I measured the steel that I cut out of the frame and headed to my local metal store. They had the exact steel for the frame rails, but they would have had to fabricate the cross member. That would have cost around $150 for the labor alone. I made an executive decision to use the same material for the cross member that I'm using for the frame rails. It'll weight a little bit more, but it'll work.
I'm boxing the ends of the frame rail that will be visible behind the bumper. That's how Wally did it. One change I will be making is to weld some captive nuts inside this cavity that the bumper will bolt to. That way I can remove the bumper if it gets damaged without having to grind off welds. Another thing I'm considering is to use a late model aluminum bumper instead of the
heavy stock steel one. That should offset the added weight I put in there with the beefier crossmember. If I do use the newer bumper, I'll have to shorten it to make it fit.
That's better. I had to get to work by 6:00pm tonight, so I've still got some welding to do and lots of sanding of welds. I made sure I had time to put my tools away and snap some pictures for the blog before I had to leave.
Oof. That bumper definately needs work. Anybody have a spare aluminum bumper laying around that they'd like to donate to the cause?
I measured the steel that I cut out of the frame and headed to my local metal store. They had the exact steel for the frame rails, but they would have had to fabricate the cross member. That would have cost around $150 for the labor alone. I made an executive decision to use the same material for the cross member that I'm using for the frame rails. It'll weight a little bit more, but it'll work.
I'm boxing the ends of the frame rail that will be visible behind the bumper. That's how Wally did it. One change I will be making is to weld some captive nuts inside this cavity that the bumper will bolt to. That way I can remove the bumper if it gets damaged without having to grind off welds. Another thing I'm considering is to use a late model aluminum bumper instead of the heavy stock steel one. That should offset the added weight I put in there with the beefier crossmember. If I do use the newer bumper, I'll have to shorten it to make it fit.
That's better. I had to get to work by 6:00pm tonight, so I've still got some welding to do and lots of sanding of welds. I made sure I had time to put my tools away and snap some pictures for the blog before I had to leave.
Oof. That bumper definately needs work. Anybody have a spare aluminum bumper laying around that they'd like to donate to the cause?
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