cliftonclendenen
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2017
- Posts
- 326
- Reaction score
- 258
- Location
- York, Pennsylvania
- Ram Year
- 2006
- Engine
- 4.7L V8
So I’ve been wanting to replace the crappy old bumper that had cracked and dented. I wanted an “offroad look bumper” but anything that I liked was around $700 - $1500. That is a lot of money for a poor 16 year old with a part time minimum wage job. So I decided to build my own.
First, I started with removing my old bumper and creating a template out of cardboard.
Then I made a small sketchup model to add some more angles and get more precise measurements.
This whole process took me about 3 months so in that time frame I removed the crappy plastidip grille (bad idea to plastidip grilles btw) and got rid of the Spyder auto lights which don’t work at all.
I then went to my local steel supplier in PA and picked up a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 steel. This beast weighs about 250lbs and was a pain in the a$$ to take off the bed of the truck. LOL
Anyways, to start the bumper build, I needed to figure out a way to mount the bumper to the trucks original mounts.
I cut out a plate that fits the mounts and drilled 1/2 holes in it for 5 grade 8 bolts for each mount.
I then took 2 pieces of angle iron and welded them in a square shape, then welded them to the plate.
Next, I cut out the main large plate. And welded that to the mounts. I added a piece of 2” 3/16” bar to the top portion at the angle where it sticks a little out from the grille.
From there, I added the bottom angle and then started tacking the wings that go up.
It’s starting to look like a real bumper now.
These triangles were a pain in the butt to make because when it got smaller the heat from the welder wanted to melt holes in the steel. Awesome looking heat colors though haha.
I then got the upper portions tacked together.
I then tacked the sides of the bumper which to my surprise lined up perfectly with the body lines.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
First, I started with removing my old bumper and creating a template out of cardboard.
Then I made a small sketchup model to add some more angles and get more precise measurements.
This whole process took me about 3 months so in that time frame I removed the crappy plastidip grille (bad idea to plastidip grilles btw) and got rid of the Spyder auto lights which don’t work at all.
I then went to my local steel supplier in PA and picked up a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 steel. This beast weighs about 250lbs and was a pain in the a$$ to take off the bed of the truck. LOL
Anyways, to start the bumper build, I needed to figure out a way to mount the bumper to the trucks original mounts.
I cut out a plate that fits the mounts and drilled 1/2 holes in it for 5 grade 8 bolts for each mount.
I then took 2 pieces of angle iron and welded them in a square shape, then welded them to the plate.
Next, I cut out the main large plate. And welded that to the mounts. I added a piece of 2” 3/16” bar to the top portion at the angle where it sticks a little out from the grille.
From there, I added the bottom angle and then started tacking the wings that go up.
It’s starting to look like a real bumper now.
These triangles were a pain in the butt to make because when it got smaller the heat from the welder wanted to melt holes in the steel. Awesome looking heat colors though haha.
I then got the upper portions tacked together.
I then tacked the sides of the bumper which to my surprise lined up perfectly with the body lines.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk