Custom Bumper Project

[Triathlete]

Nope, Safari bars (aka brush gaurds) are pretty much cosmetic. They will move light brush out of the way but thats about it.

[Marlin]

Nope, Safari bars (aka brush gaurds) are pretty much cosmetic. They will move light brush out of the way but thats about it.

Yep, I know that, saw someone rip the guard off the front of their rodeo in NC, tried to warn them....but they wouldn't listen.

As far as making my hoop "structural", I dunno, if I drove around worrying like that, I would never move it out of my driveway, if I get into a front end collision with something big enough to get up that high, I am screwed and it is totaled anyway.
ALthough it would give me a reason to get a 12ton press to bend tubing with.....my garage is starting to look like a metal shop.

[Robbomaz]

Wow, I never thought about that? How do the hummers and Jeeps get away with using tow points that far apart? Hopefully the gussets I weld in this week will add enough stability to minimize the potential damage. This is another reason I love this site. I ahve never done anything like this before, and I am getting all kinds of feedback.
Some I will upgrade, some I think are not needed, but all are important, so if my setup fails, you can say "I told you so!!"
Then I get to rebuild...yipppeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were it me, I'd put them just inside the width of the chassis rails apart, but it looks like you have a lot of metal in there, should be plenty strong I'm watching this closely, I have to either buy a roo bar for my project (ho hum everyones got one of those) or do what you're doing

[Robbomaz]

Yep, I know that, saw someone rip the guard off the front of their rodeo in NC, tried to warn them....but they wouldn't listen.

As far as making my hoop "structural", I dunno, if I drove around worrying like that, I would never move it out of my driveway, if I get into a front end collision with something big enough to get up that high, I am screwed and it is totaled anyway.
ALthough it would give me a reason to get a 12ton press to bend tubing with.....my garage is starting to look like a metal shop.

We get people here underestimating the load all the time! Have seen a snatch yank the whole roo bar off the front of a Prado, leaving the car in the bog and smashing the back window of the pull vehicle......half the bolts were loose, and none were hi-ten
I HAVE a snatch, but will do anything to avoid using it. I reckon too many folks reach for the snatch first.....but then I am old & cautious!
Rob

[Marlin]

Were it me, I'd put them just inside the width of the chassis rails apart, but it looks like you have a lot of metal in there, should be plenty strong I'm watching this closely, I have to either buy a roo bar for my project (ho hum everyones got one of those) or do what you're doing

No way I would go with ordinary, run of the day stuff. I have had a lot of fun making this thing, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I have learned. Metal work is a whole new world for me. I think it moght be addictive, I find myself walking around the house thinking "I could fab something for that" "I oucld weld that together".
I am going to make the pretty pieces this afternoon out of cardboard and post up some pics to get advice, I will also go ahead and sleeve the inserts for the tow points, and drill out second holes for another set of pins. The gussets can wait until I do the body work. That should satisfy just about everyone
Then I will tie it to a tree, pull the tree out of the ground, destroy the tranny and break a few straps, just to prove that my bumper was not the weak point!!! LOL.

[Marlin]

First upgrade complete. I put the 2" tubing sleeved into the crossbar for the tow points. Took forever, that is a whole lot of steel to drill through, and the bit is about $15. I made the sleeve about 10" long, so that should do plenty to spread the force over a bit wide of an angle, as well as strengthen the weld point. Thanks for the advice guys. I gotta find a scrap yard so I can get materials to make the gussets with.

[Marlin]

Update*** I am upgrading the clevis pins to 5/8" hitch pins this weekend, and I decided to take Billy's advice and get some bolt through D-ring shackles. By autocad, the weakest point will be about 20K lbs at the welds on the tubing. The front portion of the frame will bend before the bumper does, assuming the welds are good.
For the metal work guys, the inner tube is 8gauge, and the outer tube is 12 gauge.
I will post up the pics of the new shackle mounts, that may be a few months, but the pins are this weekend for sure, as well as some of the sheet metal work. I got my LED turn signals in, and picking up the driving lights Friday. HID kit for those will be in August sometime. I may not do the whole front end in sheet metal, it is starting to grow on me Just do the bottom and sides so it looks a little tighter, and a front facia for the lights and to hide the tubing. I don't know what to do next I am running out of projects. Any ideas? I may get the hubs this weekend too if it isn't 100 degrees and raining.

[blacksambo]

Don't take this the wrong way but... what you have created is liable to be just as rust prone as what you removed except it's more exposed to salt and also hopefully washing....not to mention it would drive Simon Cox (original VX designer) to drinking. Again, don't take me wrong, we have two '99's that I powerwash each week snow or shine and I do flush that bumper area extensively. So far no bad rust, yet. Stay tuned.

[Marlin]

Don't take this the wrong way but... what you have created is liable to be just as rust prone as what you removed except it's more exposed to salt and also hopefully washing....not to mention it would drive Simon Cox (original VX designer) to drinking. Again, don't take me wrong, we have two '99's that I powerwash each week snow or shine and I do flush that bumper area extensively. So far no bad rust, yet. Stay tuned.

No offense taken, you are one of the lucky few that do not have the rusty bumper problem.(I have no salt problems here in Charleston ) The scary part is that most people will never remove their cladding and check their bumper, which means they have nothing for low speed fender bender protection and they don't even know it.

Isuzu is notorious for making vehicles that are very susceptible to corrosion. Not their strong point. My bumper on the other hand is enameled and primered, and soon the openings will be capped. But since it is accessible, I can see any rust early on and take care of it.
As for Simon, although he designed an amazing vehicle, there are some significant design flaws: No drink holder, no way to open rear door without a key, stupid plastic front end with no "meat" to it. Donut spare, hard plastic arm rest on door. These are design problems, things like the window problems and what not are later on, and I don't fault those as design issues.
The lesson being there is always room for improvement, I don't care too much if people like the look of my bumper, I am the only one with a real, functional setup, that I did myself, not store bought.
As for mods, I am an electrician by trade, so I don't really enjoy electrical mods but here is what I am doing now:

I got some H3 driving lights with blue LED halo around the housing. I am going to wire the blue LED with the new LED turn signals. It looks pretty sweet, when I am done, I will post night video. The driving lights will be wired via the factory driving light switch. I will upgrade the H3s to HIDs sometime soon, that would be a total cost for my lighting project of 90 bucks. 20 for the LED turn signals from Hong Kong, (driving lights on clearance, and I had 10 bucks off and 10% military discount), so I only paid 27 dollars. The HID kit is around 40 from Hong Kong. SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tomdietrying]

I'm sure it will look sic. I can't wait to see the pics!
Peace.
Tom

p.s.
I wasn't intentionally trying to ryme.

[Ldub]

I'm sure it will look sic. I can't wait to see the pics!
Peace.
Tom

p.s.
I wasn't intentionally trying to ryme.

But it happens all the time...

[Marlin]

I just finished drilling the new holes for the 5/8" pins. That will NEVER be the fail point now. The drill bit cost 20 bucks!!!! I did get an order for another skid plate, so I will use that money to get a new corded drill with a 1/2" chuck. I used my cordless Hitachi Li-ion 18v drill. It made it through 6 of the 8 holes before the battery died. That is pretty amazing for a cordless drill to drill 5/8" hole through 8gage hardened steel.

[pbkid]

nice, hey marlin where did you pick up the driving lights with halo rings??? ive been searching high and low for some...
do they "fit" in the factory fog light spot???

[MSHardeman]

Jack, check these guys out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-01...Q5fAccessories
They are similar to the ones that I have on my VX, but better. You can change the color of the LED ring on these and the ring is behind the fog light lens.
I had to cut the flange out of the holes that the stock lights twist into to get the new fogs to sit back in the holes. If you don't cut the flange out then the new fog lights would stick out of the holes.

[Marlin]

nice, hey marlin where did you pick up the driving lights with halo rings??? ive been searching high and low for some...
do they "fit" in the factory fog light spot???

I got mine at Pepboys. They have two styles, the 3.5" light with blue ring and glass lens, normal price is 39.99. Then they have a bigger 5.5 " light that has 7 LED colors, for 59.99. Both use H3 bulbs which you can get the HID kit off of Ebay for around 40 bucks from Hong Kong if you are willing to wait. I use the same HID kit for my headlights, been 7 months, no flicker, no spotting, no problems

The ones in the link form Ebay didn't say anything about the LED ring?

I just checked fit of the 3.5" They fit. You may need to do some minor trimming, or remove the mounting hardware, put it in and then put it back on, but it is a tight fit, so no gaps or vibrations I would think.