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colbystephens' '73 blazer build!

yep, i'm partway through my rear bumper build. it was dark when i finished tonite, so no pics till tomorrow though. :) goal is to complete the bumper and tire carrier this weekend, minus the hitch. :D
 
Could I get some info on your tubing bender? I've been looking around but all I can find are "pipe benders" that have a bottle jack type bender for schedule 40 and 80. The benders I've seen that resemble yours have all been for solid bar stock. Any info would be swell.
 
topless jackass said:
Could I get some info on your tubing bender? I've been looking around but all I can find are "pipe benders" that have a bottle jack type bender for schedule 40 and 80. The benders I've seen that resemble yours have all been for solid bar stock. Any info would be swell.
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Just go here:

http://www.jd2.com/shop/
 
Yep, Kenny's right. :) I like it real well. Inexpensive and it works great. :D

So, bumper build update. I've been slowly chipping away at it this week. On Friday I got the frame mounts bolted up and the top tube bent up and installed.

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I'm really happy with it. The contours are tight to the body, and the gap between the tube and the back of the truck is minimal. It hardly decreases my departure angle at all - so that makes me happy. :) If I recall correctly, each frame mount has 5 bolt holes, so I think that's pretty good. I used 5/8" bolts, which are 1/16th inch too large for the frame holes, but I was able to screw them through the frame so it's a REALLY snug fit.

I had a pretty crummy day yesterday. I am currently sick, but I decide to work on the bumper anyway. A friend came over to help me calculate all the bends and such for the swing down carrier, and we did a great job. Then, after he left, I notched the tube, but cut it all too short and as a result, the carrier wouldn't swing down far enough and so the tailgate couldn't open more than about 50 or 60 degrees... :doah: major suck. about 5 hours of mathematics down the drain... :(

Today, I got after it again and I designed it differently to make the bends less complex. It turned out great, and the tailgate opens properly. :) I'll have to rebuild the stinger if I ever increase tiresize, because it is very specific to my tire so that I could use as little tube (weight) as possible.

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It looks a little funny right now without a tire in it, but I think it's pretty bad ass. It doesn't swing all the way to the ground, so it will prevent me from having to lift with my back to get it back up.
 
Is the tire going to mount to the inside of the cradle or out? Like you said, without the tire it seems a little "off" for some reason.:screwy: Maybe because the top of the hoop is in the cab line and touching the window.:dunno:
 
the tire mounts on the inside of the hoop. part of the reason that looks so funny in the pic is because there's no depth perception. I should've taken the pic slightly from an angle instead of straight on. The only way for that stinger to stay up right now is for it to lean forward into the blazer instead of sticking up right. It looks less funny in the pic of the stinger laying down. However, that pic doesn't show that it's about a foot and a half or so off of the ground. The tubes rest on the curved frame mount/recovery points when lowered.
 
well, I suppose pretty easy. However, if you are hoping I'll make one and sell it to you - that's not going to happen. ;) It's alot of work, and in the end you'd be much better off buying from Blazen Off Road or someone like that - better quality work for sure. Plus, the frame horns on my truck are slightly out of whack, which essentially means that this bumper is going to fit my truck like a glove, but no one else's. :D I'm just having to work with too many slightly skewed parts...

it'd be kind of cool to have a clean truck to work with, but that's not much of an option for me.
 
you'd be in pretty good shape if you picked up a JD2 bender and a welder off of CL + a grinder and some cut off wheels and taught yourself though. you could probably get all the equipment and materials you'd need for the same price as what you'd pay BOR. You'd have to find a pretty good deal on the welder, though.
 
I'm pretty sure welding in the parking lot of my apartment complex would be grounds for immediate removal of the premises. I also have no room for a pipe bender, and I don't know how to weld. We are not allowed to do any type of work on our vehicles what so ever. But no one has said anything to me about doing diff services, fuel filter, changed the oil, taking the cowl off to replace the wiper motor...
But when I get the truck back from the transmission shop, the shackle flip and zero rates are getting put on in my buddies driveway, the temperature just needs to increase a bit...
 
I see! How about one of those little rental garages/store room places?? now I think we're getting beyond the reasonable limits tho... :D
 
Recon! said:
I'm pretty sure welding in the parking lot of my apartment complex would be grounds for immediate removal of the premises. I also have no room for a pipe bender, and I don't know how to weld. We are not allowed to do any type of work on our vehicles what so ever. But no one has said anything to me about doing diff services, fuel filter, changed the oil, taking the cowl off to replace the wiper motor...
But when I get the truck back from the transmission shop, the shackle flip and zero rates are getting put on in my buddies driveway, the temperature just needs to increase a bit...
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Just go on post and use the shop there, they do all of the disposal and have any tool you could ever want to use. Plus if there is still a monster blue truck in the weld shop that is Manny and he knows just about anything you could ever need to know about these trucks. Or if you go out to Lampassas you can make friends with Sean out at texpro he is a great guy and can help you out tons. Or just wait till I get home and you can use my drive way
 
Colby how high up are you planning on mounting the cross section to attach the wheel? I was looking at where you have your bend towards the body and it looks like you plan on mounting the wheel up really high was that the plan?
 
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docjake said:
Just go on post and use the shop there, they do all of the disposal and have any tool you could ever want to use. Plus if there is still a monster blue truck in the weld shop that is Manny and he knows just about anything you could ever need to know about these trucks. Or if you go out to Lampassas you can make friends with Sean out at texpro he is a great guy and can help you out tons. Or just wait till I get home and you can use my drive way
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I hate going to the shop on post
 
docjake said:
Colby how high up are you planning on mounting the cross section to attach the wheel? I was looking at where you have your bend towards the body and it looks like you plan on mounting the wheel up really high was that the plan?
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The tire will sit very low - only an inch or two above the top bumper bar. the stinger is 33.75" wide on the inside dimension, so much of the tire fits between those bars, if you understand what I'm saying. So, the bend that you're seeing actually starts about a third of the way up the height of the tire.

not sure if that made any sense, but you'll see. :D
 
colbystephens said:
The tire will sit very low - only an inch or two above the top bumper bar. the stinger is 33.75" wide on the inside dimension, so much of the tire fits between those bars, if you understand what I'm saying. So, the bend that you're seeing actually starts about a third of the way up the height of the tire.

not sure if that made any sense, but you'll see. :D
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Are you going to use more DOM to do the cross section are? I am guessing it will be sitting on the tube itself are you going to have stops at the bottom to keep it from moving like this guy did?
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj70/4307R/Bumper/Swing out gate/IMG_1907.jpg
His swings out instead of down but you are going to have a lot of tire bouncing around, just throwing some ideas your way.

Oh and check your yahoo please
 
thanks for the ideas! the design of my carrier effectively works the same way as that rectangular tube/fork-lift prong type set up. The bends "scoop" under the tire. :)

checked the e-mail, and replied. :)
 
Do you plan to be able to open the tailgate still? The reason i ask is because it looks like the brackets for the tire carrier are going to be in the way. Because of the way the gate opens it hangs lower than you think when opened. If you've already accounted for this then forget what i just said. The pics could be deceiving though.
 
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