arcano Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 (edited) I finally got around to taking some pictures of my new rear bumper... My original bumper got pretty banged up in a road accident last year, so I started thinking about replacing it with a custom job. I got ideas from many bumpers I found on the internet, including XPLORX's and Pezzy's custom rear bumpers, as well as KMA's multicarrier and many other bumpers for other makes and models. After much research I ordered the spindle (RockLogic), shackle mounting brackets with backing plates (Expedition Exchange), toggle clamp and pull pins (McMaster-Carr). I designed the bumper on Google Sketchup and had a local shop fabricate it. The whole bumper is made of 3/16" steel, with 3/4" mounting brackets. Total cost was $860USD installed. I think they did an excelent job. Here is the final result: As you can see, now I have tons of rear clearance, and my departure angle is huge! I've had the bumper on since december, and it has worked great so far. Opening and closing is real smooth, and once closed its really solid. I still need to relocate the license plate, which is now completely covered by the spare tire. I thought I would get a ticket right away, but so far cops have either not noticed or not cared enough to stop me. Edited April 9, 2008 by arcano 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostPath Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 That looks pretty good! I was thinking about doing something similar for my WD21, good to see that it works out well with the similar body shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzy Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Not too shabby... nice job going around the sides too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Very nice, dude It cost a lot less than my bumper did! I hope it works well for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonianbrat Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Wow that is cool. I hope to have something just like that one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enjoi408 Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Great job! Do you have any pics on how you mounted it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fukinitupagain Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 (edited) Dude that thing looks nasty but where are you mounting your license plate? In the spare tire maybe? Edited March 17, 2008 by Fukinitupagain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDCCD Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Great job! Do you have any pics on how you mounted it? Yeah, it does look awesome, and i'm curious too on how it's mounted. Also, hows your view out the back? Looks pretty low as not to block the view too bad, nice detail there. What does your design offer for expansion? I'm thinking along the lines of a hilift mount and gas can... thanks for any answers. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogy2003 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 That looks really nice dude, not a bad price to have it custom fabd and installed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDCCD Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 That looks really nice dude, not a bad price to have it custom fabd and installed! I imagine being in Panama helped with that price lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcano Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the compliments. Really, I am the one who needs to congratulate everyone here for such a great site. Just about everything I have done to my truck has been inspired by stuff I have seen either here or in other forums like this. My bumper was mostly inspired by XPLORx4 and Pezzy's excelent writeups, plus ideas I got from other forums and sites. I shamelessly copied many of XPLORx4's mount ideas. I shopped off the standard bumper mounts (which are made out of really thin and soft metal) and cut little groves in the sheet metal to make the mounting bracket sit flush against the unibody. The bumper mounts using the stock hitch mounting points and 8 large bolts (M12, grade 10.9 of course). I also copied his idea of using four holes left by the spare tire hardware to attach the hitch directly to the unibody for additional support when towing. Here are some pictures of the original design I made, which shows the mounting brackets: There are more pictures during fabrication here The standard NISSAN hitch uses an additional 2 mounting holes that go straight up into the unibody. Some people, including XPLORx4 I believe, used these mounting locations to further reinforce the bumper mount. I decided to keep the design simple and the cost down and only use the main 8 mounting holes, and I've had no problems so far. Visibility is also great out the back, and the spare tire sits low and far enough that I can still open the rear glass without opening the swingout tire carrier! Regarding the cost, I agree that being in Panama helped a little, since labor is not as expensive as in the US. Also, consider that I spent close to $150 on hardware, including push pins, latch, spindle, etc. So, total cost came out to about a grand. Edited March 19, 2008 by arcano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmorgan4 Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Were the drawings you have made with real dimensions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcano Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 Were the drawings you have made with real dimensions? The "design" i am refering to is really a 3d model I did with Google Sketchup (which is free). All models in SketchUp are fully dimensionable, and I built the model based on real life dimensions I took of my truck, but the measurements were taken mostly with a measuring tape or a ruler, some with a vernier caliper, so the model is only an approximation to show the shop what I wanted the bumper to "look like". My agreement with the shop was that they would follow my model as a conceptual design, but I left them my truck for a week so they could re-measure everything and do the "real life" fitting. So, the model is close, but has some level of inaccuracy and may as well have some significant errors I don't know about. I can send the model by e-mail to anyone who thinks it may be useful. You will need Google Sketchup, which you can get for free here By the way, check out whats next... Can you say winch bumper!!! (the front bumper is also included in the model file, by the way...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathyin72401 Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 that thing is sweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUELER Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 NICE BUMPER! You already got the attention of people all over the world! http://pcoa.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2645 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDCCD Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 did you receive the pm i sent you a couple of weeks ago? I'd love to get that plan you offered. Thanks for your time and a great write up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breemania Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 The "design" i am refering to is really a 3d model I did with Google Sketchup (which is free). All models in SketchUp are fully dimensionable, and I built the model based on real life dimensions I took of my truck, but the measurements were taken mostly with a measuring tape or a ruler, some with a vernier caliper, so the model is only an approximation to show the shop what I wanted the bumper to "look like". My agreement with the shop was that they would follow my model as a conceptual design, but I left them my truck for a week so they could re-measure everything and do the "real life" fitting. So, the model is close, but has some level of inaccuracy and may as well have some significant errors I don't know about. I can send the model by e-mail to anyone who thinks it may be useful. You will need Google Sketchup, which you can get for free here By the way, check out whats next... Can you say winch bumper!!! (the front bumper is also included in the model file, by the way...) Wow that looks awesome! Do you have the final prints for this? Please send them to me when you get a chance. Awesome job, Nice work. Thank you. Breemania! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DsR50 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 any pics of this on a rig? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick13 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 I like you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 I like turtles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoesandsocks Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 so is it legal to drive with since u block the plate in the back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor636 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Good luck getting an answer, this thread has risen from the dead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick13 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 (edited) I like you. I like when I leave my computer logged in and my kids post something. Little snots. Edited February 24, 2013 by Rick13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 I would assume a plate relocation would be in order to keep the red and blues out of your mirror over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 You can always relocate the plate to the center of the spare tire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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