l am in the process of building my rear bumper. As the foundation, l used a 4x4 piece of angle iron notched with 2" receiver stock for my hitch. l plan to build on that piece, but that info is irrelevant.

My plan is to weld this to the end of the frame, using the angle iron to sit flush on the face and wrap around to the bottom of the frame. Like this: (As if you were viewing it from the side)

L --> [

The "L" will butt right up to the frame (Hopefully this makes sense)

My question is, does anyone see a problem with welding the angle iron to the frame? It will have three weld contacts where the iron meets the frame and it will act as a extra cross member. But, being that it will be used for some light towing and have two clevis mounts, is welding this to the frame a bad idea?

 

Well only problem with welding the bumper to the frame is that the stock bumper brackets are meant to buckle (like a shock) in a wreck, bent bumper brackets are cheaper to fix then havin the bumper bracket not buckle and risk bending your frame...

 

I'd make it a bolt-on custom bumper if I were you. As long as you use Grade 8 bolts (say four (4) 3/8" or 1/2") you should be fine. After all, the Class III hitch is bolted on with four (4) 1/2" bolts, I believe.

 

I foyu have angle iron id drill and bolt it up

 

Yeah, bolt up is your best option... The only time you go for a full weld on bumper is if its some serious proper tubing that wont bend in a crash.. then you know your protected. I would hate to see you have to bring your truck into a rack and have it re-bent back into shape :-(

 

Agreed with everyone else bolt up would be best. Would be to much of a hassle if you have to remove it or fix a broken part of the bumper if anything happens to it, and would be risking your frame or other parts for whatever reason.

 

So can someone please explain this to me? What is the difference (in a wreck) of bolt on or weld on? Its still not going to budge??

 

When you weld a bumper right to the frame, in a wreck the frame will absorb the impact and most likely be damaged, which takes some work to fix and will be permanently damaged to a degree.
With a bolt-on setup such as the stock setup, the bumper is attached via brackets. In a wreck the brackets will bend and fold, thus absorbing the impact. The brackets are much weaker than the frame. The frame will most likely be not damaged and only the bumper and brackets will need to be fixed or replaced.

 

ok. Thats what I thought, but when they were talking about bolting it up, I heard nothing about brackets, so I envisioned it bolted right to the c channel...