Girder bumper

[ned]

so i messed up the welds on the face side, so then i gave 2 hours with various sanders trying to make it look presentable

I lined up the wheel for about an hour, and then tacked it.

the plate is not centered on the top of the bar
but the wheel is centered on the car, which is more important

I was jumping up and down on the bar. The bar alone weighs..... im gonna goess its 30 kilo

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Do you think you'll get pulled for having the rear number plate obscured/covered?

 

[ned]

Oh I would yes get pulled, totally. There are still a few jobs left to do


• locking mechanism
• checker plate step
• pin to secure lower part of spindle
• number plate
• paint

I did have some beers last night to celebrate getting it pinned onto the car, so I'll take it handy today lol, nice and soft.

 

[ned]

paint is accruing 'character'

Its not solid enough, will increase the size of the bolts holding it in place later

 

[knighty]

if there's room, put a spring behind it, top the vibration/chatter?

use a spring big enough to slide over the round bit and the square behind it?

 

[ned]

thats interesting. at the moment this knuckle is acting as a stop, and i have it filed such thats its a perfect fit. I'll see how it goes, its going to need testing.

Ive realised that this isnt enough, and I'll have to add another section to it, and additional fixing points.

ill get that done tomo and hopefully onto the checkerplate step
I'll weld this flush later. The numberplate will fit under the step, im not sure will it look odd there though.

 

[colnerov]

Hi, A suggestion, moved the triangular plate to the back of the bar and turn the antiluce through 90 degrees. That will recess it and that way you will be less likely to catch your leg on it when loading or unloading in the back of the vehicle. They tend to hurt a lot, I know from experience.

Colin

 

[ned]

Hi Colin, thanks for the suggestion, the tailgate opens down on a P38 do I dont think it will matter

 

[slim_boy_fat]

The numberplate will fit under the step, im not sure will it look odd there though.

Remember you'll need to reroute the illumination to it.

 

[ned]

yep.

started welding in the blank sections.

First I re-enforced the pivot point for the swing arm, i was jumping on the arm and I could see flex.

Then I welded it to the floor, and then braced it many many times.

will go out later and finish welding, grind clean tomo. Looking forward to spraying it.

passenger / driver

 

[ned]

day 2 in the cast and there is fresh steel. Will get the bits I missed tonight and cut away the braces tomo.
Ill put in some process pics cos there are people watching that dont know how to do this. They be like, 'we always see pics of finished products but not how to get there'. And the reality is, any item spends time looking like gak before it starts looking good.

 

[Barking Mat]

Fair bumper project.

Doing a fine job, I'm just catching up.

 

[ned]

Ah cheers Mat. Will be done soon.

process pics

Ive since done another round of welding, its looking pretty good, will finish welding tonight.

 

[Turbo]

Those clips can vibrate open when driving. The ones on my trailer opened, the tailboard detached, only held on by the lighting cable whilst bouncing along the road behind me!

I now have a small karabiner clip hooked through the bottom to stop this happening.

 

[Edward Teach]

Could you not have put the 'lock' in the centre of the wheel somewhere, fitted to the tailgate, it could act as a 'mount' and also help carry the weight of the wheel,
The spare wheel when driving, will generate plenty of leverage with the distance between itself, and the present locking mechanism
I know you have the spare wheel sitting on the bumper.

 

[sako243]

thats interesting. at the moment this knuckle is acting as a stop, and i have it filed such thats its a perfect fit. I'll see how it goes, its going to need testing.

Have it quite regularly on small trailers where when they are empty the bouncing / vibrations wiggles the pin up. Very much to do with the frequency of vibrations and everything else, once the trailers are loaded not normally an issue. We tend to use lynch pins to keep them shut.

 

[ned]

@Turbo @Edward Teach @sako243

Yep I think ye are all correct. Ill put a caribiner in there to stop it from escaping and think about a plan b.
Edward you are right about the movement, it does move. I always knew this would be a dangerous item, which is why the arm is so stupidly strong.

I am finding out the correct thing to do by doing the wrong thing first.

Did more work.

I reckon I have five passes with the welder over the course of three days in order to get the steel uniform and neat.
I built up the area around the hole with weld so that I can file it down with the grinder and make it neat.

Ill be cutting it free from the braces today and then there will be an long session with the grinder.

I made an MDF template for the step, and then I marked out and cut the step in checkerplate. this was going to be an expensive cut if i messed it up, but I didnt.
Used a bosch jigsaw for the aluminium and it went very well, better than I was expecting. Can do really quite nice lines with that thing.

Its not fixed in place yet. I think I'll bolt it down with four M6 roof bolts

or maybe some countersink bolts might be better. Not sure whats the tidiest way, to fix it in place?

I built this up some more, after considering the pressure it wil be under, bouncing around in the forest.

I'll go up the mountain soon as I get done, and see how it fares.

 

[stuvy]

Oh I would yes get pulled, totally. There are still a few jobs left to do


• locking mechanism
• checker plate step
• pin to secure lower part of spindle
• number plate
• paint

I did have some beers last night to celebrate getting it pinned onto the car, so I'll take it handy today lol, nice and soft.

Lock for the spare wheel to stop it getting stolen

 

[stuvy]

The antiluce will get moved when you’ve walked into a few times

 

[ned]

the antiluce only protrutes a few mm

dunno, you might be right, but I need to put my head down and deal with the big picture, and then revisit the more minor details later