Fab Winch/Offroading Ready Bumper for 2005TB

[KKrzy]

Hey guys

I am looking for someone to create a custom fab for my newly acquired 2005 Trailblazer.

I just purchased it as my second trail car, and I bought it because of how much I fell in love with on a trip. He told me a guy at MDB productions created it for him, but I contacted the fabled Mike and he told me he is backlogged a year so now I am stuck searching out.

This is a posting for anyone out there that is looking to do a whole fab work on the front bumper - rad, skids and a bumper (with possibly a bar).

If anyone has anyone they want to refer to me, that would be great!

Thanks again and nice meeting everyone here!

~Jeffrey

[Diacom]

Not really a great number of people who make bumpers n stuff for our vehicles. You'll either have to go to a customer fabricator and spend too much money or be patient, get on Mike's list and wait till he gets back into production.

[KKrzy]

Not really a great number of people who make bumpers n stuff for our vehicles. You'll either have to go to a customer fabricator and spend too much money or be patient, get on Mike's list and wait till he gets back into production.

I have no problem with patience if I am able to get on the list, but Mike isnt taking any more orders until otherwise noted so I am stuck in the mud here

[chevycrew]

Your location is critical to getting a bumper built.

[Conner299]

You could always get a welder and some metal, and learn a new skill. Might be a good way to go.

[bartonmd]

Steve, he's in FL.

Jeffrey,

I guess I should have said in our PMs (I was actually going to say it in this one, but then I saw this thread, so figured I'd just reply here), I do still sell and ship skidplates for the oil pan and radiator, with a 3-4 week lead time. Bumper wait time would be the same whether I took your deposit now, or in 8-9 months, but I just hate holding deposits and buying (and storing) stock that far ahead.

As far as I know, the only other outfit that makes bumpers for us is Tactical Armor Group. They had gotten a pretty bad rep when they were Kennasaw Mountain Accessories, and changed their name (and also sell under "blue mountain" something). The problem is that you have to weld the mounts onto the thing after you get it, and it's like 6" too wide for the vehicle. Actually, the reason that I started making bumpers in the first place, is because Kyle (Hardtrailz) called them and asked them if they could make a bumper the width of the one they have on their site (Jamesdowning's), and they told him no, it would be the standard width; so he called me to buy a piece of C-channel, and we made a bumper, instead. If you look at JamesDowning's bumper build, you'll see that he bought their base bumper, and had his local fab guy do like $1k of work to it to make it fit right and add the brush guard and stuff.

Nobody makes a rear bumper for us, as a standard offering.

Likely, your best bet would be to buy a HF (or good used name brand) welder, and learn to make your own stuff. Several others on here have done so, and are glad they did. You'll be money ahead on the 2 bumpers, and no more paying people to make stuff for you, ever. Several of us, myself included, can give you pointers and tell you how we made/make ours. All you really need is a welder and an angle grinder (and a $20 metal-cutting carbide blade for a circular saw makes it go MUCH faster on straight lines!).

Mike

[HARDTRAILZ]

replied on same post on gmt.

[v7guy]

Get a welder, a 4.5" grinder and get to work. If I remember right I have about $350 in my bumper including a buttload of grinding/cutting disks and flap wheels.
As far as what Barton said about the carbide disk, I would reiterate that times a hundred, it woulda saved me a huge amount of mess and time.
The guys on here are very helpful and knowledgeable assuming you're not expecting to be spoon fed. There's no downside tolearning a new skill.

[bartonmd]

These are the blades I'm talking about. They go right into your $40 circular saw, and before I got my plasma cutter, I would get about 1 custom bumper out of a blade, if I used it right:
http://www.amazon.com/Oshlun-SBF-072552 ... %2F4+steel

[KKrzy]

You could always get a welder and some metal, and learn a new skill. Might be a good way to go.

I felt that this may be the issue, and I suppose it could go a long way for me.

Steve, he's in FL.

Jeffrey,

I guess I should have said in our PMs (I was actually going to say it in this one, but then I saw this thread, so figured I'd just reply here), I do still sell and ship skidplates for the oil pan and radiator, with a 3-4 week lead time. Bumper wait time would be the same whether I took your deposit now, or in 8-9 months, but I just hate holding deposits and buying (and storing) stock that far ahead.

As far as I know, the only other outfit that makes bumpers for us is Tactical Armor Group. They had gotten a pretty bad rep when they were Kennasaw Mountain Accessories, and changed their name (and also sell under "blue mountain" something). The problem is that you have to weld the mounts onto the thing after you get it, and it's like 6" too wide for the vehicle. Actually, the reason that I started making bumpers in the first place, is because Kyle (Hardtrailz) called them and asked them if they could make a bumper the width of the one they have on their site (Jamesdowning's), and they told him no, it would be the standard width; so he called me to buy a piece of C-channel, and we made a bumper, instead. If you look at JamesDowning's bumper build, you'll see that he bought their base bumper, and had his local fab guy do like $1k of work to it to make it fit right and add the brush guard and stuff.

Nobody makes a rear bumper for us, as a standard offering.

Likely, your best bet would be to buy a HF (or good used name brand) welder, and learn to make your own stuff. Several others on here have done so, and are glad they did. You'll be money ahead on the 2 bumpers, and no more paying people to make stuff for you, ever. Several of us, myself included, can give you pointers and tell you how we made/make ours. All you really need is a welder and an angle grinder (and a $20 metal-cutting carbide blade for a circular saw makes it go MUCH faster on straight lines!).

Mike

Then it looks like a trip to the local stores and get a shopping list done.

What types of metals are best to work with? I have a friend who works as a welder and I can ask to borrow his utilities but how would I go about taking measurements or is there a universal template out there?
Same for the skid/rad plates.

Thanks again for everyones input! One step closer to going cross-country in my Trailblazer!

[bartonmd]

No universal templates out there. I've done several how-to posts in response to people on here, as far as how to go about making a custom bumper. You start with the mounts, then make the winch box, then the center section, then work your way out. Make every piece out of cardboard/foamboard first, then trace them and cut them out on metal.

Like I say, I can still stell you the skidplates if you want, but you're more than welcome to look at how mine are made and make yours like that. The radiator skid is just a whole lot of work if you don't have a punch press for the cooling holes, and a brake for the bends. On the other hand, it could be a skills teacher for you, before you start welding and grinding on seams that people can see...

Mike

[bartonmd]

This is the how-to that I posted in response to somebody on Expo:

IMO, I'd start with a hitch (built, bought, or existing), and make the bumper around that. Much stronger than trying to make a bumper strong enough to tow AFTER the bumper is done...

Here's a rear that I did: (Nevermind the angle cuts on the side pieces. They were for a guy who had his axle moved back farther)















.




















Front, same deal... Start with the mounts (and winch box if required), and make your front, center panel, then build out from there. work the vertical panels first, then the supporting panels underneath, then do the tops, then the sides where it meets the body. If you're not sure of something, leave it and cut if off later.







Notice the square front of the body-blending pieces on the first pictures, then notice how it's cut back and angled on the finish pieces?






On full-custom stuff, or even customized standard stuff, I always start with cardboard, and cut/shape/cut/tape back together/start over with cardboard until I have a shape that I like. Once I have the shape in cardboard, I trace it onto steel, then cut it out. I used to cut out straight lines with my circular saw with one of those carbide blades on it ($20 for the Oshlun ones on Amazon. One blade is good for about 1 bumper if you aren't too hard on it), but I now use a straight-edge clamped to the piece and my HT Powermax 45 plasma. This works pretty fast, too. As a "for instance" the bumper below is about 7 hours from sort of having a little bit of an idea of what I wanted to do, to this picture:



Then it was probably another 8-9 hours of work to this picture:



Then another 6 hours and some paint to here:



None of it is really hard. You just have to take it one step at a time, and eventually, it's done.

Also, leave ~1/2" from anything on the body, because this is mounted to the frame, and the body moved independantly from the frame. The only place that the bumpers should touch the vehicles, especially in the front, is on the frame. Now, on the rear bumpers, there is a little more flex in the longer "wings" that meet the body, so I do bolt them to the fender mounts in the wheelwell, and it seems to work fine, but that's only because the bumper can flex some, out there, and the frame is a lot stiffer in the rear, being designed to tow, so there's less flex on rears.

Mike

[KKrzy]

Mike

You truly stand by your rep.

These pictures will be a great help towards creating my own setup, and I will def. pickup that blade.

How thick of steel does everyone here work with? 3/4in a good thickness? I am trying to stop hard tree spikes and rocks from peircing into my radiator again like it had two weeks ago (why I am on such a hunt for the bumper and rad. Skids)

I will look around and start with a oil pan skid to learn the ugly part of welding because that will be under the car, work on radiator and hopefully, be able to complete the bumper (what type of bench would be the best to smooth it out?)

Thank you Mike and everyone else for this input, and I will be happy to post pictures of the WIP once I get started (I hope it can compare to everyone else's work, but then again it's my first time welding anything other than simple mining rigs) ^^

[bartonmd]

It's no problem, man!

Also, here's a thread that I just made for these kinds of questions, that has more info than that last post: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4026

Sorry, I forgot to tell you the thickness... I normally make things out of either 7ga (.179"), or 3/16" (.188"). I wouldn't go any thicker than 1/4". Just for material useage, if you don't waste too many pieces, you should be able to make each bumper out of a 4'x5' piece of metal.

Mike

[Conner299]

Might be worth a mention... Adding all that weight might require suspension upgrades as well. Springs, etc.

[v7guy]

I'll mirror what was said previously, there's not really any template to work from, by their nature this type of project is custom so it's on you to make it happen. I used the foam board method Barton is talking about to build my bumper template. It takes patience, but it works really well. When building my bumper, other than time, stubbornness, and some good advice from here (a lot of that advice came from Barton) it didn't really cost me much and I ended up with some good experience that makes the projects I'm doing now easier to accomplish.
I started with an oil pan skid to get a feel for things, then went onto a radiator skid... which I built the REALLY hard way, then did the bumper. After the bumper I had to cut off a big chunk of the rad skid due to not planning ahead, jokes on me.
Personally I hope you build one, it'll be cool to see what you come up with.