2000 Silverado trophy truck front bumper question

[kawie95]

Hey guys,

I am fixing up a lot of damage on my 2000 Chevy Silverado 1500 z71 extended cab.

The front frame rails come out further than the front grille and I want to have a TT type front bumper with a 2" tube that follows the curve of the truck.

Any tips on cutting the frame horns that stick out past the stock radiator mount?

Also, any tips on bracing the 2" tube to the frame or mounting locations?

Still need to paint the hood and fenders so if I need to modify the quarter panels now is a good time.

Truck is pretty much stock. I just dont like the stock bumper since it costs a few hundred dollars and has the fog lights that always get ripped off when I am in the desert.

 

[kawie95]

Made a sweet mock-up (possibly final product if I spray paint it black) cardboard skid and bumper to get an idea of where to cut the frame horns and weld on tubing to reinforce the bumper.

I don't think a valance would look good with the tubing so I might skip the HDPE .125+-6ftx8", black stock.

I found a 6ft piece of 4130 2" x .120 steel tubing for under $100 shipped 4130 ALLOY STEEL ROUND SEAMLESS from Aircraft Spruce However, my friend said its super hard to bend and I don't have a 2" die for my bender which he said is a few hundred bucks. Not sure if thats right or not. As an alternative, I can get a Harbor Freight kinker for just over $100. I see a lot online about filling tubes with sand or water when bending them to prevent from kinking, while others do not have any issues. If I am doing subtle bends to match the contour of the grill, would I need to go all out on a good tubing bender?

Any tips would be appreciated, or else I will be driving around with cardboard until someone feels sorry for me and offers to help

Where I am thinking of cutting the frame horns off and welding on a support tube:

Cardboard mockup of skid and bumper:

Skid up against frame support, cutting line would be a similar angle/distance I think:

Angle showing skid against frame

 

[kawie95]

Kinda thinking this for a mockup.

2" 4130 10ft x 0.12" tubing bent to match the truck contour $123 (with pickup) 4130 ALLOY STEEL ROUND SEAMLESS from Aircraft Spruce
HF Tube roller $165 (after 20% coupon) + $50 stand
HDPE black valance 12” x 96" x 0.125" for $25 at proplas.com

The red will be 2" tubing
Green is the 8" HDPE valance attached to metal tabs below the tubing so they butt up flush
Blue will be an alum skid, mounted under the valance down to the frame where the z71 OEM skid is mounted.

Still need to figure out what metal to weld up the frame horns with when I cut them off and weld a flat piece of steel onto it, and how to hide the ugly part of the fender the OEM bumper covers up. I saw a Bronco that had the same HDPE plastic attached below the headlight, I might do that.

 

[kawie95]

This is a really cool front bumper how it wraps under the headlight. I can see how the tubing mounts to the frame right where the radiator support is. Skid is a bit steep, which matches my challenge of having the skid match the frame radiator engine support.

A cut similar to this: