First of all, I want to thank 76FOMOC for the useful and inspirational thread on how to cut up you tunnel, it inspired me enough to get the saw out and go for it. So here is what I came up with, 3/16 aluminum rear bumper assembly, powder coated to match my other parts. This is an '03 with a 159, and sledjunkies drop brackets. (That funny bar in my rear rack I added last year to keep gas cans in place better, works good.)
I decided to use the scraps from the tunnel roll to build the gussets, which I welded up, it came out good, but would have been alot easier to use the factory cat parts. I trimmed a bit off the cooler mounting bracket, but left it in place. The rear bumper is real strong with the 1" aluminum pipe and the large piece of 3/16 flat welded in place. I did end up welding a couple of tabs down for the cooler to bolt to - If I make more of these, those will be one piece with the bumper sides. I added a 1/8 by 1 1/2 flat bar along the inside of the tunnel behind the bumper arms.
So now I am just working on a forward mount post - got crazy with the pipe bender last night.
I decided to use the scraps from the tunnel roll to build the gussets, which I welded up, it came out good, but would have been alot easier to use the factory cat parts. I trimmed a bit off the cooler mounting bracket, but left it in place. The rear bumper is real strong with the 1" aluminum pipe and the large piece of 3/16 flat welded in place. I did end up welding a couple of tabs down for the cooler to bolt to - If I make more of these, those will be one piece with the bumper sides. I added a 1/8 by 1 1/2 flat bar along the inside of the tunnel behind the bumper arms.
So now I am just working on a forward mount post - got crazy with the pipe bender last night.
