clean cuts. Also the front bumper looks great, nicely done sir!!!
I did grab a few pieces of aluminum angle to clamp down and try to use as a guide, while it was better I just came to the conclusion I dont have that steady of a hand. In addition I didnt go out and buy a top notch cutter, I did some research and ordered one off of fleabay. Maybe my research led me astray. haha I dont know I may do the JRC for the rear.
As for plans or dimensions, yeah sorry I didnt even go into it with a plan! lol. I just had a decent idea of what I wanted it to look like when it was done and tried for that. I encourage others to take the leap of faith and go for it. I wish I would have done it sooner once I got done. I would say start with some scrap stuff and practice building little stuff that really helped me.
Thanks for the kind words guys. Now I just need to decide on how to do the rear.
Have you seen the new JRC bumpers? They all now have holes in them for the built in lights. Not that I mind but those lights are an extra $150 which kind of sucks. I personally like the older versions of the bumpers that had the option if you wanted the lights or not. But oh well, still plan on getting both the front and rear from them. They also will give you a discount code if you email them and ask for one
I was having the same thoughts about my plasma cutter - there was always a bunch of slag on the back side of the cut I was grinding off. It was a PITA. Then one day I went at it with a chipping hammer and it came right off. Leaving a really clean cut. Using a guide is key...and I find wood works pretty good. Its not conductive, and my plasma cutter tends to stick when using metal as a guide. And you have to practice moving your hand smoothly and at a consistent speed. No twitchin'.
03-02-2015, 09:41 PM
Ok finally decided to post my front bumper build
