Hilux 4x4 Forum

Hi there

So I've always disliked the SFA front bullbar and bumper they're ugly and decrease the approach angles badly so I decided to design and make my own pipe bullbar from the original bullbar.

Bumper removed: Committed now: Bracket design to be laser cut: Wooden mockups made from a 1:1 scale print out: Wooden mock ups fitted with original top tube: Putting on tabs to mount the bracket: Checking the fit: New holes in the old mounting brackets: Cleaning off the last of the old welds: Top tube tacked in place: Miters for the side tubes: I found the most amazing little program to print out cutting diagrams for mitering tubes together, it's called TubeMiter.exe. You give it the OD of both tubes, the wall thickness and the angle at which they meet and it generates a paper template that you can cut out and stick onto the tube to make a cut line for the grinder. Super simple and easy. Available here: http://www.ozhpv.org.au/shed.html

Side pieces welded in place: Lower tube test fit: High lift points in the lower tube: Almost finished: And ready to be sent for acid dipping, galvanizing and powder coating:

Looking Great...

Stunning

Can't wait to see the finished product.

Looking good so far.

looking good
did also made my own gives the bakkie its own look


Martin

Looking good!

Now cut down the original radiator hoop a tad and mount it slightly forward facing like a stinger. Makes a nice protected area for mounting your spots and looks good as well.

nice work

Mud Dog wrote:Looking good!

Now cut down the original radiator hoop a tad and mount it slightly forward facing like a stinger. Makes a nice protected area for mounting your spots and looks good as well.

No thanks, not a fan of the stinger things and for the kind of stuff I usually do it's overkill. Will be mounting LEDs on the lower tube though.

Dropped it off at Helderberg Galvanizing this morning

Are you going to close in the sides and centre with mesh or something similar??

Looks awsum so far cant wait to see it fitted.

MOFASA wrote:Are you going to close in the sides and centre with mesh or something similar??

Looks awsum so far cant wait to see it fitted.

Thanks. Collected it from the galvanizers today and dropped it off for powder coating.

Not going to fill it with mesh, there's no point, there's just sheet metal behind it on the sides and the LEDs are going to take up all the space in the center.

Dit lyk BAD ASS!!!

MOOI !!


thanks for the tip on joining two pipes and getting the cutting lines sorted

ChrisF wrote:MOOI !!


thanks for the tip on joining two pipes and getting the cutting lines sorted

It's a pleasure Chris. It saved me lots of time, effort and wastage. I tried to get the pipes to join correctly by cutting by eye with a test piece and it was horrible. I was close to trying to make a 3D CAD drawing of the joint and then mapping the join line onto a 2D surface but that would have been hours of work. Drawing curves onto tube is virtually impossible but with that thing it was super easy.

Incidentally does anyone want a SFA bumper? Not the greatest condition, one plastic side piece needs to be fastened back on (the glue perished) and the other is riveted on. Make me an offer or wait until I am actually throwing it away.

And it's done! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Looks great

BAKGAT !!


Jy kan trots wees op jou hande werk !

Looks very good.

Very satisfying to make your own bumper even it is done with a few choice words
looking forward to seeing the finished product
see foto of the one I built

Martin