My winch bumper build

[Huggyb1972]

Well the time has come I'm finally building the bumper for the Expedition. We bought this thing a couple years ago from a private owner it had some bumps and bruises. Really sad it was a nice looking color scheme for these trucks in my opinion. I bought a fender door and hood the other day.. it won't be v long this old thing might look okay again.

 

[Huggyb1972]

A little more work today. Getting there, fitting everything. Put it on the truck check it, take it off the truck track it, put it back on the truck check it, beer break, take it back off weld some. It's a process

 

[Huggyb1972]

Well I got it finished. I guess I forgot to post up the end of the job. The lower lights are amber or white depending on which way I flip the switch. I added a 12000lb winch just in case something comes up. We are headed to baja this year for a little exploring.

Next is building a rear bumper with tire carrier on it. And then a few little things inside to make life on the road better. Well be doing a little boondocking along the way in the trip and watching the race.

 

[Huggyb1972]

Well on to the next job, building a rear bumper with a swing away tire carrier. I bought a set of wheels and a 2.5" rough country lift. The wheels don't fit I bought 17x9's they don't clear the caliper I figured I'd be fine after seeing the 17 inch wheels on the raptor.

 

[Huggyb1972]

The back bumper is coming along now. Should be done this weekend with it. I used the front tow points on the new bumper for a good recovery point. I knocked the mount off of them and welded them right to the bumper.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Nice work. I'd hire you to make me some bumpers if you weren't 2,000 mi away. Any thoughts about having to swing the spare tire away to open the rear liftgate? Probably unavoidable. I am enjoying the updates on this so please keep it coming. Thanks.

 

[Huggyb1972]

Nice work. I'd hire you to make me some bumpers if you weren't 2,000 mi away. Any thoughts about having to swing the spare tire away to open the rear liftgate? Probably unavoidable. I am enjoying the updates on this so please keep it coming. Thanks.

Yeah the swingaway carrier and the auto gate don't play well together. I'm thinking about putting a set of receivers on the frame mounts and making the whole swingaway removeable. Trying to power it could be done I suppose, but it would be pretty involved. I'll be in Socal next month for the 1000 we're driving down to play Chase truck and explore baja for a week. You buy them off the truck then and I'll build a set for next year. Lol

 

[Huggyb1972]

More work today. Primer and paint next.

 

[Huggyb1972]

Waiting on the truck bed liner to dry before painting them. Gonna use a camo tan matte paint on it. It's close to the trim color. I'll probably just make all the trim match the bumpers if it looks to weird.

 

[Huggyb1972]

Back bumper is done. Not doing the swing away tire carrier. It just was too much work with having to figure out how to move the camera. I think I may paint all the trim the same color as the bumper. I like how it looks now.