Blocker Bar Removed

The blocker bar is a large steel bar spanning between the front

mounts of the leaf springs. I am not sure of the official name of

this piece nor it's intended function. But, with the addition of a new

bumper the bar was in the way and needed to be removed. Some

people say it is intended to prevent the truck from riding up over

the top of other cars, and others say it is intended to stiffen the

area between the leaf spring mounts, to prevent vibration. I guess

once the truck is another foot or more in the air, this will all be

irrelavent anyway!



The bar is removed by cutting the brackets on both sides with a

cut off wheel. If you plan to remove this bar, have it fully

supported before cutting. The bar weighs around 60 lbs. and you

don't want it falling once one side is cut.

Front Bumper Mounts Welded

After installing the new front bumper several times, for

measurements and design issues, I noticed how the brackets that

support the bumper are attached to the frame. The brackets

have a flange on both sides which slide over the frame. At the

back edge of the bracket there is a single weld attaching the

bracket to the frame. With the weight of the new bumper, winch,

and lights, I felt these brackets needed reinforcing. On the front

of the brackets there is a "pocket" between the curve of the

bracket and the edge of the frame. This seemed like the perfect

spot to add a nice thick weld. Some people argue this affects the

engineered "crumple zone" of the truck. After adding a bumper and

winch with a combined weight of about 400 lbs., I'm not really

worried about the "crumple zone."

Custom Front Bumper

The basic bumper, in it's original form, is from Trail Ready in

Everett, WA. It was shipped via freight in a large crate. I

ordered mine without any powder coating since it would be

modified later anyway. Being bare steel, the bumper gradually

took on this nice orange hue. This seemed to draw a lot of

attention. I nicknamed it "Tetanus" during that time. You should see

peoples faces when they saw it. I don't know if they were scarred,

shocked, disgusted, insulted, or excited. Maybe a combination. The

bumpers come with all kinds of slits cut in them for lights and

venting. Trail Ready also cuts their logo in the skid plate area.

Both of which I didn't care for. I had them leave these off of mine.

I would have venting holes for airflow cut later along with some

other modifications to the bumper.



The ultimate plan for this bumper was to make it as functional as

possible, while keeping a clean, uncluttered appearance to the

front end. I wanted to mount some off-road lights, but didn't want

to just bolt them to the bumper. This led to the steel pipe pieces

which serve as a housing and protection for the Hella HID 4000

lights. The pipes are about 3/8" thick steel and weigh about 30 lbs.

each. The most time consuming part of modifying the bumper

involved the design process of allowing the pipe pieces to recess

as far as possible into the bumper, but still leave room for the

Warn 15,000 lb. winch. I used a 3D animation program to aid in the

modification. Using 3D Studio MAX, I modeled the section of the

bumper where the shields would go. This allowed the light shield

to be recessed as far into the bumper as possible, without

interfering with the mounting of the winch.



With all the designing complete, it was now time to have these

plans come to life. First, the pipe pieces needed to get their front

edges cut to the desired shape. Stainless Steel Fabricators in

Raleigh, NC took care of this. They use a laser to cut through

the pipes while they are mounted on a lathe type machine. A

laser is rotated around the pipe to create the desired contour.

Providing a CAD file to the laser operater allowed me to get

precisely the shape I was looking for.



Now it was time for the final step of the modifications. After a

long search for a skilled welder, the pipe pieces, and bumper

were dropped off. Cutting the vent holes in the skid plate was

straight forward, but time consuming. This needed to be done by

hand with a torch, then cleaned up by a small belt sander with a

diamond impregnated belt. I had already marked the bumper for the

proper cutting locations for the shields. The 3D model made this

step fairly accurate. Some other small modifications were also

done at this time. The D-ring holes needed enlarging to allow for

larger stainless steel shackles. There were also holes cut to

mount some Hella L.E.D. marker lights.



The hardware I used to attach the bumper is grade 8 bolts and

nuts. I had a full weld placed around the heads of the bolts for

strength. This allows the nuts to be tightened from the front

without securing the back, since it is a difficult area to access.

These were sandblasted and coated with POR-15 for durability.



Once all the fabricating work was done it was time to sandblast,

rustproof, and Rhino Line the entire bumper. After 6 long months

the bumper was finally done.



One of the most important parts of this project, was having the

ability to mount and remove the bumper by myself. Weighing about

250 lbs. without the winch mounted, and close to 400 lbs. with the

winch mounted, safety was a serious concern in moving this piece.

During the design process the bumper was mounted and removed

about 12 times. The solution to making this possible by one person,

was a jig attached to a floor jack.

Stainless Steel Shackles

The shackles are intended for recovery purposes of other

vehicles or to aid in recovering my truck. They also make the

perfect spot for attaching the winch hook when using a snatch

block to double the pulling power of the winch. The shackles are

made of solid stainless steel and have a working load limit of

12,000 lbs. There is also a shackle in the rear attached to the

receiver hitch.

Warn 15,000 lb. Winch

The bumper was designed to mount, up to, a 15,000 lb. winch. The fit

is tight and some minor trimming was necessary to get it to fit

just right. The stated weight from Warn for this winch is 136 lbs.

Synthetic Winch Rope

The standard steel cable that comes with all winches has several

drawbacks compared to a synthetic rope. First, the steel cables

are are very heavy and add unnecessary weight to the front of

the truck. The cable on my winch came in at 31.5 lbs. Whereas,

the synthetic rope weighs in at only 6.5 lbs ! Secondly, and most

important, is the safety of using a synthetic rope over a steel

cable. The potential injuries from a steel cable breaking during

winching can be severe, and even deadly. While the risk of injury

during winching with a synthetic rope is virtually none. When a

steel cable is taught during winching and then breaks, there is a

tremedous recoil of both ends of the cable. When a synthetic

rope breaks during winching it simply falls to the ground with

minimum recoil. In addition to these factors, the strength to weight

ratio of a syntheic rope far exceeds a steel cable.



The synthetic rope I am using is from Off Road Only. It is a 100'

long, 3/8" rope, rated at 18,000 lbs. The use of a synthetic rope

also requires a new fairlead. The one Off Road Only offers is a

solid piece of aluminum which is very smooth, to prevent snagging

the rope. The hook is spliced onto the end of the rope and comes in

a standard painted orange. I chose to sandblast mine and paint it

with a custom mixed gray color of POR-15 to match the vehicle

better.