Ford Raptor Homemade Bumper

[blood]

Very impressive ! Nice work.

 

[IRONMAN]

AWESOME! Just AWESOME!
Great write up, I have a question....
This welder that you used, did you use the flux core wire or did you get gas to make it a true Mig welder?

I have a similar welder but I'm using just the flux core wire and my welds do not come out smooth like that. By the looks of the weld seems like your using the gas.

REALLY love your bumper.
Thanks

 

[PropDr]

Mad Max came to mind!
Outstanding job!

 

[KaiserM715]

Great write-up!! I love DIY!! How much do you think you spent in materials, if you don't mind me asking?

I built my bumper back in 2010ish maybe first of 2011 I didn't like how the bumpers that were out took the stock tow hooks away which to me didn't seem like the best idea.

I love that you kept the front tow hooks. Front recovery points are important!!

Also, for the brace bar going back to the side of the frame I took some of the 1" pipe made it less than about 1/8" less width than frame and placed it inside the frame so when I tightened down the 5/8" bolt that the frame wouldn't crush.

Good thinking.

 

[ISFast]

AWESOME! Just AWESOME!
Great write up, I have a question....
This welder that you used, did you use the flux core wire or did you get gas to make it a true Mig welder?

I have a similar welder but I'm using just the flux core wire and my welds do not come out smooth like that. By the looks of the weld seems like your using the gas.

REALLY love your bumper.
Thanks

I run only the mig wire and gas in the 110v welders like the 140c Lincoln I have. I also make sure I don't have a wire size bigger than the 0.025" due to the .030 or .035 is just way to big and the 110v doesn't have enough power to keep it all hot with that much material in the weld puddle. So you have a cold weld which usually equals little penetration and a weak weld. I have ran both bigger sizes when I was in a jam and just ended up tacking what I had to do and left the rest for when I got another roll of wire. I am now using the 8lbs instead of the 2lbs. This way I don't have to change them out so much and I keep a brand new 2lbs roll just in case.

I tried the flux core when trying to tack up the bumper and changed it out after the first 2 tacks. I personally think it is crap in the 110v machines due to the size that was described above. I have welded up 20ft gates with the 140c on gas running the 0.025 wire with no problems. It was even windy and as long as the cone wasn't facing the wind there was no problems. I ran about 25-30 cfms on the gas to also help. Long story short the engine driven welding in one of the pics shown got hit by lightning and we were shipping cattle in 2 weeks and the ol' man didn't know if the new welder was going to make it in time. So I welded the hinges up and the gates probably way over 1000lbs each. Long story short put your flux core in a bag and stick it in the back of your tool chest just incase you happen to only have it left haha

I will say due to the thickness of the frames coming up to the main 2" bar the welds shown in the pics were by a Miller 200 220v. I will say that this machine is very old and puts down some ice cream welds. Plus the propitiatory mix gas we use in it makes it even better.

---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 PM ----------

One thing else I forgot to add. With the 110v migs you really need to try and keep your heat in the weld when doing thick stuff so get started and keep it going. The longer you can weld the hotter it gets due to the residual heat created. I also keep my MIG on max heat for most everything and tweak the wire speed. When I run stainless wire I do run 0.030" (due to thats all the welding shop had and I had not ran bigger wire at this time other than fluxcore) stuff that seems to work fine but stainless runs a lot hotter so you will need to turn your heat down almost half as much as you would for regular steel. I welded 4 cutouts with it and it works great!

 

[Nv Guy]

Looks good, great looking welds-those old Millers really do a great job.

 

[ShiftyCapone]

Great looking bumper/write-up...

Is that Plasti-dip on your fenders by the way?

 

[ISFast]

Great write-up!! I love DIY!! How much do you think you spent in materials, if you don't mind me asking?

I love that you kept the front tow hooks. Front recovery points are important!!


Good thinking.

Thanks! It actually helps with getting it stolen too. You have to undue the nut and take the washers off from inside the frame. Then you have to pull the pipe out the same way the nut and washer came off. After all that then you can pull the 6-7" long 5/8" grade 8 bolt out on the out side of the frame. When I painted the bumper first and then had to take it off to get it powdercoated I almost forgot how. I set there for probably 10 mins before it hit me how to do it

Also, The side frame hook ups make it really hard to take off without taking the factory skid plate off which to me is a plus. You have to undo all 6 bolts then slide the bumper straight forward to get it clear of the factory frame horns. Then you have to take the front of the bumper almost to the ground while the side frame hook ups stay above the skid plate but bellow the frame. That way you can slide it from that position to the back of the truck where the skid plate gets narrower to clear it and remove the bumper. So stealing this bumper is going to be way harder than it really looks like.

The cost of the bumper was really not much. The time is what you are paying for when buying the bumpers. The metal was $480 bucks and thats for the 4130 and the aluminum in the materials list on post 2. The hardware was around $30 bucks but can't remember the exact amount and powdercoating was $75. Plus some welding cost material and gas. So 600 bucks for just materials. To me building it myself was like getting a plasma cutter for free.

---------- Post added at 10:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

Great looking bumper/write-up...

Is that Plasti-dip on your fenders by the way?

That is Line-X. I think I was one of the very first to try this out and have nothing but good things to say about it when it was put on in late Feb early March 2011.

 

[Wrong Way]

Congrats on such a great job!

 

[Prybar]

I've been wanting a better bender. It honestly is the only thing that has stopped me from making more stuff.

What price range for something that wouldn't kink stuff up to like 2.5" pipe? Any info on pipe benders would be awesome!!!

Pro tools and JD2 both make good quality manual tube benders. If memory serves you can get into 1 with a set of dies for about $600. Extra die sets are what kill you. They are about $200 a set. Some more, some less. You can spend up to about 8K on a cnc bender if you want! Maybe a little overkill....hahaha