my new bumper

[orion]

new bumper is 4x2 11ga steel tubing, notched and bent to follow the now cut in half cladding.


front receiver in new bumper


mount brackets to frame


lower cladding will attach to bottom and be removable for wheeling


i should have good ground clearance


I will be adding led turn signals in the round holes cut in the steel. the old turn signals in the lower cladding will house driving lights. I'll be adding a skid plate from the steel bumper to the front of the skid bar front plate. should have every thing done by the end of the week.

[Triathlete]

Looks good!

[snowtrooper1966]

Now that's how I would integrate a bulletproof bumper into the front of a VX! Looks like a ton of work, but the final result was worthy. I wonder about painting the bumper to match the proton yellow.....

[orion]

have not decided what color to paint it yet, yellow has crossed my mind.

[Marlin]

Very nice. I will hopefully have mine done in the next week or so.
How did you bend 11ga square tubing? That is the one thing I can't do, and it kills me. At least I am no longer alone....way to make mine look bad

[orion]

I just cut notches in the back, bent it and welded the seem.

[Marlin]

I just cut notches in the back, bent it and welded the seem.

What did you bend it with? I am looking at my 12ga and 8ga tubing, and there is no way I am bending that, with notches cut out or not. What type of steel did you use?

[tomdietrying]

Orion,
How long has this project been going on? When I saw the thread I assumed it was Marlin's. When I saw the pics I thought Marlin changed his plan up. I didn't realize it was your until I saw Marlin reply.

BTW - Very nice workmanship!

Peace.
Tom

[orion]

The tubing is just mild steel , i bent it by hand. it wasn't easy, but it can be done .

this project has taken about 10 hours over 4 days. you haft to realize i have every tool you would need at my job. and I've done stuff like this before.

[Ldub]

Now that's how I would integrate a bulletproof bumper into the front of a VX! Looks like a ton of work, but the final result was worthy. I wonder about painting the bumper to match the proton yellow.....

X 2 !!!

Lookin' Great Greg, nice approach angle......

[VX KAT]

Greg that looks awesome, that's the best lookin' VX front bumper out there! You're a genius! It completely keeps the sexy VX lines yet makes it a tank at the same time! That's the first I've ever seen like that! :::P:::E:::R:::F:::E:::C:::T::::::
Congrats! Way to go!
I want one!!

[Riff Raff]

Greg that looks awesome, that's the best lookin' VX front bumper out there! You're a genius! It completely keeps the sexy VX lines yet makes it a tank at the same time! That's the first I've ever seen like that! :::P:::E:::R:::F:::E:::C:::T::::::
Congrats! Way to go!
I want one!!

ORION (Greg)--- x2. I concur 100% with VX-KAT. If somehow you could make that Front Bumper into a "KIT FORM" and market it for sale to the rest of us, it would undoubtably be a hot seller!!! Your engineering, craftsmanship, and fabrication skills are incomprehensible, along with your speed of accomplishment. The front bumper is extremely beefy, clean and sexy looking, while maintaining the sweet lines of the VX. I can't wait to see your incorporation of the front skid-plate project. Simply stellar.

An idea for a possible front bumper color is "Extreme Chrome" (powder-coat). This is actually a powder-coat paint color, and is basically a clone-chrome (without the expense of real chrome-plating).

EDIT: In looking in your Photo Gallery; before you fabricated your current front bumper, I noticed you had an earlier version of just a square receiver hitch stealthy mounted behind the front license plate opening. This is way cool. For those of us that want an instant bumper, a Nerf Bar Style Step Bumper could be easily inserted in the front hitch license plate opening. Much like the same way many VX'ers currently use their rear receiver hitch for the Nerf Bar Style Step Bumper. In that regard, the VX would have identical "matching" front & rear bumpers and easily removed if so desired. Having said that, perhaps you could just make a "KIT FORM" front receiver hitch package identical to your stealth license plate opening version (without the bumper). Thus, us layman type VX folks could just insert the commercially available Nerf Bar Style Step Bumper in the stealth front receiver hitch license plate opening for an instant front bumper. Genious.







Sidebar Note for VX member "Travelin2"-- see John, if you had a front bumper like that with a square receiver hitch in front, then you could easily tow the VX behind your MotorHome camper. Hmmm, time to ponder.

[crotchrocket]

Looks great!! certainly something i'd be interested. I've been looking at making the geolander bull bars but now i'm torn! Any chance of a quick sketch and some dimensions ??

[Marlin]

Wanna fly out and help me with mine?

[tom4bren]

Orion,

That looks fantastic. I don't think I'd go with the yellow paint tho. IMHO, keep it black to blend in with the cladding.

Impressive work.

Tom