Wrap Around Bumpers

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Sam N.

Hm, the wrap around concept seems interesting. However, i recall several instances this year when we had to take our side bumpers off in order to get onto a ramp. We still left our front and rear bumpers on for pushing/defense.

I don't think you an do that with the wrap-arounds.

1351 takes store-bought steel right-angle brackets (two planes of geometry) and we have a welder gusset them into right-triangles. That's OVER-KILL.

We only used steel for our side bumpers. Our front and rear bumpers were mounted with quarter-inch aluminum right angle. We had plenty of spares and a hammer ready because we thought they would bend under the force of impact. ----They held like a dream.

As long as you make sure that all force of impact gets translated through your chassis, you'll be fine. The bumper mount's only purpose should be just to hold the bumper in the bumper zone.

hope this helps
Sam

Thanks for the advice... but the problem we had this year was that they were a pain to take on and off, not that they had weak attachment.

Overall, the bumpers held up well (except the front and back which we added last minute and expected to fail because they were only supported on each end at first), we just need a better way to attach them.

This year, it took about 2-3 minutes and a hex wrench to take the bumpers on and off.

Anyone have a faster method? We Usually have our drive between two plates so wing nuts are a pain; we were thinking cotter pins might work well.

EDIT: to keep this thread from getting too long, can we hold off posting until someone who did that style bumper replies.