Lightening the load - bumper replacements?

[WECole]

Has anyone replaced (or seriously considered/reasearched) replacing the stock steel front/rear bumpers with something lighter to help improve gas mileage? I've already taken out the 3rd row seat and the spare tire to help lighten the load on my '98 (and I don't want to go too crazy, like remove the AC or strip off trim, etc), but it seems to me like there's a lot of weight in those two bumpers that could be shaved down a bit...

Has anyone found product(s) that's lighter than the stock steel parts but can take some off-road abuse? (Not major off-roading, just mild dirt road drives on camping trips, rock hunts, etc)

 

[WSS1]

Here are a few links to some super custom bumpers. Maybe some ideas. I belive these are probably made out of 10ga and up plate. Not excactly light but some good ideas.

http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3902&hilit=bumper

http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5882&hilit=bumper


We do a lot of industrial cutting in our shop (100s of the same part over and over again LOL) but love to see the creativity of the custom cutters/fabricators.


WSS1

 

[panda24619]

unless you go thin wall tube nothing is going to be lighter.
for off road abuse you want as much protection. so maybe some 1.5" .120wall tube with a thin skid plate for the front and same for rear, just minus the skid.

 

[Thermo]

Keep in mind that for every 100 pounds that you can strip off of the truck, that is roughly equal to 0.1 mpg increase in mileage. The question you have to figure out is by stripping off the metal bumper and changing the aerodynamics of the truck, are you affecting the ability of the air to slide over/around the truck that it can actually hurt the mileage more than what you are saving by the reduced weight.

The other thing that I would tell you to consider is the effect if you get into a wreck. Sure, a lighter bumper will save you a little bit in gas, but what is the effect on the truck if you get rear ended? The bumpers are shaped like they are for a reason. I would hate to see you get into a minor accident and end up with frame damage.

 

[sgtowing]

I agree with Thermo.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[WSS1]

The other thing that I would tell you to consider is the effect if you get into a wreck. Sure, a lighter bumper will save you a little bit in gas, but what is the effect on the truck if you get rear ended? The bumpers are shaped like they are for a reason. I would hate to see you get into a minor accident and end up with frame damage.

X3! I picked the expy because it was equal to or bigger than.

 

[tonydiv]

I think that most people would be surprised how light (and wimpy) the stock bumpers are. When I took mine off I was shocked that I could lift it with 2 fingers.

Removing the spare tire would make more of an impact than losing a couple of pounds off of the bumper. Also moving to a high mileage tire will make a big difference. But you're not going to go off road with them.

 

[WECole]

I see a lot of valid points in the thread so far - that's why I enjoy this forum so much!

Ok, so first - protection. Almost all of my driving is city driving, so I'm less worried about off-road protection and more worried about getting rear-ended by some idiot on a cell phone...

Next - areodynamics. City driving more or less means speeds under 40 mph, so areodynamics really aren't a worry, but appearance is (no one wants an ugly truck).

Last - weight vs. mileage. This is the tricky one.. my thought is that the gas saving from weight reduction would not be so much from actual mpg but more from over-coming the dead weight inertia at stop lights and stop signs (less gas to get rolling again). I've (usually) got a pretty light foot to begin with, but it just seems intuitive that less weight will equal less gas usage.

Ok, how about this for a purely hypothetical replacement bumper? A steel bar/plate with a pressed structual crease down it's length for added strength. (The steel is the real protection from collisions.) The mounting brackets are welded to the bar and an aluminum cover shaped like a stock bumper is attached to the steel bar. (Aluminum because it's strong, but light weight.) The aluminum has a thin plastic or fiberglass skin over it (This makes painting easier and provides better protection from scratches and small nicks.) I figure an all fiberglass bumper that's equally strong would probably weight as much as the stock steel bumper, so what would be the point?

The questions is - would it be strong enough, yet light enough to be worth doing?

 

[b514]

You also gotta ask yourself how long will it take for gas savings to cover the initial price of that custom bumper.

I agree with Thermo. Aerodynamics and rolling resistance is where you'll save a lot. You could lower your truck a bit, get LRR tires and install an "air dam" under the front bumper (like the Chevy Tahoe had) to improve air flow under your truck.

 

[Thermo]

WeCole, you want to make a change to the truck to make a difference, think about this:

Take the stock bumper, shorten the frame rails by about 3". This will allow you to move the bumper back that same distance. Now, with the bumper remounted, cut the back edge of the bumper to reform the correct arc for the wheel well.

You will have shaved a few pounds off of the truck (about all that you would get from any custom bumper with the same crash protection), you have altered the aerodynamics of the truck (should help as you are forcing the air to make fewer changes (any directional change in air flow is what causes the resistance) and you have altered the appearance of the truck to be slightly different than other trucks. You would end up with a quazi 03+ look to your truck in a Gen 1 truck. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could find one of the front bumper covers and integrate that in with the grille and get a truely unique look. It would take a little bit of work, but that would make for even better aerodynamics if done right.

When it comes to aerodynamics, like i mentioned, changing direction is what is your enemy here (not so much size). In the case of a stock Gen 1 Expy, the air coming over the front of the truck hits the license plate, comes up, drops back some till it hits the grill, make a 3rd direction change to either go up and over the grille or to get through the grille into the engine bay. What air goes over the grille then makes another turn to go up and over the hood. Where if you can "flatten" the front of the truck, the air strikes the front of the truck, flows up and over the grille (minus what air goes into the engine bay) and then finally makes the turn to go over the hood. You start factoring in the little things like the gap between the bumper and the grille, irregularities in the grille face, etc, the number of direction changes can get rather huge.

Something to ponder. These are some of the things that I ponder when I am bored. When my mind is idle, it is the devil's playground. he he he he he he he.