[cstrike]

I thought I would share some pics of my front bumper build I did with crap I have collected from my weekly trips to the landfill. I go in each week and pay $2 to drop off a bag of trash but leave with what ever cool stuff I can find from the metal pile! Everything in this build minus the 1.75" tubing is stuff I dragged home.

First off, Bolting on some angle iron to build off of:

And tacking on the front plate:

So far on the truck:

 

[cstrike]

A tube I brought home:

And welded in:

 

[cstrike]

Trying to fill in the gaps:

A shot of paint and some 1" x 1/8" to clean up the edge. Also a herculiner roll on treatment for the truck. By the way this photo is taken during my weekly dump trip!

 

[cstrike]

Then I get the bright idea to make this a stinger bumper. I try to collect my thoughts with a piece of 1/2" conduit:

 

[cstrike]

Once I figure out the angles it is time to start mocking up the real stuff:

 

[cstrike]

As it stands today:

 

[Poorboyz]

Those are some nice welds!!!!!!! Good looking bumper as well.

 

[infidel96]

well i might be borrowing the mount and base idea from ya nice n easy design thanks for posting it up! run into anything with it yet?

 

[oneilj18]

thats a dam good looking bumper, like the doors as well

 

[cstrike]

Thanks guys. The doors are mostly made from scrap I dragged home as well. I will post about them a little later.

I haven't hit anything with the bumper yet but it definitely isn't bash-proof like the one that was on there when I bought the Bronco. However, the approach angle was crap before! The secondary goal of this build (besides low budget) was to tuck the bumper in as tight as possible. The main bumper is really just the frame boxed-in and the top tube is tucked in 1/2" from the bottom of the grill. Without cutting sheet metal this is the lowest profile I could manage.

Here is a pic of the original bumper. I sold it off to another Bronco owner here in town.

 

[cstrike]

As for the shackles and hangers, I wanted to stick with my low budget theme so I had to stack 1/2" plate to hang my cheap Tractor Supply shackles from.

My poor Rigid miter saw has cut a lot of steel over the years. I can't believe it is still alive. Forget doing trim work with it anymore, it is pretty beat:

 

[cstrike]

Cutting a square hole in 3/16" steel is no fun. I need a plasma! I was able to get a snug fit for the hangers and weld them front and back:

 

[cstrike]

What I don't have pictures of but you can kind of see in the finished bumper is the rest of the 1/2" steel along the bottom of the front plate. It boxes everything in so the shackles won't buckle the front. I think I have plenty of room between the frame rails to mount a Mile Marker winch someday. It was $100 for the tubing on Craigslist and I have another 20 feet still. That and the shackles I bought years ago are the only material cost in this build.

The bumper is done for now but at some point I would like to figure something out to protect the headlights.

 

[dagamore]

nice welds, i like that you welded both sides of the D for the tow points.

 

[69SCJ]

Looks great. I like inexpensive stuff!!!

 

[Northernguy]

Well Done.:beer
Steel is very expensive these days and that is a great recycled bumper.

 

[tonyroc14]

Damn, those are some excellent welds my friend.

 

[RichG]

From one hardcore dumpster diver to another: Nicely done!

 

[L.a.dirt94]

I'm everyone else one the nice welds, very well done on the dumpster budget :thumbup

 

[GetBent4x4]

I'm surprised they let you take any metal. Very nice.