Rear Bumper Bar Build

[Navraj Singh]

Hey Guys,

Finally after many moons I got started on the Bumper Bar for my 100 Series VX.

I decided that the best way to start was to do a design mock up as I just had some general ideas of the way that I wanted the bumper to look.

I started of with off cuts that had been lying around of 1.5mm plate. (Have attached the pics below)

After removing the rear bumper I took the profile of the body and designed as above

I then Fabricated a mock side design as below

Next, I made a temporary bracket that i could use to mount the bumper. This is not the actual mounting bracket as I will design that once the bumper mock is ready.

I then fabricated a design (as per my liking) of the actual bumper itself, which is currently incomplete and should be ready by today. But I have attached a work in progress pic

Last step before I called it a day was to attach the sides to the main bumper bar

 

[Navraj Singh]

Managed to get some more work done today,
Firstly I closed up the gap that was there between the Bumper and the Tail gate at the bottom.

I then finished up on the bottom section

 

[Navraj Singh]

James Collett wrote:
Nice job Navraj looks good what did you use to weld the seams.

Hey James,

This is not the actual bumper that I will fit to the Cruiser, rather it is a mock up of my idea. I will then make a drawing of it before I go ahead and start the actual one. This is just tac welded together using the arc machine
It will be made of 3mm plate and I will bend rather than weld as much of it as I can. But will use mig welding for what i have to weld.

 

[Navraj Singh]

Cheers Chris,

I decided on 3mm because the bull bar on the cruiser is the same (tjm T15).
I guess what i will do is once the drawing is ready, do the weight calculation for a 3mm plate and a 2mm plate and then decide what to go for.
The brackets that i am currently making will be of 6mm plate, this is because i want to incorporate hi-lift jacking points in the bumper.

 

[Navraj Singh]

So as of today morning, the general bumper design was complete and it was onto making the brackets for mounting.

There are 4 mounts that i am making, 2 that will be at the tail gate and bolt onto the chassis from behind and 2 that will bolt onto the chassis from the sides.
The brackets that I am designing for the rear will also have jacking points incorporated.
Lastly i will make a tow hook mounting that will also be incorporated into the bumper.

Bumper view from the top

Upside down

Cruiser on the pit while trying to figure out how to make the mounting brackets

 

[Navraj Singh]

Hey James,

Will definately keep the posts up.

I was doing a weight calculation for the various plates with reference to the design that i have already made using the 1.5mm plate and the weight for this came to about 16.5 Kgs.
With the 2.5mm plate it was at 28kgs and the 3mm plate 33 Kgs. Its only going to make about a 5kg difference so I thought that it would be better just to go with the 3mm plate pver the 2.5mm.

If you think other wise please tell me as i would appreciate the comments

 

[Navraj Singh]

James Voortman wrote:
are you going to mount your Hilift jacking points at the back or on the sides?

I was thinking that I would make jacking points and incorporate them into the bracket that will be holding the bumper, am just checking out on this, otherwise I will weld a jacking bracket to the bracket and then bolt the complete thing to the chassis.

I was also considering making an adaptor for a tow hook into the bumper. I already have the original tow hook with the frame that bolts underneath the plastic bumper to the chassis.

 

[Navraj Singh]

Jaun Herholdt wrote:
The rear bumper on my 80 is made from 3mm plate and although I did design with braces and profiles to add to the strengh,on a recent trip which was maybe a bit rough I had to slide down a rock face on the rear bumper and the side bit did protect the body but were bent ,that made me decide to go for a 4mm under protection bit ,the weight is not that much more if only certian parts are made of 4mm and 3mm.My couple of pence of course......

Hey Jaun,

I was thinking that once the bumper is ready, if it looks like the bumper still needs some additional strenghting I will weld some webs into it.....
Just a thought......
Will look into it once the bumper is ready

 

[Navraj Singh]

Right, so far I have managed to get the general profile of the main bumper part folded

The bumper mock against the actual bumper frame

Side piece for the bumper.

Both sides are completed and i now have to finish bending the bumper to match the design.

 

[Navraj Singh]

Hi Boet,

I have thought of that, but I have to do some design modifications as my cruiser came with the spare wheel already mounted to the back door, so the tail gate is a little harder to work with.

I am currently looking for a design of the spare wheel arm that i like. I will then have to modify to cater for the current tailgate and the already mounted spare wheel.

This is the main reason that I kept the top of the bumper flat.

I am lucky as far as the DIY goes, as I have access to all the engineering machines, makes life easier

Cheers

 

[Navraj Singh]

This is the Tailgate

 

[Navraj Singh]

Hey Guys,

2.5 months later and I now have a complete bumper.
All is ready as far as the fabrication goes.
For info sake, the complete unit weighed in at 30.5 kgs

The bumper should be going into the paint shop next week.

 

[Navraj Singh]

Took Grahame advice and cut in the jacking points before sending the bumper to the paint shop

 

[Navraj Singh]

If you guys want any details or have questions just ask me and I will try and provide the info

 

[Julian]

Nav
Great looking bumper well done, you mentioned in the post that you did a drawing of it before production
Could you post it on here?
Thanks

 

[Paul]

Julian, are you thinking of making one up or having it made?

 

[Navraj Singh]

This is the bumper as it stands now.

@Julian
I actually did not manage to get the drawing made due to a lack of time as I needed the bumper for a Trip. I have been approached to manufacture the bumper so I think I might start that off although there are some fine tunings required.
Will add
1. Rear Wheel carrier swing arm
2. Jerry can holder
3. Tow hook
4. Anderson power point
5. 7 pole electrical plug
and other stupid ideas that I have

 

[Julian]

Julian, are you thinking of making one up or having it made?

Paul, I think I will probably end up trying to find somebody to make it, as I think there will be a whole lot of folding to make a nice job, why? do you know somebody who could do it locally?

Nav, no worries on the drawing, To be honest I like the idea of the bumper being separate from the tyre swing out, I reckon the OEM style could be stronger with the two point attachment, however a 2" receiver for tow hook/ recovery point would be great

 

[Navraj Singh]

Julian,

There is a design I came across for the swing arm that allows the tyre to be held flat, ie rotates it about 90 deg so that it can be used as a table.
Quite liked that design and it would be an interesting build

 

[Julian]

Nav, I have seen something like that too, my only thought would that it might be pretty heavy / would need some gas struts and it might put quiet a lot of load on the catch mechanism. But some sort of table could be good. I had had an idea of some sort or work bench might be useful, if you went for dual swing outs perhaps a table top could be mounted between them?