Smoothie bumpers

[Bow tie downunder]

Hi Chevynut
Could you please post some photos of you bumper build
Mick

[NickP]

I checked out his build page in hopes of finding something other than finished but to no avail; http://www.picturetrail.com/chevynut

You might ask him about the missing images from this post elsewhere. I guess WWIII or some other malady destroyed the data. As memory serves me, quite a nice segment. https://www.trifive.com/forums/showt...light=smoothie

Did a google search and sprinkled in here is his nomad: https://www.google.com/search?biw=15..._3hnKY9gdvwhM:

[chevynut]

I removed a lot of the pics from my Picturetrail so they wouldn't show up on the other site. I wanted to re-post the thread here but never have.

The front and rear process is about the same. I used 3-piece bumpers and welded them together. Some guys claim that a 56 1-piece bumper is better to start with but I'm not convinced of that. The nice thing is that there are no pieces to line up, but the downside is you can't narrow it if you want to. I narrowed both of mine just a little to fit tighter to the body.

I started with the nicest pieces I could find in my bumper parts stash of 5-6 bumpers. I removed all the rivets to get the brackets off and removed the chrome, copper, and nickel where I needed to weld. I TIG welded everything to keep it as clean as possible.

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I wanted to eliminate all the visible bolts on the outside of the bumpers so I made some brackets similar to what Danchuk bumpers use.

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Then I attached the bumper brackets to the frame and bolted on the parts where I wanted them and tacked them together, then proceeded to weld them from the front.

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Next I cut the overlapped portion off on the backside and welded it up too. I had to make a couple of horizontal slits to make everything line up correctly.....that's where a 1-piece bumper might help. I then did a little "bodyworking" to make sure it was all straight and ground the backside. I left the two front mounting holes on each side for last, so I could use them to hold the bumper in place.

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Since I narrowed the bumper a little I had to cut down the braces. I planned to push the bumper rearward a little so I made the diagonal ones little short to allow that.

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I then welded and ground the bolt holes and tacked the bolt brackets in place.

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The last thing I did was modify the frame brackets. I put the bumper where I wanted it and made the brackets to match, then welded and ground the remaining holes and tacked the frame brackets to the backside of the bumper. Once it was all tacked, I TIG welded the brackets on.

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Before sending out for chrome I did some more finishing, but it was probably a waste of time since the platers expect to do that. Here's a pic of what it looked like before I sent it for chrome....

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After chrome....

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[scorpion1110]

That just looks right. Nicely done.

S

[chevynut]

That just looks right. Nicely done.

Thanks, as you can see by the dates it took a long time to do, but it wasn't like that was all I was working on either.

Here's the rear one that I finished a lot faster:

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[Bow tie downunder]

Thanks Chevynut and NCW
They look great. I like the welded brackets that hold the bumper.The photos tell a better story. I purchased a repop chrome bumper but the fit was pretty bad .I couldn't get the centre to line up with the ends .I have a good core which I plan to smooth out.
Once again thanks for your help

[567chevys]

Thanks for posting Chevynut ,

Long Journey but coming along good and looks very Nice !


Sid

[ykf7b0]

You Sir are a true craftsman!!!