Just a few pics of this weeks work...

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Hey guys, Had a busy week we finished a few projects and thought I would post a few pics for everyone to look at and throw out any opinions.  ~Jackson Attached ImagesI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Interesting stuff, Jackson. Nice work all around, but that bumper is sweet!!!
Reply:Whoa, you could throw the whole damn cow on that monster!!!StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:great projects , really like the bumper
Reply:Since you like the bumper here are a couple other shots of that one.  I do alot of custom bumper fabrication here.  This one is 3/16 floor plate, and I used an O/A torch to cut all the plate, a grinder, and was welded with 1/8 7014. See ya don't always have to run a mig to make nice clean welds.        ~Jackson Attached ImagesI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:that bumper looks great , did you bolt on or weld it on ? Im designing one of my own and want to make sure if I need to replace lights or grill etc that I can still get to it without having to cut it off.
Reply:For bumpers and grills I always bolt them on. That one has six 5/8 bolts holding it on directly to the frame.  For one, I have seen Computers fried from welding on these newer model vehicles, and at one time or another you are gonna have to get it off. ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I would always recomend bolting to frame rails for this type of project.  I WOULD weld the nut to the back of the bolt if you were for instance to have a winch or something likely to be stolen.  Then you still just cut the bolt off real quick.  Kinda hard for a thief to do that quietly anyway.  Welds on frame rails should not be length wise or width wise.   I have seen many cracked frame rails from poorly welded frames.  Just, try and prevent stress risers bye having all the corners radiused and such.  Happy welding!  Brian Lee  Sparkeee24
Reply:I personally have seen, primarily with commercial trucks, that you cant weld to the frame.  There are certain weld specifications pertaining to this.  However, under most circumstances Ive been in there is none specified for the application as it is custom and bolt up is the only way.  Another factor that should always be considered is as Jackson mentioned one day you will need to pull that bumper off and best not have it welded on or youll have a fun time getting it off.CHRIS
Reply:So is the bumper/grill gaurd for running down cattle, the trailer for carrying them to the grill to cook them up?
Reply:Affirmative
Reply:Nother question. What is the word on welding on a vehicle. So people say it's OK if the ground is close to the gun. I'm talking MIG here. Some say you can never be certain that some gremlins won't get in the electrical system. i can say first hand that bad things can happen. Years ago I had a little import car and I was having some welding done on the trailer I was pullin. The guy was using a DC stick welder. I happened to look up and I could see the lights flashing on the car. Sure enough from then on, problems. The left turn signal didn't work. And when the headlights were on, the brakelights didn't work among other things. Has anyone else ever had this happen. Was it something to do with the DC welderI'm not a Engineer, I just play one on the weekend.
Reply:dlturman,I personally have not had any problems but I do take precautions. Remember that electricity will take the easiest path, not always the shortest, just easiest. I put the ground as close as possible to the weld and on vehicles will disconnect the batt. Not sure what your gremlins were or if I've just been real lucky so far. On heavy eq that i've worked on I was concerned about arcing through bearings and things like that so I always grounded close. There may never be a definite answer to that question but I do pray to the metal gods and try to hold my mouth right.
Reply:I have seen computers fried on newer vehicles from welding, and anytime I weld on equipment with any type of computer I unplug the computer, ground as glose as you can and always unhook the battery.  Preferably do not weld on a frame if you can help it. I have welded several truck frames (used on farms and logging crews) and almost always it is a temporary fix.  only know of two out of several that did not crack or break somewhere near the weld. another thing about a vehicle is when you start welding on frames there is a VERY large amount of liability involved.  Your weld breaks and someone gets hurt, guess who is to blame?  Think wisely before welding on any auto frame...  ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Hammock,BTW I like everything you've shown there. Excellent work. Well beyond me.Question; that hitch on that smoker, does it roll back out of the way when parked by any chance? I was curious about the odd design.
Reply:The reason the odd shape of the tongue was if you will look at the pictures close one side of the tank has two propane burners for fryers on it.  The grill actually has an optional gas burner for it also.  I believe you can see the red knobs in one of the pics of the side if you look close.  Anyway I had to incorparate a tank holder into the tongue.  In the pics it does not have a tank in place, but that is why there is a space in between the vertical plates.    Personally i did not like the tongue as far as the looks go.  I called the customer to look at it when i had it tacked up, and he said it looked great so I nailed it. As long as he is satisfied I don't have to be as far as the appearance goes.  and thanks for the compliments on the work.    ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Niiiiice! So, if I understand correctly, you chase the cows in the pasture with the truck, smack 'em with that bumper, load them up on the trailer, and roast them on that BBQ?
Reply:That's a 10-4.   The only sad thing is all these were built for a buddy of mine who is big into cattle and I can honestly see that happening after a 12 twelve pack on saturday night. heheheI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Hey Jackson,You really do live in south ga.  I forgot how flat it was down there.  Those are some good looking projects.  Just as a note on welding things to the frame of vehicles.  Here is something I was told by a ford dealer here in carrollton.  He said that a local cattle farmer bought a $40,000 truck from them and had their shop put in a gooseneck hitch for his cattle trailer.  The shop welded in the support and hitch rather than bolting.  When he went to get insurance, the insurance salesman said he could not insure the truck because its frame had been welded and constituted modified frame, which apparently is not legal under ga law.  The insurance salesman said that in ga the truck could only be sold as salvage and couldnt be insured.  The farmer went back to ford and explained the situation.  The dealership didnt know anything about this, but eventually they had to eat the cost of the truck and give him a brand new one.  The reason I found out was he overheard me talking to my dad about doing the same thing for him on a used truck he had just bought.  I didnt do it.  Bolted instead.  But, i never checked if his facts were true.  He may have been pulling my leg, but I dont think so.Last edited by smithboy; 08-29-2005 at 10:09 AM.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Great looking bumper there. Are all the plates cut or are they also bent and then welded at the seams.Brett B & B Fabrication and Welding Inc.Spalding, MI.
Reply:on the bumper every seam was cut and welded.   My brake that I usually bend plate in is broken right now and gonna take some cash to get it back up, so I am having to cut everything.  Smithboy, that Ford dealer wouldn't have been Haney would it?   I went to highschool with two of his daughters he was a pretty nice guy, and a straight shooter from what I could remember.   ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Yep.  That was the dealership.  I dont know if it was the owner himself of just a dealer off the lot, but he said it cost the dealership the full invoice price of the truck.  At that time (a couple of years ago) he said it had been sitting behind the building on the lot for several months and they still didnt have any idea what to do with it.  I remember that he made the comment that their dealer insurance didnt cover them against their own stupidity.Last edited by smithboy; 08-29-2005 at 02:05 PM.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:WOW! that bumper looks wicked so does the BBQ and trailer...a true craftsman
Reply:this is a few pics of the bumper on my truck! Attached Images
Reply:You do sweet work Jackson!  I am thinking about building a 55 gal. drum charcoal grill myself and I was wondering what you advised using for grate material.  What have you found holds up the best?  Also, is there any certain high-temp. paint that works any better than others?    I was just wondering, because it sure seems like some grills handle time and the elements a lot better than others.ThanksJerryJerry, as far as paint goes, I use engine paint.  If you are only painting the outside that is.    I have found engine paint covers ALOT better than the bbq paints, and you even have the choices of color.  as far as grating, most of the time i use 11ga  flattened expanded metal, but I get it cheep from the local scrap yard.  as long as you go 1/8 or better you should be fine.  Stainless expanded holds up best, but you are talking some serious money.    I will reccomend this on your grill, If you have any sheetmetal shops or blow pipe shops in your area see if they might have a piece of short scrap blowpipe to use.  I have a good relationship with one of the sheet metal shops here.(we exchange some work)  and some of the best grills i ever built were made from short pieces of blow pipe they had in the scrap pile.  I have one now that I built nearly ten years ago and it work great.  Something say 20-24 inches diameter with a 12-14ga thickness works great.  I have seen alot of nice grills built from drums, but never seen one that lasted long because usually the bottom burned out in it.  I hate to see someone go thru that work for it not to last. atleast going with something like the scrap pipe you will have something that will last.    Just a few thoughts not trying to discourage you.   Good luck and let us know how it turns out.   ~JacksonOh thanks for the compliment as well.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Thanks for the info.  I might have to look around the salvage yards to see what I can come up with.  If I do go with a drum, I think I'll build the base nice and stout and leave the drum somewhat easily removable so that I can just replace that much when it gives up.
Reply:http://www.trailready.com/jeep_gr_cherokee.html  like to see some one build this  looks  cool.  Great  job
Reply:easy   ...CHRIS
Reply:what Chris said....  a decent metal brake, and a pipe bender and you could build it in no time.  I build a good number of pipe bumpers, mainly for wranglers or laredos. they aren't too hard as long as you make a good template to notch your pipe with.  ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Usually for me design is the hard part.  Only time fabrication is difficult is when aint got the right tools to do it and your stuck tryin to make do.  But otherwise yeah if you can draw it on paper I can build it   Just make sure you dont go make some stupid design I gotta tell ya aint gonna work...I plum hate that lolCHRIS
Reply:Heres a pic of the rear bumper that I've made. Attached ImagesBrett B & B Fabrication and Welding Inc.Spalding, MI.
Reply:Silly question but, what is that stuff on the bumper? Looks like bed-liner....
Reply:Yes that is a spray-on coating. I run alot of gravel roads. I didn't think the powder coating would hold up so I went with the spray-on. Its been on 2 years and it look as good as new, if I'd wash the truck.Brett B & B Fabrication and Welding Inc.Spalding, MI.
Reply:I read somewhere that all the spray on manufacturers are based in South Africa. It was developed for the mining industry. So it has to be tough stuffI'm not a Engineer, I just play one on the weekend.