Once tack welded, we then took it off and he welded it. We were planning on two long bolts from top to bottom of the frame beams but once things were tacked in place we noticed that this wouldn't work because the top and bottom surfaces of the beams were not parallel. Thought going with four individual bolts would be best but there was no way to get the nuts/washers on the inside of the beam because the opening (on the front of the beam) is too far forward into the bumper and no way to get a hand in there. So I'm going to bore a hole into the side of the beam large enough to get the washer/bolt and a finger in there. Here are a few pics of today's effort...
He added gussets both top and bottom for extra strength...
The frame beam is an interesting thing. It's like a flat piece of metal that was folded into a beam. So the top of the beam is single thickness while the bottom, where the two ends overlap, is double. The original tow hooks mount to the bottom where the metal is doubled up. so I asked Richard to add a plate to the top, where it's single thickness, to beef things up. All it needs now is some holes. I'm also thinking of having them put a little finishing touch on the ends where the bumper meets the trim.
