Baja/Light Tube Bumper Build

[rider77 [OP]]

I know not everyone likes the look of tube bumpers and I know some question their functionality but I like the way they look and Ive wanted one for my FJ for awhile.

so heres the deal, my friend has a shop with many fab tools...among those tools are a tube bender, pipe notcher, mig welder, and chop saw...all the stuff I need to build a tube bumper. Im fairly mechanical and creative but I havent done a ton of metal fab, luckily my friend has. Im designing the bumper and together we are both fabbing it up over the next week or 2 depending on how much OT we have to do at work.

where my FJ stands right now; inner wheel well fenders are chopped, plastic bumper facade and metal subframe are removed...all is ready for fab.

Fabrication will start monday after work and I will take pictures during the whole process to show our progress for anyone who cares. Im not giving away all the details but its gonna be unique and will stand out from the croud (no raw metal finish, no aluminum skid). If all goes well that is

pictures to come soon! hoping it will be ready for Anza on the 24th

[o0synge0o]

Right on, looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I myself am torn between the plate style and the tube style, my taste changes week to week. I imagine it'll end up being an impulse buy. One day I'll jump on a good deal or one that stands out at that particular time....

Or maybe I'll find your design particularly attractive and.... :: looks up pricing on DOM tubing ::

[rider77 [OP]]

o0synge0o previously said:

Right on, looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I myself am torn between the plate style and the tube style, my taste changes week to week. I imagine it'll end up being an impulse buy. One day I'll jump on a good deal or one that stands out at that particular time....

Or maybe I'll find your design particularly attractive and.... :: looks up pricing on DOM tubing ::

by all means copy what I got if you like it, its probably gonna look similar to all the other tube bumpers out there anyway...im putting this up here because I havent seen too many people make their own metal fab stuff on here yet...most have friends with shops and after a few beers most can have a fairly descent bumper. I hope im not talking too soon.

the price for tubing is what did it for me. I really want a Demello plate bumper sometime because I see how its more functional than a tube bumper, looks cleaner, and is probably better in a crash...but its also $700 I dont have right now.

im sure you know how much 1 3/4" and 1 1/2" DOM or ERW cost and were kinda talking about the analogy of cost to make CD is to buying CD as to cost to make tube bumper is to cost to buy tube bumper. its a bit ridiculous but I understand business need to make money and id probably charge the same if I was in their place.

I figure its worth a shot, if I absolutely dont like it then Jason will get an order for a plate bumper

[FJDave]

If you absolutely don't like it, I'm sure someone here WILL like it and buy it from you, defraying the cost of the Demello bumper a bit

[WESBC]

You might want to keep your stock bumper BTW.

IIRC Demello's tube bumper recommends cutting up the stock bumper to close up the big gap at the top.

[neworleansparrothead]

I have my new tube bumper comin!!!! I will keep my stock bumper just for sentimental reasons but I am really pumped with my new one! It only weighs in at 110 pounds!

K

[WESBC]

neworleansparrothead previously said:

I have my new tube bumper comin!!!! I will keep my stock bumper just for sentimental reasons but I am really pumped with my new one! It only weighs in at 110 pounds!

K

Only 110lbs? Demello's and All-Pro's plate bumper weighs around 80#

[rider77 [OP]]

Tubig previously said:

Only 110lbs? Demello's and All-Pro's plate bumper weighs around 80#

the new Demello tube bumper integrated an under skid also so that adds some extra weight. I already have the Demello skid so im keeping that and stopping my bumper at the skid.

1 3/4" 0.120" wall mild steel weighs about 2 lbs per foot and im using about 20to 25 feet. adding in a few brackets i shouldnt be more than 60 lbs. Im making a thick carbon upper skid that will be very light (non functional, but it looks cool and i got a bunch of it lying around)

[rider77 [OP]]

Tubig previously said:

You might want to keep your stock bumper BTW.

IIRC Demello's tube bumper recommends cutting up the stock bumper to close up the big gap at the top.

ive been thinking about that too but I dont know if I can get the approach angle i want by only moving the main tube out as far as the stock bumper. Ill give it a try but if it doesnt work with my design then I will just fab up another carbon piece to fill in the gap much like the front prerunner skid.

theres a lot of ugly crap that tube bumpers dont cover up, atleast my cars black and I dont need to repaint a bunch of stuff.

[tibaal89]

I'm a huge fan of tube stuff!

Here's a pic of mine that a guy in Phoenix made... comes in around 50lbs.