A little reinforcement in the front

I don't know much about engineering to the level you guys speak of, but I'm doing some trial and error with some of the free stuff I've been aquiring. So, I did 2 things today:

1. Put a padeye on my Ford bumper




2. Made a side to side brace from each front bumper bracket that ties into the forward mount for the front skid plate.



Now I realize the padeye is not very professional, but it was free and if it gets me or someone else out of a rut at least once... it served my purpose. I was using this bumper for practice welds in a class I took last quarter so it wasn't planned very well, if nothing else it might make you laugh.

As for the brace, I feel it will ad rigidity to the bump mounting points from side impacts, more evenly distribute stress on the bumper, and by tieing it into the skid plate give it a little more strength through its other mounting points farther down the framerail.

Just wanted to see what you all thought, thanks for any comments.

-SteVe

I'm not so interested in the padeye, but I would like to hear thoughts on the brace for the bumper/skidplate. Any takers?

-SteVe

Missiletech said:

I'm not so interested in the padeye, but I would like to hear thoughts on the brace for the bumper/skidplate. Any takers?

-SteVe

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Looks pretty good to me.

One thing that always concerns me when people start adding steel to the front is where is all the energy going to go. Build a huge bumper and when you do get into a wreck, "well my bumper dind't budge", "yeah but your frame rails buckled". You want to stiffen it up to reduce the flex and possiablity for cracks, ect but don't wnat to add so much other critical areas become the weak links. I know we don't build our Jeep for the street but that where a large percentage of the major collsions will come from, not trail damage. Just something to think about.

Looks good though I plan on doing something similar with mine. And whats a padeye? Shackle?

Well, the angle is 1/8" amd the other pieces are 3/16"... I think its not very heavy and the bumper itself is not very heavy, I bet its probably 1/8" or something 'tween 1/8 and 3/16". It still weighs less than a wrench bumper all together. thanks for the post, and good point also.

Oh, and the padeye is the piece in the bumper and the shackle is what hangs from it. Padeyes are used throughout various ships and other structural areas to support certain amounts of weight, as in my submarine every padeye has a weight test plate and the shackles are commonly used for combining anchor chain lengths, hence the term anchor shackles.

=-SteVe-=

Weasel said:

And whats a padeye? Shackle?

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well, a padeye is a navy term for a tie down point, either on a piece of equipment or on the deck of a ship or flight line.

oh by the way, the cross brace looks good, when i built my bumper i baisicly eliminated the need for my front cross member! ( LOL...) too dang beefy.

i like the bracing but the padeye looks a little scary i would not want to be the one pulling you out using that thing. don't want to think about who you could kill when that thing lets go trying to snatch you out of some mud.

Weasel said:

One thing that always concerns me when people start adding steel to the front is where is all the energy going to go. Build a huge bumper and when you do get into a wreck, "well my bumper dind't budge", "yeah but your frame rails buckled". You want to stiffen it up to reduce the flex and possiablity for cracks, ect but don't wnat to add so much other critical areas become the weak links. I know we don't build our Jeep for the street but that where a large percentage of the major collsions will come from, not trail damage.

Click to expand...

I believe in using the other guys crush zones.........

Why is this thread being moved?

-SteVe