On the 4th of July I by a deer going 60 mph towing my travel trailer. Lots of momentum and didn't feel it that much. Pushed the right side of the bumper in and tore up the rubber. It did out a slice in the right radiator support. I am attempting to upgrade the bumper to a Buck Stop bumper. Been on my list of mods, so I figure I might as well take the money to restore to OEM and pay a little extra to get a welded steel bumper with brush guards. The deer didn't fair well. Toast.

Will a propane torch apply enough heat? I'm not set up with a big gas torch. I've been told that tubing can be bet if you mark 1" and bend a little at each mark. I also like the larger tubing looks. Like 1.5" or so. I do know a professional welder who may be able to help with bending.

Edited July 17, 201410 yr by joecool911

With propane alone,    I've  used  a  500k  btu  weed burner   and    got by  with  some  iron work,  but  it  heats  such a large area,  that  making  precise  bends  'exactly where you want it to bend'   gets  dicey.   It takes  a lot of fuel,  and  time  just to get  a  soft red  going...  you'll be deaf afterwards too~    too late for me  ;D

 

I'll  use  my rosebud  tip and   acetylene  Ox    for more pin point  heating..

without  buying a  bunch of  equip,   talk to your  welder dude about   fabbing up  some.  

1.66  diameter pipe   makes  a nice  sized   look.  (1.5 inside diameter,  .08 wall)     1.5 solid bar or larger  is  gonna be pricey too,   around  10 bucks a foot or more      1.5 solid bar  weighs  6 lbs. per foot.

 

yep,  you can  bend-in-segments,  but  it  really  works  well in larger  radii  situations..  10-12 inch radii  or more.    Our   grill guards  are  tighter  bends  than  would  work  nice  with that style of  bending.    I'm  talking  3 or 4  inch  radii here.