Tundra bumper start

[koditten]

Here is a view from the back. Almost didn't want to post it for fear that I would be opening up another can of worms

I had to add some thin angle steel anong both the top and the bottom of the horizontal vent. When I removed that section of sheet steel the whole section warped. Took 6 c-clamps to bring it back to flat. Welded the sheet steel to the angle steel and all ended up nice and flat. This way I have anice flat suface to mount my "gone fishin'" or some other tacky liscence plate.

[koditten]

I have made a rolled edge along the top and edge of the bumper, for some reason I didn't take a picture of that. Maybe you will be able to see it when I get further along with these pics.

Kirk

[koditten]

Here are some pics of the bumper back on the truck.

I need to bend some pipe to make my off road lighting bar. Going to wait until I get the lights. This way if I only go with 2 lights, I can bend a tube that will look more uniform. If I go with more lights I'll make a longer bar.

I think the D-rings are history. My bumper allows the use of the facory tow loops, and they are huge! There is no way I could fab something that would even be close as strong.

Hopefully I can get some primer on it Friday. This concludes tonights pictorial. I hope I was able to get my points across.

Later

KIrk

[e-tek]

Originally Posted by IndyGarage

Don't write off what Kartracer says so quickly. He's 100% right.

When you replace the front bumper of a vehicle, or even add a brush guard, you are interfering with carefully engineered safety systems - which you paid a bunch of money for, and might have to save yours or your passengers lives someday.

Do you know the difference between a crash implulse of a 10 mph parking lot fender bender and a 30mph head on looks like? I bet you could spot the difference if I showed them to you. However I bet you couldn't see a bit of difference if I showed you the first 15 milliseconds - which is when the computer needs to decide to blow the airbags or not.


When you alter the front of the vehicle, you alter that first 15 milliseconds significantly.

Your choice, of course, but you ought to at least be aware of the chance you are taking.

Originally Posted by IndyGarage

Please take this as educated advice - not arguing. You have made your choice and it is yours to make - others looking at this thread may not understand the facts.

It looked like lotsoftools was blowing this off as insignificant, which it is not.

Traffic deaths in the United States have dropped in half since airbags were implemented in vehicles starting in the early 90's. While the number of drivers, vehicles, miles and speed limits have all gone up. The fact is they work - and yes, I know there are other factors in that figure too - but the death rate didn't go down until airbags were common.

By altering your vehicle you may be doubling or tripling your chance of dying in an accident. Now tripling a small chance makes it still small - but not zero.

This is one aspect of your life that you do have a choice over - I agree there are many you don't.

Originally Posted by IndyGarage

Most cars only use the accelerometer - which is often located under the passenger seat.

However, larger vehicles and work vehicles often use a supplementary electronic "crush switch" or accelerometer on the front, because they are subject to unusual jolts from trailers and such.

As I recall the Tundra does have one of those behind the middle section of the bumper - offset slightly to the driver's side.

When there is a supplementary, the computer compares the crash impulse from the accelerometer to the switch sensor and when both register in the right sequence and timing - the airbags are deployed.

A homemade or aftermarket bumper will most definitely alter the timing of the crush of the front of the vehicle. The homemade bumper above looks considerably stronger than the OEM bumper - assuming it is - that will delay the signal coming from the supplementary switch. It's possible that it would still work, or it's possible that it wouldn't. It's possible it would still work in a low speed crash, but not a high speed one or vice versa.

The only way to test it would be to crash the vehicle to find out.

The thing that is hard to understand is that it's very, very difficult to figure out if a vehicle is crashing into something within 15 milliseconds. You have to be able to determine if you're hitting something hard, or just bumping it. You have to determine if the vehicle is rolling over or crashing forward, or getting T-boned. You have to weed out other issues - a chain drawing taught on one of the tow hooks, something dropping into the bed, or shifting in the bed, a mechanic hammering on the frame of the vehicle or the seat track, towing a heavy trailer, which can cause all kinds of bumps and jolts.

And all that has to be determined in the first 15/1000 of a second, in order to get the airbags deployed soon enough.

Ford did a study a couple years ago on an F150 and concluded that some aftermarket bumpers would work and some wouldn't - but it was written off for two reasons - first it was an engineering study; they did computer simulations, but they didn't go out and crash trucks, which is very expensive, and second folks said it was just Ford trying to get you to buy their OEM parts. I know personally that their simulations are pretty darn good and the engineers really weren't worried about their parts business, but that was the criticism anyway.

I've not looked, but I'd be surprised if the aftermarket companies don't warn you that you install their equipment at your own risk. If you look at the vehicle owners manual it also will tell you that your safety system warranty and liability are all void if you alter the vehicle.

It's your choice to change your vehicle. Just like it's your choice to smoke or not, or to ride a motorcycle or not, or do base jumping or not - all of those alter your chances of dying prematurely - some more than others. I'm not your mother.

What I am is a guy that knows what he's talking about on this topic, and giving you the opportunity to take those risks with full knowledge rather than ignorance - which some in this thread seem to possess.

OMG IndyRacer (or is that IndySafetyOfficer?) - don't you have ANYTHING better to do? No one gives 2 shyts about what you think is a safety hazard or not. I've been on this site a long while and every once in a while (less lately thank God) a do-gooder-know-it-all-safety-clerk comes along and tells everyone how they shouldn't do this and that because the sky will fall.

NEWS FLASH EINSTEIN - THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

Now that I've got that out of my system (again!).....what about the 1000's of custom bumpers sold every day in the US. What about the 100's of user-customized ones? What about raised and lowered vehicles and Rat Rods and Motorcycles for that matter? Think they care - or anyone cares (besides you) that their bumpers - or lack thereof - are gonna cause massive vehicular carnage? Nyet.

Maybe you'd have more support if you joined the very popular site: "Theskyisfalling.com". Unfortunately the handle "SafetySam" is taken, but maybe "Mindyourownbiz" is available.

Sorry - I just can't be as accomodating as some here. My hat is off to the OP and GIAG.

[IndyGarage]

Originally Posted by e-tek

OMG IndyRacer (or is that IndySafetyOfficer?) - don't you have ANYTHING better to do? No one gives 2 shyts about what you think is a safety hazard or not. I've been on this site a long while and every once in a while (less lately thank God) a do-gooder-know-it-all-safety-clerk comes along and tells everyone how they shouldn't do this and that because the sky will fall.

NEWS FLASH EINSTEIN - THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

Now that I've got that out of my system (again!).....what about the 1000's of custom bumpers sold every day in the US. What about the 100's of user-customized ones? What about raised and lowered vehicles and Rat Rods and Motorcycles for that matter? Think they care - or anyone cares (besides you) that their bumpers - or lack thereof - are gonna cause massive vehicular carnage? Nyet.

Maybe you'd have more support if you joined the very popular site: "Theskyisfalling.com". Unfortunately the handle "SafetySam" is taken, but maybe "Mindyourownbiz" is available.

Sorry - I just can't be as accomodating as some here. My hat is off to the OP and GIAG.

Obviously my efforts are unappreciated by those who would rather stick their head in the sand about how the world works rather than understand it.

Sorry it didn't work for you...

[Bruce4310TX]

Wow this is really starting to look great, Have you thought about powder coating it holds up much better than paint. This is also on my list for my F-150 Keep the pics coming.

[racingtadpole]

Nice bumper mate. Looks very close to newer ARB ones, Im liking it a lot. The lines you've chosen blend very well and fit with the front of the car nicely (ive built a couple of these things before, and I reckon half the battle is getting it to look right). It'll look sensational once you get some colour on it and get some lights in it. I actually dont think it would look over the top if you chromed it.

Watching with interest and looking forward to seeing the end result.

[blue95glide]

Nice bumper, like the side profile too. Like girlnagarage said, 90lbs is not bad weightwise. I've got a ranchhand bumper from my friend's 05 Dodge sitting here at the shop and the weight is pretty substantial. Great to see anytime someone picks up the tools and creates something interesting. keep up the good work and keep the details coming. Jim

[blue dog]

You may want to ad some bracing from the outer sides towards the center, this will keep the bumper from crushing in on your tires in a impact or upon meeting a deer in a not so friendly way. As well, make sure there is plenty of clearance to all the coolers up front, i have seen some after market bumpers that are 3/4 " away from the coolers, you do not want to pay the bill on replacing the ac/trans/power steering coolers and radiator, Big $$$$.
While you are at it, i would add a receiver in the front and make sure you are not blocking airflow to the coolers as well.
Powdercoat i assume.

[koditten]

Thanks much for the honest opinions.

Bracing on the "wings"- You can't see it, because I am a shitty photographer. With the flanges, boxing or whatevery you want to call it. The wings are plenty strong. Much more durable than factory. There, again, this is one of those things you can only "test" by crashing it.

By the way, I got the best compliment of all this morning. My wife looked out the window and said "the bumper is really looking nice."

Thanks, again

Kirk

Cooling air access-I can only hope I have enough surface area. I compared to factory area and I am very close to that. The vent is 50 square inches. I run a scan gaugeII, and will be looking very close at operating temperatures. I hope I don't have to come back and cut another vent. If I do, so what, I got the tools and I get to play with them. Thats a win/win situation for me.

Painting- I would powder coat, after all that is what the aftermarket units are using, if had an oven big enough to cook it in. I also discounted the powder coating for a second reason, Powder coating doesn't hold up round here with all the road salt. I've noticed other people with aftermarket bumpers, and they all look like shit after a couple of years. I am pretty sure I am going to try out truck bed coating. I've looked into this and the "spray on" types are super durable, and I can spray it myself.

[GirlnAgarage]

Kirk, it's really coming together

A suggestion to consider before finishing, how about expanded metal over the fogs and slot? Would protect the lights from rocks and debris. Would also add a little texture detail.

Also, before you wrap it up, do you have any plugs or connections that will becoming out the front of the truck? If so, get those cut in too. so you don't have to go back later and mess up the finish.

Ok, just tossing last second ideas Keep it coming

[koditten]

I gave this some thought, but wasn't sure if the expanded steel would block any of the light output. Any body want to comment. I have lots of exp. Fe.

Kirk

[venturesomerite]

Bumper is looking good, I always wanted to build one for my truck.


BTW, that bolt and grinder disk trick for the plasma is great! I'm using that one!

[koditten]

Knock yourself out. It's about time I was able to give something back to this site.

[GirlnAgarage]

Originally Posted by koditten

I gave this some thought, but wasn't sure if the expanded steel would block any of the light output. Any body want to comment. I have lots of exp. Fe.

Kirk

I don't think you'd lose much light (though you will lose a little, the solids is a physical barrier after all). Hold up a piece of e.m. to your current fogs and flip them on. You'd get some idea just how much. What size are the lens? Possible to use a higher watt replacement bulb if it's not as bright?

My truck uses a couple strips across the fogs. Protects against at least a boot kickin' in my lights.




Also here is the bracket holding the fogs. Just an 'L' welded on and mounting to the stock holes of the fog.

[rocklobster]

Hey that bumper is awesome, and a sweet truck too!!! Nice fab work, and thanks for the ideas!

[rocklobster]

Originally Posted by koditten

I gave this some thought, but wasn't sure if the expanded steel would block any of the light output. Any body want to comment. I have lots of exp. Fe.

Kirk

What about plexi glass, but heat may be an issue while sitting still.

[ford.crazy]

Just a suggestion for the finish, if your not going to powder coat it. I painted my car trailer about 10 years ago, with metal etching primer and farm implement paint(satin black). It's held up pretty well and the road salt here in eastern P.A. Hasn’t ate the paint yet. The plus about implement paint is it's cheaper then powder coating or automotive paint and it's cheaper to buy for touch ups down the road.

For the light guards, I think expanded steel would look good.

Keep the pictures coming, the bumper looks great.

[koditten]

I tossed in some exp. Fe this morning, I like it.

[GN4WHLN]

Hey, the bumper is looking awesome, I can't wait to see the finished product! I was wondering one thing though, shouldn't your holes for the lights on either side have been cut as an ellipse with the light aiming straight? Maybe they are and I can't tell from the picture?