4307's Canadian Taco Build

[4307]

Thanks! I have fun building.

I hope the build length doesn't bore anyone.

Hey, I love you rig, I've been following your build for ever, I was glued to your rear bumper build for quite a while, checked it out a few times before I started mine. Your rig build up thread gave me some great ideas, very inspiring . :bowdown:
Is your tire gate still on the truck?

 

[7wt]

Mad skills dude. This is the type of thing that makes this place so special. Thanks for posting!

 

[Clark White]

I hope the build length doesn't bore anyone.

Bore hell, I can't stop looking through it! What I wouldn't give for a shop like yours, that is awesome my friend!

Clark

 

[4307]

Thanks guy's!

I hope the weather clears up soon so I can weld the hitch receiver and step plate in place before the snow flies.

Hey can someone send some :sunny: my way?

 

[4307]

Well.... Yesterday, I managed to land a nice day, weather wise, so I thought I'd take advantage.

Before I start talking about the bumper, I thought I'd show off another project, a new work bench.
The doors are not mounted yet, they're propped up in place for the sake of the picture. I had some scrap wood kicking around, so what the heck... new storage work bench. Its not done yet. I'm adding a back and side splash to keep the shavings from falling behind and off the sides of the bench. Bling Bling! Eh?

 

[4307]

O.K. back to the bumper....

The first order of business.... I made a new gusset. I replaced the original gusset, the original was 3/8'', I replaced it with a 1/4'' gusset, after I did some grinding to countersink the step plate as mentioned in my previous post . It was a change for the better.
The new gusset has a longer triangulation, the length of the new gusset is 12'' long, the same width as the flat part of the step plate.
Again, I cut the plate stock on my trusty band saw.

The off cuts will be used for the mounting bracket reinforcement gussets.
The off cut pieces will form a long triangulation. If I use a triangular gusset at 45*, the gusset would be big. The gusset covers the recovery clevis sticking out of the backside of the bumper. You can see the back side of the clevis in the fourth picture. The longer triangular gusset fits better than a 45* gusset and I'm making the most out of the 12'' stock.

Hitch box receiver.....

The receiver had a powder coating as a finish, the coating had to come off for welding. I used a flap disk on a grinder to remove the powder coating. The receiver cap edges were cleaned up as well.

Originally, the cap was welded on, using two 1'' (approx.) welds, leaving a crack around the the cap and receiver, a great place for rust to form.

I decided to attach the cap, welding all the way around to eliminate the crack.
The inside of the receiver also had a crack, so I sealed it up with smaller welds. The inside welds will be ground flat to retain the original dimensions, other wise I'll look like a dumb ***, trying to mount a ball mount.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to grind the inside weld today, I'll do that later in the shop.

 

[4307]

Oh! I remembered to take a pic of the weld on the inside of the bumpers box midsection, welds reinforcing the inside angular plates that give the bumper it's shape.
These welds were tricky, there's a lot of slag that I will try to clean up.

A blob of lithium grease will be added to the inside of the box to catch slag rolling around reducing the little rattling sounds.
Not that I'll be able to hear it on the trail anyway LOL. At work we use grease on the inside of car seat frames, to catch loose punch slugs and weld slag.
It makes a big difference in noise reduction on car seats. The seat is closer to your ear than a bumper, I hope! But what the heck... I'm doing it because I have grease and because I just wouldn't feel right not doing it.... sheesh, thats what happens after welding 2 million car seats. LOL!
The grease will be added to the box sections before they're sealed up.
There you have it! Justification! LOL.

The internal welds....

Now its time to weld the hitch box receiver to the bumper.

The receiver was welded 360* around on the front and back.
The welds on the inside of the box section of the bumper have welds on the top and sides, front and back. I did this for more strength. Tricky internal welds but it came out fairly good.

There was room left to apply weld behind the front receiver cap. I wanted good welds in there. I didn't want to weld the outside edge of the cap to the bumper face, besides, there are welds on the back side of the cap, preventing me from mounting it flush. A leveling weld will be added later and ground flush making the cap look like its one piece to the bumper.... Oooh Wow!

Before the receiver was welded in, I made sure the receiver holes on the backside had enough room for the receiver / ball mount lock, with room for welds.
Can't forget that!

 

[4307]

While I was at it, I finally added welds 360* around the recovery points (clevis points)
I took my time, was running low on gas, but managed to get it done. Clevis edges will be rounded out, buzzing the edges with a die grinder and refined with a Dremel.

With gas running low, I figured I could still get away with welding in the gussets for the frame mounts.
Long semi supported steel tends to bend with heat from welds. To prevent skewing the distance between the two mounting brackets from heat, I used my Hi-Lift jack to slightly spread the brackets supporting the original spec. I welded one side first, then flipped the jack to the other side and welded the gusset.
By spreading the brackets by 1/4 '' more than spec. I can assure the brackets will still line up with the truck frame.
If the spec. is a tad wider that's fine, if it's narrow because of heat warping, that's bad.
So I decided to play it safe. I let the welds cool down to the touch before I removed the jack. In the end the distance between the brackets was increased by 1/8'', total, so I know the spec is still good.

The gussets welded in place....

With shielding gas and sun light running low, I wasn't able to weld the step plate and gusset in place. Instead I brought the bumper back in the shop and took some pics of the receiver lock, step plate and gusset in place to give you a idea of how it will be pieced together....

It's suppose to rain for the next three days, I'm hoping there will be a nice day next week and hopefully finish the main part of the bumper.

Well, I thought last week, all I needed was one more day of work....
Ya right!
O.K..... Now, all I need is one more day of work.... I think.... LOL.

 

[4307]

:coffeedrink: What do ya think?

 

[Willman]

Clean fitting and welds my friend!

Can't wait to see this mounted up!

Ok...you asked...

The only thing i can see (very small).....is that the gussets could have been bigger where the mounts met the bumper....the reason i think that they need to be bigger is the off angle pull in a time recovery....my .02

Other than that.....she looks sweet

Keep up the great work!

 

[4307]

Hmmm... good point Will.

I could add a second gusset maybe larger on the bottom of the frame bracket, thanks for the opinion.
I'm now thinking the 45* gusset will work well. The additional gusset could do, double duty, as a bracket for the rock lights I'm mounting.
Oh! I just had another idea pop in my head.

Thanks Will! :coffeedrink:

 

[Willman]

Hmmm...... good point Will.

I could add a second gusset maybe larger on the bottom of the frame bracket, thanks for the opinion.
I'm now thinking the 45* gusset will work well. The additional gusset could do, double duty, as a bracket for the rock lights I'm mounting.
Oh! I just had another idea pop in my head.

Thanks Will! :coffeedrink:

I used a piece of 3/8" flat bar....here is a picture

Hope this helps!

 

[4307]

Will. What are the dementions of your gussets?

I have 3/8 stock kicking around.

 

[RoundOut]

AWESOME bumper build!

I am absolutely thrilled with reading every syllable of your write up. You have an amazingly creative and functional bumper build, here. I love the angles you designed, and especially the functionality of the 45* angle 2x2 tubing used in the outer edges for future rear quarter panel slider adaptation. That is a phenominal idea and a really unique design, and I bet adds a ton of strength to the corners overall.

Having built my own (designed my own & had someone else cut & weld it because I didn't have the tools and knowledge), I am seeing all kinds of ideas that I would employ if I ever build another one. By the way, I also used a bunch of ideas from Willman's build. LOL. Nic has a great bumper, for sure.

Also, great work on the shop! I am envious.

Keep up the excellent fabbing and verbose write-ups. It is a pleasure to read.

 

[4307]

Thanks for the kind words, it made my ****ty day a lot better.

I agree! Will's bumper really motivated me to build. I was glued to that build for a long time.
The bumper design was thought out on paper, illustrated on computer.
Even though the bumper was pre-designed it still went through multiple changes as the fabrication was taking place, and will go through more changes, over the winter until completion.
Fine tuning is one thing I really enjoy about design and fabrication.
I'm taking my time savoring the build, thinking and re-engineering.

I love feed back, it only helps me, positive or negative.

There has been a lot of interest in the bumper and have been asked if I consider producing the design.... I never thought about it, but it is a possibility, the timing maybe right... thats another story. It sparked something in me. A nice dream.

I'm glad you're enjoying the write up, I'm hoping it helps and inspires others to build and design their own projects. That was the main reason I include a lot of pics and detailed the steps.
Photobucket's pestering me about bandwidth, LOL...

I'll be writing all my builds in this fashion there's a lot more to come, just getting started..... stay tuned!

RoundOut.... Thanks again!