DIY Rear Bumper + Spare Wheel Carrier + Something Extra

[Johannes van die See]

So I started with "Project Rear Bumper" to accommodate my next DYI "Spare Wheel Carrier" project.
The material I'm using is 152mm x 76mm U-Channel and 76mm x 6mm flat bar.
I'm using the chassis brackets of the original towbar to make things a bit easier.
The total weight of the bumper so far is 42kg, and the only things outstanding are the recovery points Carrier's and paint.
I'm considering removing access metal on the inside en bottom of the bumper to make it lighter.

This is the raw U-Channel I used as the main frame.


This is just a rough idea of what it will look like.


Front view of the raw bumper, carrier points, recovery points and paint work still to be done.


Rear view of the bumper with the original towbar chassis brackets.


These are the type of weld-on D-Rings I want to attache to the rear of the bumper, in line with the mounting brackets going to the chassis legs.


More photo's of progress to follow, any comments or suggestions welcome.

[CasKru]

Johannes... daaai lyk netjies. ek sal net voorstel jy heroorweeg daai weld on recovery punt. Ek persoonlik dink nie dit gaan die ding doen as jy seriously vas sit nie

[Thabogrobler]

Looks nice, maar hoekom sny jy nie deur die bakwerk op die bumper in lyn met die onderstel vas te maak nie? Dan sit die ou ook hoer en jy het 'n baie beter departure angle.

Sulke iets dalk?

[louis fourie]

Johan

Lyk goed. Watter dikte materiaal gebruik jy? Laat die fotos inrol

[bosjakkals]

Looks good wil follow the project closely

[Polarbear2008]

Nice Johannes!

Lyk baie goed so ver! Ek hou van die ontwerp - het jy dit oorweeg om die towball setup verwyderbaar te maak? Dan is ek dalk jou eerste customer ;)

[Mud Dog]

Looking good so far Johannes ....Nice and sturdy!

Agree with Cassie about the weld-on D-rings though .... a butt weld will never be quite up to scratch. Rather cut a bracket (10mm gauge with a pre drilled 20mm hole for the D-shackle) in through the bumper onto the side of the mounting plate. That way you can do a fairly long lap weld which is 100 times more superior in strength.

[Johannes van die See]

Johannes... daaai lyk netjies. ek sal net voorstel jy heroorweeg daai weld on recovery punt. Ek persoonlik dink nie dit gaan die ding doen as jy seriously vas sit nie

Cassie
Ek sien jou punt, ons gebruik die D-Rings baie op see, weld dit op die deck vas om enige iets vas te strap so
ek het gedink dit sal die job doen, maar wat jy se maak sin, ek sal my plan bietjie verander rondom die recovery points.

[Johannes van die See]

Looks nice, maar hoekom sny jy nie deur die bakwerk op die bumper in lyn met die onderstel vas te maak nie? Dan sit die ou ook hoer en jy het 'n baie beter departure angle.

Sulke iets dalk?

TG
Hoekom kom jy nou eers met die goeie idee? :evil:
Nou dat ek klaar alles vas geweld het, die laste wat ek nou wil doen is om die bumper uit mekaar te haal en oor te begin, maar ek is mal oor jou idee en dink ek moet een of ander tyd weer so projek aanpak en dit dan so doen soos jy voorstel.
Goeie voorstel, dankie!

[Johannes van die See]

Johan

Lyk goed. Watter dikte materiaal gebruik jy? Laat die fotos inrol

Louis die U-Channel se wand dikte is 8mm en die flatbar waarmee ek die kante toe gemaak het is 6mm.
Glo my die ding is hond sterk, en swaar, maar die standaard Vigo bumper weeg 40kg en my bumper weeg 42kg so
ek dink dit is binne perke.

[Johannes van die See]

Nice Johannes!

Lyk baie goed so ver! Ek hou van die ontwerp - het jy dit oorweeg om die towball setup verwyderbaar te maak? Dan is ek dalk jou eerste customer ;)

Theunis ek het eers beplan om die towball verwyderbaar te maak maar omdat ek soms swaar boot sleep wou ek nie
met veiligheid speel nie so ek het maar my ou drop plate gebruik.

[Johannes van die See]

Looking good so far Johannes ....Nice and sturdy!

Agree with Cassie about the weld-on D-rings though .... a butt weld will never be quite up to scratch. Rather cut a bracket (10mm gauge with a pre drilled 20mm hole for the D-shackle) in through the bumper onto the side of the mounting plate. That way you can do a fairly long lap weld which is 100 times more superior in strength.

Andy I like this idea, indeed much stronger!
Thanks for your input

[OOOOMS]

Baie netjies Johannes 80% daar :wink2:

[Mud Dog]

Looks nice, maar hoekom sny jy nie deur die bakwerk op die bumper in lyn met die onderstel vas te maak nie? Dan sit die ou ook hoer en jy het 'n baie beter departure angle.

Sulke iets dalk?

TG
Hoekom kom jy nou eers met die goeie idee? :evil:
Nou dat ek klaar alles vas geweld het, die laste wat ek nou wil doen is om die bumper uit mekaar te haal en oor te begin, maar ek is mal oor jou idee en dink ek moet een of ander tyd weer so projek aanpak en dit dan so doen soos jy voorstel.
Goeie voorstel, dankie!

Basies hoef jy net die mounting brackets te modify / verander .... die res sal nog reg wees daarvoor.

[Andre du preez]

Good job!!!

[Gysie]

Johannes - dit lyk nice - maar persoonlik as jy kan probeer die bumper hoer sit sodat jou departure angle beter is. Wat jy dan kan doen is om jou recovery points deel van die bracket te maak omrede jy moet onder die bak deur kom en dan op. Weereens dit is my opienie en ek weet sal dit so opneem.

Ek sit n foto by om te help.

[Johannes van die See]

Johannes - dit lyk nice - maar persoonlik as jy kan probeer die bumper hoer sit sodat jou departure angle beter is. Wat jy dan kan doen is om jou recovery points deel van die bracket te maak omrede jy moet onder die bak deur kom en dan op. Weereens dit is my opienie en ek weet sal dit so opneem.

Ek sit n foto by om te help.

Yes Ciske
Thanks vir die raad, dit lyk baie mooi en ek is jammer ek het nie vroer hieraan gedink nie want ekt reeds
heelwat tyd in gesit op die een. Dalk moet ek die een klaar maak en verkoop en weer n nuwe projek aanpak met
n bumper wat bietjie hoer sit.
Die een wat ek nou gemaak het is presies die selfde as die standaard pyp bumper so dit is nie asof hy laer is nie
so enige iemand anders wat die selfde lux het sal moontlik kan belangstel om die een van my hande af te neem.

Thanks vir die raad tjom, en weereens geluk met jou nuweling, wens julle baie vreugde toe.

Cheers

[Rooikappie]

Wat van so iets vir IFS??
Ek het die CAD tekeninge as iemand belangstel.

Lourens
erasm@netactive.co.za

^

[Thabogrobler]

Johannes - dit lyk nice - maar persoonlik as jy kan probeer die bumper hoer sit sodat jou departure angle beter is. Wat jy dan kan doen is om jou recovery points deel van die bracket te maak omrede jy moet onder die bak deur kom en dan op. Weereens dit is my opienie en ek weet sal dit so opneem.

Ek sit n foto by om te help.

LIKE!

[Thabogrobler]

Wat van so iets vir IFS??
Ek het die CAD tekeninge as iemand belangstel.

Lourens
erasm@netactive.co.za

^

Dit lyk baie netjies, maak nou net dat die brackets reguit van die onderstel af, deur die bakwerk agter toe loop, dan het jy 'n onverbeterlike wen resep!

[OOOOMS]

Mooi! Amper tyd vir fitment

[pietpetoors]

Also started mine this weekend
Below some before and after pics.

Cost so far before painting is about R800.00
Johannes from the Sea, me and I, we bought one length of the channel and divided it in four.
So if somebody wants my extra piece you can collect it at R350.00

Before I started, the distance from bottom of body to bottom of pipe tow bar was 160mm, the new one is also 160mm so it is at the same place. Weight of the old pipe thing was 19Kg, weight of new one is 35Kg, so not much of a difference.

I also considered moving it up as some suggested, but because the chassis sits so high I cannot see how you can build a strong enough bracket as the only place where you can than attach the bracket is at the bottom of the channel, unless of course you cut the body which I wont do. That might be a project for next year.

Before

After

[Johannes van die See]

Lekker Pieter, how's the sanding part going, I hate that part
Well my bumper is done, next step is building the wheel carrier

Check out the aluminium plate on top of the bumper, who can guess where that came from.......

[cheetah]

Mooi bumper Johan .
Jou bakkie lyk regtig spoggerig.

[Mud Dog]

Lekker Pieter, how's the sanding part going, I hate that part
Well my bumper is done, next step is building the wheel carrier

Check out the aluminium plate on top of the bumper, who can guess where that came from.......

Looking good Johannes .... even with the alu stair bull-nose strip.

[Family_Dog]

Nice, Johannes!


-F_D

[Johannes van die See]

Thanks for the compliments ouens, the Alu plate used to be my old running boards which I decided to
cut and use for this purpose, I think it looks better on the bumper than lying in the garage.

[Johannes van die See]

Update

Now busy with the spare wheel carrier, using trailer stub axels.
Will not be fitting it to the bumper in a hole on the side, will bolt it to the rear left side of the bumper.

[Modder]

Nice man!! Dit gaan 'n lekker setup wees as jy klaar is...

[pietpetoors]

That stub axle is a pretty nice idea, looks good

[Johannes van die See]

Thanks ouens, en die beste is ek kry al die goeie idees en raad op die forum!

[Johannes van die See]

Update on the wheel carrier.

[Mud Dog]

That looks very neat, Johannes. Well done!

Two problems that I can see though. Neither should be too difficult to rectify.

The first is the bolt on / bolt off idea, that the whole carrier cannot be unbolted to steal the spare. You could just change the bolts for the type where you require a special socket key like on the wheel nuts / bolts, or the allen key type. They would perhaps still be able to get them loose with a vice-grip, unless they were countersunk or shrouded with a short section of pipe welded into place.

The second id that the upright stanchion is going to be too weak to carry a heavy spare for too long before metal fatigue cracks the metal or the weld. You could overcome that buy welding in some gussets for reinforced support, either on the two sides or the front and back as in the pics below.

[Johannes van die See]

Hi Andy
Thanks for your input, all valid points. With the bolts I thought about tack welding it after final assembly.
And I will most definitely add more support to the vertical arm for more strength. These photo's shows today's progress. Thanks once again for your advice!

[BlumTRD]

Dis baie goed gedoen

[Mud Dog]

Johannes, don't tack weld the bolts ... you never know when you might have to remove the carrier for whatever reason. Rather use the 'unusual' type bolt head or make at least one bolt long enough to drill a hole through the threaded shank that protrudes through on the inside so that you can put a small padlock through the bolt. (Just never loose the key, LOL).

[Johannes van die See]

Johannes, don't tack weld the bolts ... you never know when you might have to remove the carrier for whatever reason. Rather use the 'unusual' type bolt head or make at least one bolt long enough to drill a hole through the threaded shank that protrudes through on the inside so that you can put a small padlock through the bolt. (Just never loose the key, LOL).

Andy, good morning.

I was lying in bed last night thinking about the bolt issue.......
If you look at the most common carrier type you'll see that it slides into a pype on the bumper and are fixed
to the bumper by making use of one big nut and split pin, the same method is used on the top side
to fasten the bearings.
If one would wanna steel the spare wheel it will surely be much easier and quicker to remove the bearing cap, then the split pin and then the nut, to lift the whole carrier off, the same with the mounting shaft nut and split pin, so my method of using
four bolts would surely be the long way around to remove the carrier.
I agree that I have to do something to discourage any long fingered skelems.

My next "kop krap" part is figuring out how I'm going to build a locking mechanism........

[Johannes van die See]

Dis baie goed gedoen

Thanks David

[george]

Hi johannes.Dit lyk goed. 'n Ander ding wat ek destyds op myne gesit het was 'n shock absorber om hom makliker oop te kry.Dit het dan sommer as 'n stopper gewerk

[Johannes van die See]

Hi johannes.Dit lyk goed. 'n Ander ding wat ek destyds op myne gesit het was 'n shock absorber om hom makliker oop te kry.Dit het dan sommer as 'n stopper gewerk

shock.JPG

]
Yes George, ek like daai idee, dalk doen ek dit ook.

Didn't do much today as I destroyed my drill and couldn't carry on working, need to bay a new drill, oops.

Carrier Updates.

[OOOOMS]

Gaan dit nou voor Xmas klaar wees

[Mud Dog]

Looking good so far there Johannes .... ja, I suppose what you say about the bearing cap removal is true too, but it's still a good idea to make it more difficult for any skelms.

My next "kop krap" part is figuring out how I'm going to build a locking mechanism........

Keep it simple .... replace the top left hand side bolt of the drop plate with a similar size tail gate clip (like in the pic that Thys posted a while ago) ... they don't rattle and are lockable with a padlock. Then all you have to do is weld a small "drop plate" with a single hole to line up with the clip ... you position the plate so that it also acts as a stopper to prevent the swing-arm from touching the bodywork. ... Done and dusted!

[Johannes van die See]

Looking good so far there Johannes .... ja, I suppose what you say about the bearing cap removal is true too, but it's still a good idea to make it more difficult for any skelms.

My next "kop krap" part is figuring out how I'm going to build a locking mechanism........

Keep it simple .... replace the top left hand side bolt of the drop plate with a similar size tail gate clip (like in the pic that Thys posted a while ago) ... they don't rattle and are lockable with a padlock. Then all you have to do is weld a small "drop plate" with a single hole to line up with the clip ... you position the plate so that it also acts as a stopper to prevent the swing-arm from touching the bodywork. ... Done and dusted!

Good morning Andy.
Yes I remember the clip that Thys posted, not saying its a bad idea but I think I'll go that way if my first attempt
at building the locking latch fails, it just looks so much more lekke!
First I need to go buy a new electrical drill today, I was busy drilling a 16mm hole when the bit decided to bite and instead
of twisting my strong "skommel" arm it stripped the gears inside,

[Johannes van die See]

Gaan dit nou voor Xmas klaar wees

Hey Mark, ek wil net vir jou se ne..... minstens kan ek my eie carrier bou, haha

[cheetah]

Dit lyk goed, mens voel trots as jy dit kan self maak, jou projek vorder mooi, Johan

[Johannes van die See]

Dit lyk goed, mens voel trots as jy dit kan self maak, jou projek vorder mooi, Johan

Yes Anton, dankie vir die komplimente, ek moet se, ek hoop die trotse gevoel kanseleer gou die gatvol gevoel, ek is nou al
moeg geweld en grind, die einde is nou naby.

So while the manne up north were busy enjoying the Rust de Winter weekend I was sweating it out in my garage, damn!
I finished the wheel carrier and gave it a coat of Hammerite paint, will fit it in two days time and post the final photos.
Enjoy these for now......

The locking latch I made form scraps, didn't have square tubing so I used angle iron to make some square tubing.
Peaces of SS flat bar that came of an old boat I striped, and the 6mm round bar was one of my extra long beach sand tent pegs.



The carrier locking latch guide I made bolt on so it can be removed and fitted on the next upgraded bumper.


Then of coarse the locking pin to prevent the arm from swinging and damaging something, also used some scraps, a SS tent peg, and a galvanised spring that came of an old hand wheel pump.



And the rest of the photos shows the final product without being painted.














Pianted product images in two days time.......

[Mud Dog]

Now you have to make a new 'off-set' number plate bracket!

[Johannes van die See]

Now you have to make a new 'off-set' number plate bracket!

Good Morning Andy
Yes about that, I'm not sure, should it have a number plate light or not?

[OOOOMS]

Now you have to make a new 'off-set' number plate bracket!

Good Morning Andy
Yes about that, I'm not sure, should it have a number plate light or not?

Beslis....ja

[Johannes van die See]

Is daar enige spesifikasie op die lig, moet dit oor n seker afstand sigbaar wees, kan ek van Pieter se LED ligies gebruik?

[Johannes van die See]

Wheel Carrier complete and fitted, works lekke and I'm a satisfied DIY'r
The only thing left to do now is building the jerry can holder but I'm not sure if I still wanna put it
on a swing arm on the rear bumper? What suggestions do you have?

[OOOOMS]

Is daar enige spesifikasie op die lig, moet dit oor n seker afstand sigbaar wees, kan ek van Pieter se LED ligies gebruik?

Ek weet nie of pieter so 'n tiepe houer het nie dalk kan jy so iets gebruik? http://www.4x4direct.co.za/shop/index.p ... ucts_id=46" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Seker dit sal genoeg lig gee! Nou het ek ook 'n plan

Bumper lyk netjies Johannes

[OOOOMS]

Ek dink jy gaan 'n swingarm moet bou as jy jerries agter op wil sit. Hoe gaan jy die tailgate oop maak met die canne agter op?

[george]

Gee jouself 'n klop op die skouer.Lyk goed

[jacques kotze]

Goeie werk Johannes Dis eintlik maar baie werk om so arm te bou, meer as wat n ou dink voor jy begin. Maar dis lekker as jy klaar is

[warrenaken]

Vey nice job!
You will also have to ask Pieter for a new stick, now that yours is hidden

[CasKru]

Lyk al te netjies

[swartvark]

Mooi man.
Ek dink dis baie smart!!

[zepplin]

[Johannes van die See]

Baie dankie vir almal se komplimente, dit is die tiepe job wat jou na die tyd laat besef, net die een en klaar,
Harde werk hoor! Nou nog net die jerry can en gas bottel holder op n regterkantste swingarm.
Mamma raak ongeduldig