I think a clue would be what kind of project your workshop is building out of that stuff.

 

ill be using 3/16 for mine.. depends on what you wanna do w/ it

 

I built my sliders out of 1/8" wall and they have held up fine so far. Ive dropped onto concrete and rocks pretty hard a few times and the seem unfazed.

 

yeah .188 wall works well along with cheaper and lighter. .250wall is overkill.

1/8th is fine for a bumper.

so if you can pile up on it I would like some. 2x2 and 2x3 comes in handy for alot of stuff.

 

Except for the center section, where the winch will be mounted, my next bumper will be 1/8"

 

1/8" is plenty strong. I wouldnt stretch is more then 4 feet, if you plan on pulling from it, hitting stuff...like shopping carts:chili:

 

I would not use anything less than 1/4" for towing purposes

 

true, but it a lot of it depends on the design. would you rather tow from a straight 1/4" tube, or a well thought out, well gussetted 1/8" tube bumper...

 

I'm using a straight 1/4" tube right now, and the answer is yes, 1/8" no matter how well it is designed, is still only 1/8". I can assure you, you will never find a trailer hitch made from 1/8" for a truck.

If you were in the drivers seat of this truck, which would you want, a hitch made from 1/4" or a well thought out 1/8" hitch or bumper?

 

don't get me wrong waltman, I too would go at least 3/16 for any sort of frame mounting or somewhere its going to have pulling pressure, but in his case, I still beleive it would be alright if he took is 2x2 and made a bumper out of, like in the design of 90Beaters rock sliders. Then, obviously he'll need a hitch receiver and flat stock, so at least 3/16 on those. The rear frame mounts are only 1/8", so I really dont see a need for 1/4", only for rigidity, not getting ripped out.

 

Tubing

I have made about 10 Bronco Bumpers out of
1/8" Steel for the rae of Broncos and they have held up to some hard hits and offroading. The mounting plates I used were 1/4" with gussits.

 

Dude you need to resize those pics or I will have to link them.