Push bumper design

[Jasen]

Been thinking about a push bumper for some time, but don't really like the police style.
Wish I could photochop it onto my van, but that's beyond me, so you'll have to use a little imagination here.

This is what I've come up with so far. Made with 2.5" tube and 1" think rubber on the push bars.

[Astroplane]

Looks good. Can you extend the actual bumpers out away from the frame a bit? There are reasons why the cruiser/SUV pushers aren't the most aesthetically pleasing design. If you haven't already, check front/rear bumper height of various vehicles in a parking lot. Consider pushing front V bumpers as well. Sometimes there is no choice due to the situation. In a collision, where are the supports connected and what will be stressed? Aluminum, steel, wall thickness?

[$uperJoe]

2.5 inch will be a very big tube bumper, especially two of them stacked. very reminiscent of the toyotas bumpers of the 80s.

this is my baja style bumper. its 1-5/8s outside for comparison. i have pushed all kinds of things like cars and fences and even a forklift up hill once.

van stuff 001.JPG (52.42 KiB) Viewed 1788 times

[Gary]

Overlandvans sells a bumper that you might want to look at to copy.

[Mr_Bowtie]

Nice lookin' design Jasen! You gonna put that welder to work?

I like the Baja look too.

[astroturf]

I like it. But, won't bits of the Garbage Men get stuck in the slots?

[Jasen]

Maybe 2.5 is kinda big, I drew that up late lastnight. I like the 1 5/8" better.
I can set the clearance from the bumber mask to what ever. I want to keep enough clearence so that hit the bumper mask if I'm pushing some F450 out my way.
It'll be steel, the 2 outer mounts will be inline with the EOM bumper horns and the 2 middle I haven't worked out yet. I'm thinking I'll need to beef up the EOM bumper at those points some how or another, seeing that's where most of the force will be.

I'll have to check out Overland.

[$uperJoe]

it may be hard to see but to mount mine i used a piece of quarter inch plate as big as the sub-frame horn and then welded it to the same style of plates that are opposed on both sides with holes in them. then went to the hardware store and got some grade 8s and bolted it together. this way its all lined up and still removable. i have actually put it on the blue van for a while to lift that van to work on the suspension. on the bottom i cut some angle iron and drilled holes to accept bolts and welded the other tubes to it and then drilled small holes in the frame to accept 3/8s self tappers there are 3 per side. two on the front and one underneath going upward

bumper close.JPG (21.49 KiB) Viewed 1748 times

this is just an idea to mount but its plenty strong. i would say strong enough to mount a winch to if it had a few more supports

[Jasen]

I was planning on welding some 3/8 or 1/4 plate flanges to the end of the mounting tubes that will stick out through the bumper mask. Then using a larger tube on the back of the bumper that sleeves over those and bolts onto them. I haven't looked an the alignment of all this yet. I'm headed back up to the pick and pull today and theres a few vans out there with and w/o bumpers, so I can get a good look at them and take some measurements.

I am going with the smaller tub for the bumper. I don't want it to look like a SmittyBuilt.

[Jasen]

Saw a push bumper on a Pathfinder the other day that I thought might be adaptable and look good on a A/S. Plus they make the same style for the rear bumper.