an additional brace would be a great just-in-case addition, i would do it just to make it stronger. still looks good the way you posted it!

 

If I ever get off my lazy butt I may do that. It's plenty strong like this though. In a front end collision, the stock bumper offers little to no protection. There's no corner braces or anything from the factory. I only cut 2 1/2" off the frame rails. (where the factory mounted the bumper) I have the exact same protection from a collision now as I did before. ......almost none.

 

Well after having a new bumper sit in the shed for years I decided to get going on raising my frame horns to avoid cheesy brackets, then I stumbled across this thread. You did just what I was thinking so I thought I would add my pics to help anyone else.

First take the old bumper off:



For the frame cut I'm going just behind the hole:



Now the difference is that I cut the horns off another frame, threw them in a bead blast cabinet and put a coat of POR15 on them. This allows me to cut them so I have a piece on top of the frame to weld for extra bracing:



My friend who is quality welder has some time tomorrow so I should have the completed pics soon.

 

Talk about a easy oil change, with that remote oil filter kit.

 

Remote filter for the transmission, it makes oil changes a lot easier.

 

By the way, I LOVE your truck. Pure evil in truck form.

 

Well it was a good day, got the truck ready for surgery:




Tried to decide if I should cut straight down or..... finally decided to pick-up the same angle as the front horn:



No going back now:







Next is transfering the lines to cut the new horns and cutting them:




After trimming and fitting and a couple trial fits of the bumper it was time for some welding, clamped in place:




Tacked and a final check for fitness and back plates tacked:





Finally all welded up:






Now I have to clean it up and get some paint on and then bolt the bumper on.

 

Nice work! I didn't have an extra frame to cut up, so I had to work with what I had. I do like how rigid your frame came out though. Your way has a lot more area to weld to also. Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

Thank you for the great pics of your work, as you can see in one shot I have them for reference. Great thing about this fourm is how we can build on each others ideas.