Need Help Desining Rear Bumper.

[1978Blazerk5]

Well I wanted to build a custom rear bumper for my 78. Well my friend says if i can come up with a simple desing he would weld it all together for me. So What is was thinking was to get a peice of 2X6 or 3X6 Square tubing or C-Channel(need 6 inches of bumper face to be street legal). Now I wanted it to have Shackel mounts welded on, and also wanted to be able to keep the stock trailier hitch, Also wanted it to were i dont have to modifiy the stock frame or mod the tailgate springs. I was also thinking some of those heavy duty rubber lights(like on back of dump trucks) for reverse lights not sure on that yet though. Now things I dont know what wall thickness would I need? would I be better off with Channel or Square Tubing? What would be the best way to make the springs work.
Basicaly I am looking for Opions and/or suggestions.

Here is the Truck.

Thanks

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Thats how I did mine. 6x2 rectangle tubeing. Tapered the ends and capped it. I added in a reciever as well. It cost less than $100 to build in materials. You can by the swing away tire carrier setups at A-Z fabrication.com or something like that for around $50 I believe. I had to cut my frame rails vertical and lose my tailgate springs, but I chose to do that to mount it as close to the body as possible

Not real great pics but

 

[rdn2blazer]

If your going to have shackle mounts have them go thru the bumper and bolt to the frame and welded at to bumper, thats the strongest way to mount them.

If your going to do just the welded to the bumper type, have them with a flange on the base end. Cut a hole thru both walls of the 2 X 6 tubing and insert them from the back, push them in till the flange is against the bumper and then weld them up in the front and at the flange. I like having a flange to lock into the bumper so Im not just relying on a weld to keep them on. It wont pull thru.

 

[dremu]

You've seen it, but I'm gonna pimp my thread anyway

I second rdn2blazer's comment about shackle mounts ... by the time my shackles come off, the frame'll be ripping, so I'd have larger issues at that point

-- A

 

[bigbadchev84]

here is min 6" c-channel

 

[4X4HIGH]

Might as well pimp my rear bumper i made as well.

 

[Mtndewblazer]

Just finished it last month.

 

[1978Blazerk5]

any suggestions for shackel mounts like somthing prefabbed. If you havnt noticed the main reason i dont wanna mod anything is just incase i ever wanna return thhe truck to stock.

I like MTBLAZER89 rear bumper.
here isd some i had saved on my computer.

 

[MNorby]

no ones makes rear bumpers with round tube?

 

[pauly383]

Dom it :

 

[Dafey]

subscribed: I want to redo my bumper BAD Im not happy with this at all..

 

[1978Blazerk5]

Dom it :

dont have access to a tubing bender. And dont have the cash to pay a fab shop.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

For simplicity's sake I'd go with something like what bigbadchev84 did.
I'd encourage you to incorporate the hitch into the bumper. Pull your Class III hitch off and you've just offset the heavier bumper weight while gaining with departure angle.
If you do D-rings try and mount them so that you can extend a mount for them through the bumper and onto the frame rail. Seen plenty of "eh" quality bumpers with unsupported D-rings on them. I figure the military tied mine into the frame a foot from the bumpers for a reason.

You'll also notice a lot of bumper makers today basically make sleeves that go inside of the frame rail a good distance to aid in securely mounting that bumper. If you're going to be tugging on it or being towed by it you definitely want it securely mounted. Especially if you put a spare rack on there...a friend had a Jeep TJ with a pretty but crap quality bumper on it and the weight of the 32" spare and the whole assembly quickly had the bumper and it's stockish mounts drooping.

 

[josh86k10]

Here's mine that I built a year or so ago. I bought my frame brackets/shackel mounts prefabbed from DIY4x (just like the ones he uses on his bumpers, I'm just to cheap/broke to buy a whole bumper). If you are interested in the materials list, here is the original build thread:

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208663

 

[offroadblazer764x4]

what are you gona do with that stock rear bumper

 

[1978Blazerk5]

what are you gona do with that stock rear bumper

probaly just keep it around. Its really beat up and rusty.

 

[eagle mark]

Dom it :

I'm building a bumper very simalar with 2 inch .120 wall main bumper and 1 1/2 inch .120 wall . Wondering if the quarter panel protection you have works? Can you hi lift from those sides? Any support inside I can't see?

 

[AZ79K5Project]

Another tube design

Here's mine:

Specs: 1.75 x 0.120 HREW
0.250 plate bolted to the frame
2 receiver tubes for the high-lift and removable D-rings

This is where I tied it to the frame - it's removable

 

[eagle mark]

Here's some pictures I found...