so, who has made one, and how did they do it?

i want to make one soon, cos i'm sik of the flimsy one that i have, it doesn't work too good.

so if anyone has pics, please post, and if there are any other ideas or concepts, i'm game.

thanks
steve

I really like the look and functionality of this guys bumpers
http://www.cs.umass.edu/~glenn/personal.html

I'll be starting on my new rearbumper this Friday and will post pictures of it in this topic. It will be in the same double tube-style as the frontbumper. Rearlights will be in a "cage" inbetween the 2 bumperbars, so they are protected.




http://home.planet.nl/~mverver/SAMBUMPER.HTM

so, who has made one, and how did they do it?

i want to make one soon, cos i'm sik of the flimsy one that i have, it doesn't work too good.

so if anyone has pics, please post, and if there are any other ideas or concepts, i'm game.

thanks
steve

Are you just looking for more protection, or are you looking to have something like a swing arm bumper with a tire carrier?

at the moment, i was thinking of just making up a rear bar to replace the factory plastic cover and the dodgy factory inside reinforcement, as it does not do anything anyway with the 3" BL.

i'm having a go with some 200mmx75mm channel/C section, and am stuck on the side bits. i'll get pics in the next couple of days so you can see whats going on.

i like the tube bars people are making, but i dont like seeing all the other stuff underneath, like the BL blocks and stuff, esp fuel tank. so even if i make a tube bar, i'll end up using some sort of sheet metal to cover up whats underneath.

i wouldn't mind making a swing arm type for a spare tyre, but it would need to be out of steel and a bit heavier gauge to hold the weight, right?

at the moment, my vit weighs 1080KG with a full tank of fuel and a 80kg-ish driver. i know of a couple of sammis here that weigh a bit less, close to 850kg ish.

i'll see how it goes, and thanks for the ideas and links. if anyone would like to share what they have or any ideas, please do. the rear bumper is the only thing thats annoying me at the moment, even tho i haven't changed my busted CV yet.... oh well, in due course.

thanks again.

I built one out of some reciever stock we had at the garage.  It was supposed to be used for some camper tie-downs but was requisitioned for the cause.

The nice thing about the square stock is it works perfect for hi-lift jacks anywhere along the bumper.  You could throw some sheet metal along the back side to cover it up, or some diamond plate on the front with slots cut for the lights.  We made the bumper wide enough to give my rear fenders some protection when sliding into objects.  Tow hooks are placed inside the bumper and directly off the frame.  You could easily modify it to work on your Suzuki.



I have seen some nice tube bumper designs that actually wrap around the outside of the rear fender to give it a bit more coverage.  That might be a bit more to your liking if you have access to a bender.

this is mine

Probably not really what you're looking for, but here's mine:


It's (going to be) an air tank. I actually picked up some fittings today to get stuff hooked up... still have to get a few more things (including either a 12v air compressor or converting my AC pump into a compressor).

    Explosivo, I like the way you think!  Here's mine with air tank.  Not a great picture of it.  Just got all the fittings on last week.  Still need to patch a few leaks.  

im having mine made outta square stock, kind ahard to explain the shape but im goin to get some diamond plate for it tommrow and price out the steel i will post pics wqhen its done

   Explosivo, I like the way you think!  Here's mine with air tank.  Not a great picture of it.  Just got all the fittings on last week.  Still need to patch a few leaks.  

[im]http://www.eye-irritant.com/august2004/bumper%20-%2011.13.04.jpg[/img]

That's similar to what I would have done, but the bumper I have is all the pipe I could find ... doesn't quite span the full width of the trucklet. Although when I cut the rest of the back off and make it into a psuedo pickup truck, I'll add some blinkers/taillights to the sides to make it the right width

I've been thinking about a rear tank skid that
mounts to the frame, and a high angle clearance
rear bumper.

I got out and took some side shots of the Kick
and did some "photoshopping" in Paint  

Here is what I came up with, mind you this is
just a "shell drawing" no sliders or contour to
the design yet, but the basic shape that will bolt
onto the frame in 9 places   should be strong
enough to recover full size rigs and not bend  

Before




After




Thoughts or comments

Wild

Looks like it would work slick. The only thing I would do is integrate the rear tire into it and make it swing away some how. And fab brackets for a high lift or something. Killer idea though.

I'm wanting to do a swing away,
but I want to wait until I get the
tire size worked out, I also kinda
don't like how far the swing away
tire carriers stick out, we'll see

you could hug it close to the body couldn't you?