After I got the front guard on, on my trail ride test run, the day I posted about, I also did some brush busting. Going forward was great, a lot less worry with that push bar, I was plowing over sma 2″ to 3″ diameter trees!
But when I couldn’t get through where I was trying to make a trail, turning around meant a 12(more like 20!) point turn in narrow quarters, pushing against/over what I had to… And it was a lot of pushing against the rear rack, rack walls, and fenders.
Decided then that I need a rear bumper/guard.
Lots of research later, I decided on the simple tube bumper style, and preferably one big tube. Hoping I could get curved ends..
To the scrap pile we go!
Bunk bed frame ends, just happened to be wider than the racks and plastic, but narrow enough to match overall…
Some creative cutting, and more cutting…
Amazed me, those 3/8″ cross bars were solid, not tubing!
Mock up of Mount positioning…
Simple brackets, angle irons welded into slits cut in the tube.
Getting it all squared and oriented right, those slits aligned, and the brackets squared in to get the curved bumper ends level/square was a pain… But worth it.
And some welding, which I didn’t get pics of. Worked out perfect… Ran everything together, got it all. Then decided to touch up a spot, ran about 1/4″ of bead, and the wire stopped… Ran out of welding wire right there! (Man, that roll went FAST!!)
Had to move the winch fairlead down about 3/4″ to clear. Was easier to do that than notch the tube. 😉
Voila, crooked bumper mounted. 😉
I’d squared and leveled it to my accessory receivers… Forgot that the left side of the rack is still tweeked down a little, thus that tube is low on that side as well.
Adjusted the mount holes, little bigger for some tilt, and thus a level bumper!
Not sure I like the clearance I ended with. The rack wall corners stick out further than the bumper corners.
And everything else is only an inch, or two inside it… The idea was a brush guard more than anything, and a push bar so I don’t push with plastic or rack, and it should accomplish that.
Will run it for a while and see if I need it spaced out some (thinking 1″ max), but I *think* it’s ok.
Also wasn’t thrilled about the winch roller fairlead being recessed slightly.. But it’d take an extreme upward cable angle for it to rub the bumper, so that too *should* be fine. I didn’t want to space the fairlead out very far, reducing it’s stiffness to its bracket (figure all the pull of the winch, and weight of the wheeler rides on this rollers when in use!).
Amyway, thar she be!
Alaskan, Adventurer, Engineer. 