material thickness for DIY bumpers?
- Thread starter 75SUB4X4
- Start date
75SUB4X4
Member
I was thinking the same thing, just doing a thinner material and then adding vertical braces (thicker) on the opposite side.
People tend to way overbuild these things, equating their ability to take serious hits without damage as "toughness". Keep in mind your bumper is supposed to crumble and give up the ghost in an accident. ThT energy in a collision is going to go somewhere and it's a whole lot better that it gets used up in a crumpling bumper (and everything else) than to have it transmitted somewhere else.
My bumper, front end, and entire truck can turn right into metal confetti for all I care, as long as I get to go home to the family.
My bumper, front end, and entire truck can turn right into metal confetti for all I care, as long as I get to go home to the family.
No doubt this makes sense for unibody vehicles where any transmission of force is going to cause irreparable damage, but I've sort of wondered about this with BOF vehicles. I can think of many collisions - mainly vehicle-to-animal - that could result in very expensive body damage without a substantial bumper, yet the forces aren't high enough to cause frame damage.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I tend to think of it not in catastrophic collisions as much as even regular banging around. I want the bumper to give a little if I drop too hard so the frame, body and ultimately I don't have to absorb all the energy.
There's not one perfect approach to these thing but the hell-for-stout approach means it's more all or nothing and if you're routinely working your skids and protection then you probably want 3/16" and 1/4" everywhere. It's the argument of using HREW instead of DOM for slider tubes to save money for something that is truly there for the occasional bump instead of tackling King of the Hammers every weekend.
Using folds instead of thickness to give rigidity is a totally valid approach to something that isn't intended as a rock crawler bumper. It's size sort of defeats that utility anyway. But it's plenty strong to deal with a deer or kangaroo while setting them on rocks usually means you'll dent it.
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I've been thinking on this for a while. I plan to pick up a sheet of 1/8 or maybe even something in the heavy sheet metal world and start welding over the holidays for my rear bumper. My rationale for a lighter duty rear is that the most likely hit there is from a passenger vehicle on surface streets, so both their bumper and mine are working together. I could see my front end going head to head with a tree or rock due to my own stupidity, so I bought a commercial unit that is heavier for that position. If a big rig or another trail rig rear ends me at speed, I'm pretty well ruined anyway...