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Custom bumpers

Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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So, there was a miscalculation during all this planning prior to mounting the bumper. I went ahead and mounted the boxes with the old bumper in place, since I didn't have the new one yet. The boxes were mounted so that the bumper stuck out about 1" farther on each side than the boxes. This would keep things like trees from grabbing the boxes.

Well wouldn't you know...the MRAP bumper is 4" shorter than the factory one. This left each box hanging 1" PAST the end of the bumper which can be seen in the first picture. I didn't see that one coming. I figured it'd be longer if anything since, after all, it is from a big bad MRAP, right? Not the end of the world. I didn't build the box bracket to be modified though. It was what it was.

So I needed to make some end extensions for the bumper and there were already 4 holes on each end for mounting. I took a few measurements and came to the conclusion that this was going to be harder than it looked...at least for me. To make the extensions would require multiple angled cuts and welds to make them match the bumper. I suck at angles, I really do.

So I go to the rally with boxes sticking out and worry about grabbing a tree and ripping a box off. Seriously, this annoyed me the whole time because by my own "design", it was unfinished. I got many compliments at the rally which were comforting and appreciated but in my mind I hadn't finished the project and it was driving me nuts.

Then I came across a table next to the MKT food trailer. It had these lifting rings sitting in a basket and I stared at them for a minute trying to find a use for them. Then it hit me...

Dual purpose extensions. These rings are 1" thick, use 3/4" bolts and stick out from the mounting surface about 3". Now I have to weld up the small holes on the ends and it'll be finished. I think I got these from Pctrans (Thanks buddy) but was so happy with the find that I forgot to chat him up. If anybody seen me running across the field, giggling like a little schoolgirl, I was going to test fit them on the truck, lol. This was my favorite find at the rally and they were mounted and painted about 2 hours after I stepped out of the truck from the trip home.

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I'm waiting on a GL auction to end so I can get the rest of the metal needed for the top grill guard. The grill guard will also be sourced from MRAP surplus if the auction ends in my favor.

Yeah, I rambled a little bit...
 
Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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Swamp Donkey said:
I think it was June 2012. It was ink stamped and is now painted, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

For reference, here is a picture of the winch guard and slave port bracket I need NSNs for. I can make them but I'd like for them to at least look correct. I come across a lot of MRAP stuff but it's hard to tell what's what when you don't get to see the whole thing up close.

View attachment 588074
Click to expand...
Above is a quote from earlier in the thread to reference some parts I was looking for.

One of the things I have yet to do on the bumper was to mount a fairlead directly to it. With the winch so far back, pulling anything from a lower point than the bumper will obviously cause the cable to contact the front edge. This proves a little restictive given how high the bumper sits. I went to the local steel place a couple weeks ago to get some plate to make a fairlead mount. They put up their remnants for sale on Fridays for scrap price and I was able to find enough pieces of 1/2" material to make a suitable mount. I started making cuts that evening and planned to weld and drill it that next morning.

I ran through my usual Ebay searches that next morning before getting started and what do I find....Unobtainium! The factory winch mount that is predrilled to bolt onto my RG-33 bumper is staring me in the face. The only one I've ever seen in the wild. Just bolt it on and go!

Of course it was in California and I'm in Georgia. I had to give FedEx almost as much as I gave the seller being that it weighs about a little over 100#. Such is life...it was coming to Jawja.

Of note is that this mount is specific for my bumper, but not the winch. There was a short frame and long frame version of the Warn winches. The bracket and bumper are predrilled for the short frame but I have a long frame winch. The long frame winch has a longer fairlead too. The mount bolts directly to the bumper but I had to drill 4 new holes for the fairlead. The mag-drill made quick work of that. The bolt hole patterns are detailed in this post:

Winch Support NSN: 5340-01-566-9857

My needle in a field of haystacks...

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Andrmorr

Andrmorr

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Looking good ! My bumper (The cratemate to your bumper) is still in the crate beside the winch still in the crate, beside the new hood still in the crate...etc...etc...Who cares about winning the lottery for money, I need to win a lottery for more time in a day! Your setup looks so good I've got to find a winch mount too now...keep me in mind if you can/do run across another one...

My new (SD inspired) mantra I repeat 100 times in the mirror each morning... :grd:
 
Mos68x

Mos68x

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Mike929 said:
Thought I would include this in-country custom bumper:
Click to expand...
Looks like something off of Mad Max lol

I like the idea rolled around in here of using the 4 shackle mount points, and pivoting off the bottom set. But when I extend the front pat of the chassis for the winch that means it'll also push the brush guard out too which I'm not good with. I like to have my guards tucked up close for a couple reasons...aesthetic and so the headlights aren't shrouded and leave you with "blind-spots" in your night vision. How to mount it close to the grill is the challenge, no matter what it'll have to pivot so that the hood can come up.
 
srodocker

srodocker

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Still thinking of a bumper that attaches to the shackle points like a push bumper of sort. Or one of those bumpers that are similar to the wrap around hood ones like on HMMWVs. Would be sweet
 
Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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Andrmorr said:
Looking good ! My bumper (The cratemate to your bumper) is still in the crate beside the winch still in the crate, beside the new hood still in the crate...etc...etc...Who cares about winning the lottery for money, I need to win a lottery for more time in a day! Your setup looks so good I've got to find a winch mount too now...keep me in mind if you can/do run across another one...

My new (SD inspired) mantra I repeat 100 times in the mirror each morning... :grd:
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late response. Been doing the vacation thing.

Just drop your truck off down here and I'll get it all mounted for you. I find it hard to believe that was the only mount that was released. That was the only one the seller had though, and the only one I've seen for sale period.

SLOrazorsedge said:
Swamp, I've got the same MRAP NOS bumper as a future project for my M923A1. Any pics of how you fabricated brackets etc to install it are appreciated. Thanks brother
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I'll see what I can do this week. There will be some further reinforcements added in the near future. The way I have it mounted now was designed for pushing only. I'll tie it to the frame better to compensate for the large load that'll be placed on it from the fairlead.
 
Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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Mos68x said:
Hey SD, how about you draw it up in Sketchy? Or at least PM me someone measurements so someone else can.
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Most things I build were only meant to be deciphered by my mind. When I try to "put them to paper" they suddenly seem crazy or impossible. I put down the paper a long time ago, lol.

Have no fear though. Most everything I used was already there. I don't have a torch, plasma, water jet or any fancy cutting tools so fabricating a bunch of pieces takes forever. I also wanted to keep all 4 front shackles in their original places to maintain their rating, so this also created some limitations on how things were placed. The way the bumper is mounted was actually done by 440duster first. I changed a few things he did to make it work better for my situation. I got my bumper from him. It made the long trip from OK to GA. I'll see if I can find that thread.

All my build pictures are on my computer. I'll get some posted up that were before everything was primed and painted so it'll be easier to see what I did. With the pictures and a couple pointers, it'll become clear how easy it was. No Sketchy needed. I'll also include the winch mount and box bracket pictures. This is where I spent all my fabrication time since all of that was made from scratch.

Just have to fire up that old dinosaur of a computer and see if it'll let me have my pictures back...
 
Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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Der De Der.....the thread I was looking for was this one, lol. Most of my pictures are already here too. I'll put something better together this week.
 
Mos68x

Mos68x

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No, I meant just for that RARE part, nothing else. I use Sketchy all the time, especially to verify that everything will work out as planned with minimal surprises. If that part is really that hard to get a hold of then it might benefit more than one person to get measurements from it so I can duplicate it in the digital sense so I can have it made. I know I saw a thread that mentioned using the NSN to get measurements but I don't remember wher to ask that person. Besides that, although I vaguely remember seeing something along those lines when I was still active duty I sure don't remember how I got there for whatever it was I was trying order at that time.
 
Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey

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Mos68x said:
No, I meant just for that RARE part, nothing else. I use Sketchy all the time, especially to verify that everything will work out as planned with minimal surprises. If that part is really that hard to get a hold of then it might benefit more than one person to get measurements from it so I can duplicate it in the digital sense so I can have it made. I know I saw a thread that mentioned using the NSN to get measurements but I don't remember wher to ask that person. Besides that, although I vaguely remember seeing something along those lines when I was still active duty I sure don't remember how I got there for whatever it was I was trying order at that time.
Click to expand...
I gotcha. Some of that was for SLOrazorsedge. He had inquired about details for mounting the bumper. I'll also include the bracket measurements and specifics though.

You can run the NSN through Parttarget to get some specifications. It can be hit or miss though. Some parts will have nothing and others will have more information than you'd think possible. I looked up a toggle switch a while back and it listed the friction coefficient necessary to throw the switch, lol.
 
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