Bonnie's lookin' angry and intimidating

[CertusExpo]

That's my girl

I CAN'T WAIT 'til the front bumper I'm fabbing is done. The main span is solid-core steel stock and on the parts where I'm using tubing... She's getting 5/8 wall tubing.

 

[ExplorerTom]

solid stock and 5/8 thick tubing?

The front springs aren't going to like that weight.

 

[CertusExpo]

I could fall back to all 5/8" wall tubing or even solid for the middle only between the tow hook mounts and weld/grind/blend walled tubing on the outsides to maintain the look but shave some weight.

All I know is that it needs to be stout. Like, I could literally push vehicles out of my way without causing any damage to Bonnie.

 

[CertusExpo]

I know the 5/16 (Sorry, NOT 5/8) is 6.32lbs per foot and the solid is 13.6lbs per foot.

Edit: I just went and rough measured and it came out to ~16' needed not including the 1/4 plate for making the U-brackets and frame horn gussets/mounts.

Yeah... just figured out to ~216lbs total. You're right, she won't like that ExplorerTom although, a ranchhand is pretty heavy but not that heavy.

The 5/16 tubing would be ~100lbs of steel. I think she'd handle that better although a combination of 4' solid in the middle between the tow mounts and the balance in 5/16 would come out to ~130lbs which I think is reasonable.

Edit#2: Using solid for the whole main span with 5/16" tubing for the balance of the build would come out to ~148lbs.

 

[ExplorerTom]

~130 lbs won't be too bad.

 

[CertusExpo]

Time to get on the CAD and design this puppy. She's gonna be mean ***** when I'm done.