If you recall my "Superbumper" project...

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350-superbumper.html

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/bumper001274.jpg


It's slowly becoming "Petite Bumper"...

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350-petitebumper.html

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM001970.JPG


I guess one day I woke up and thought to myself... this thing is just to freakin' big.

 

I think our bumpers are related but mine is the bigger brother as a sawzall would not have survived trying to cut this one. It's made of 1/2" plate steel in some spots, requires 2 grown men to lift and required me to get my truck realigned after it was installed.


Your bumper would have worked better if your truck had the extra clearance of a 4x4, I really like how you had worked the lights into it. It still looks really good though, like something you would find in the aftermarket.

 

Thank you... and that was the goal. The appearance of a $1500 custom, aftermarket bumper with the $300 of 1/4" plate price

Now that I've hacked the bottom off, I've started on shortening it so it sits closer to the grill. Once that's done, I'll redrill the mounts and then measure the lights again, and make new holes with the plasma cutter.

Unfortunately the plasma cutting is going horribly slow... my 5 gallon contractor air compressor simply isn't keeping up. But, I cut an inch at a time, take a swig of coffee, then I can cut another inch lol.

And yeah, it's a 2wd truck. I've been debating lifting it for years, but it's likely that I'm not. It's really a highway hauler, and the most offroading it sees is driving over pine needles in my driveway. Most of which caught on fire today while plasma cutting heh-heh. That's one way to get rid of them!

I'll have some pictures later today....

 

More pictures. Didn't get as much as I hoped done, but progress is progress. Since my son decided to take a nap I had to stop since the generator I use to get 220V for the plasma cutter is ridiculously loud. That and the toy contractor air compressor together makes for one nasty headache. My ears are ringing a bit even with earplugs!


Masking where I'm going to cutwith the plasma cutter:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM001976.JPG

First cuts. Now you know why you all want a plasma cutter.
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM001977.JPG

While sideways, this is what I've cut off thus far. 120lbs of 1/4" plate which is now available for use on another project, maybe even "petite bumper" depending how this ends up.
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM001978.JPG

And finally, I've cut all the way around and ripped off one of the top supports, and just have to cut off the one on the right side (on the 1" square tubing that goes across the width of the bumper). Once that's done, I'll cut down the sides so it clears the tires, and then I'll have to cut the crosspiece up a bit, bend it downward, and weld it closer to the bottom of the frame mounts (4" angle iron) so that it clears the radiator support.

Last thing I need in an impact is a 150lb bumper banging on my radiator.
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM001979.JPG

 

Made some progress, and essentially finished it.

Last weekend a friend of mine loaned me the use of his plasma cutter which is already powered and has air, unlike mine which requires the humping of a generator around the house to use.

Using undersized wooden templates, cutting out the lightholes was a breeze.

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM002355.JPG
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM002356.JPG

Since I couldn't find the sections of the isuzu radiator supports I cut out with the lights from the junkyard, I decided to fabricate mounts. Three allen bolts, three washers tack-welded to the back of the light housings trying not to burn the reflective coating on the inside, and some heavy duty springs. This forms a tripod mount allowing me to adjust the lights up, down, left and right, since the holes are slightly larger than the lights, nothing rubs or drags on the bumper itself. There is a LOT of adjustment with this monkey-style configuration.

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM002358.JPG

Wirebrushed off all the flaking paint from the plasma cutting and minimal grinding I had to do, then painted with rustoleum's hammer finish paint, in black. Looks much better than the regular rustoelum and provides a more durable surface. I shouldn't have to repaint this for a long time.

http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM002359.JPG

Done, installed, wired:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/f350/IM002360.JPG

I snipped off mating headlight connectors that match my harness out of a junkyard, and made an "insert" to go between, so using some high current relays and one of the switches on my added overhead console, I can switch between the regular headlights and these lights. Regardless of which pair of lights are on, the high beam selector level operates the same way, even on the bumperlights.

Eventually I will rewire so that I can run the bumper lights in addition to the headlights, following high/low beam selection, but this was much easier since I had the wiring snip, relays, and other items sitting in a box and were quite handy.

Path of least resistance.

 

That looks great. Nice work.