350outrage
Adventurer
You could buy welder, chop saw, materials, take a welding class at your local vo-tech, and STILL have money left over from what you'd pay for Buckstop. Plus, just looking, its gotta weigh at least 250#.
UJOR Build Thread
- Thread starter ujoint
- Start date
86scotty
Cynic
Try to find a used Reunel. Many have popped up in the last year or two here and on SMBforum. I got both of mine for much less than one new one. Heavy, yes. Bulletproof? Nuclear bomb proof.
Edit: I'll leave this but sorry Chris. I just realized this was on the UJOR build thread. Chris sells nice bumpers too!
Edit: I'll leave this but sorry Chris. I just realized this was on the UJOR build thread. Chris sells nice bumpers too!
CodyY
Explorer
And STILL not have 1/4 of all the stuff you actually need to build a proper bumper that works and looks good.
FarmerFrederico
Adventurer
On order! Thanks!
Does anyone know about switching to disc brakes on a full floating rear-end. I have a 2003 e350 with the discs , I'd like the full floater. I want to change my gears to 4:10's and thought I could probably buy a rear-end with those gears already then I would only have to change the front.
Mike
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mike
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
BajaSportsmobile
Baja Ironman
I can tell you from personal experience on a number of bumper builds over the years that A)Material costs these days for the quantity of raw goods that goes into a well built bumper will exceed $500. B) If the bumper is custom built or even just semi custom, it will be fabricated by hand and will take at least 20 hours of skilled labor to assemble and finish. Once you account for a tragically low profit margin, it is very very easy to get to $2k for a well built bumper.
SG
patoz
Expedition Leader
My original budget was a $1,000.00 for the Winch and $1,000.00 for the bumper, but I found out pretty quickly those prices went away back in the 80s and 90s!
mgmetalworks
Explorer
Well said spencyg! Even if you have a laser or cnc plasma do some of the work for you, somebody still has to sit down and design all of the parts. All of that time adds up and if a person values their time appropriately, it can add up to a lot.
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
But wait, there's another option; these days we have what's called the "World Wide Web" and on it you can find anything about anything. I'm sure someone on this new fangled technology has already "posted"(as they call it) a step-by-step instruction manual on how to design, fabricate, and build the most incredible bumper in the world...all for FREE! Gosh, I've even heard one rumor that the World Wide Web will build it for you, saving you time and money. <cheeky>:chef:
Actually, if you really want to push the limits I'll bet you could print one with a Makerbot
On a serious note, I don't want my "clarification" above to be taken as snarky or otherwise demeaning to anybody who questions the prices of custom fabricated goods. It is really easy in this world we live in to expect all items to be cheaper, better, and faster as time marches on. For commodity goods where mass manufacturing and production scale can be leveraged, often times the price of something that was "really expensive" 10 years ago is infact very cheap now (think LCD screens). For custom goods where small quantities dictate manual manufacturing processes, labor and material costs drive baseline retail prices which, when compared to some Chinese mass manufactured knockoff, seem insane. It isn't that a $2,000 bumper is making some shop owner a boatload of money...it just isn't the case. I would expect maybe a $200 profit on a $2000 bumper once overhead for the equipment, the cost of skilled labor, and the price of materials is taken into account. Would you do all that work for $200 in profit? I'll bet not. I've been asked many times to build custom vehicle hardware and I don't even provide rough pricing anymore....the jaw hits the floor, they feel I'm somehow taking advantage of their inquiry, and nothing good comes of it. If you own a bunch of fab equipment and have the skills to use them, than that $500 bumper might be within reach as long as you aren't accounting for time or the investment cost of your equipment.
SG
Last edited:
350outrage
Adventurer
Actually, if you really want to push the limits I'll bet you could print one with a Makerbot
On a serious note, I don't want my "clarification" above to be taken as snarky or otherwise demeaning to anybody who questions the prices of custom fabricated goods. It is really easy in this world we live in to expect all items to be cheaper, better, and faster as time marches on. For commodity goods where mass manufacturing and production scale can be leveraged, often times the price of something that was "really expensive" 10 years ago is infact very cheap now (think LCD screens). For custom goods where small quantities dictate manual manufacturing processes, labor and material costs drive baseline retail prices which, when compared to some Chinese mass manufactured knockoff, seem insane. It isn't that a $2,000 bumper is making some shop owner a boatload of money...it just isn't the case. I would expect maybe a $200 profit on a $2000 bumper once overhead for the equipment, the cost of skilled labor, and the price of materials is taken into account. Would you do all that work for $200 in profit? I'll bet not. I've been asked many times to build custom vehicle hardware and I don't even provide rough pricing anymore....the jaw hits the floor, they feel I'm somehow taking advantage of their inquiry, and nothing good comes of it. If you own a bunch of fab equipment and have the skills to use them, than that $500 bumper might be within reach as long as you aren't accounting for time or the investment cost of your equipment.
SG
Well said SpencyG. I've built 3 bumpers, and for a lot less than $2500, but mine were pretty simple and the $2500 certainly d/n account for my time. Also I scrounged some scrap, so d/n have to pay for materials. Any attempt to make the bumper look even Relatively civilized will take up UNTOLD hours. (The grinding. . .OMG). I still think its worth it to make your own if you like metal work and can scrounge a lot of the raw materials like I've been lucky enough to do, but I'm not saying The high prices for custom bumpers is not worth it if you've got the bread and don't mind spending it. I sure w/n sell those bumpers I made for what cash I got in them!
Last edited: