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My New Bumper Build by Brute Force Fab

stevenboise

Full Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Messages
165
Location
Boise, ID
I'm starting this thread to document my new bumpers that are being built in Fresno by Billy Simmons at Brute Force Fab.

I've spent countless hours researching bumpers for my 2004 Cladded Avy.  Since the cladded version hasn't been made for years, it's tough (if not impossible) to find a manufacturer that still sells bolt-on front bumpers for cladded Avys.  I'm not able to build one myself.....that's not my skill set....and I was looking for an established company who's been making bumpers for some years who was willing to take the time to make a custom front and rear bumper for my truck.  I did find a few, but ended up choosing Brute Force Fab.  Since I live in Boise and he's in Fresno, I had to drive the truck down to him.  He'll have it for the next couple weeks building it out.  

The front bumper is going to be a typical front winch bumper.  The rear bumper is going to have dual swing-out gates with a module design to attach the spare tire and a cargo box.  Because it will be module, I can add additional mounts to it for whatever I need.  The module design was Billy's idea.  I was just looking to put the spare back there and get it out from under the truck.  I can't put the spare on the roof as I'm not sure I can get a roof basket on top and still get in the garage now that I lifted the truck a bit.  I can't put the spare on the bed covers, like some have done, because our bike rack is going there.  

I'll be updating this thread with pictures as Billy gets the bumper built out.  I told him that there's a possibility that some readers may have questions and I'd send those questions off to him for an answer if I can't answer it myself.  

This has been a long research process and I'm happy that it's finally come to fruition.  

This is just a picture of my truck in his garage the day I dropped it off.
 

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nfhjr said:
Have an 02 cladded, will the bumper builder be retaining the specs. for your bumpers so another can be built as needed

The short answer to your question is he is trying to make this bumper simple enough for him to reproduce and sell again and again.  Billy is a Toyota bumper builder by trade and makes a lot of them.  He builds them and ships them as complete bumpers that bolt on for the buyer.  It all depends on the interest he gets and the demand he perceives that is out there for these bumpers. 

I've spoken extensively with Billy about that very question over the months as we worked this up.  He built a bumper for a 03, I believe it was, cladded Avalanche......you can see it on his Facebook page (look up Brute Force Fab on Facebook) photo album.....which is how I found him.  But he did it as a one-off custom job and didn't think there would be any interest beyond that so he didn't make jigs to replicate the bumper.  This is why I had to take my truck to him.  Also, that bumper was built to that owner's specs.  So the specific wants of that owner were built into that job.  I didn't like some of the features on that bumper. 

This time, his plan is to take photos of the build as he goes and keep the specs for this bumper in his CNC machine so he can replicate the bumper in the future.  What he hasn't worked out yet is whether he will sell the pieces as a kit that the buyer then welds up and installs, or if it will be a bolt-off / bolt-on bumper that ships complete and powder coated.  Various options as far as light mounts and cutouts would probably have to be worked out with him by each buyer as the lights I'm using and their placement will probably not be the same for everyone.

If you are interested I would recommend you call him and speak to him.  But keep in mind, he's a 1-man show.  He has a part-timer working for him, but other than that he's on his own.  He's not very social media savvy either.....I don't think he'll mind me saying that.  But he'll call you back faster then he'll return an email.  His phone number is 559-900-6564. 
 
Got some pictures in from Billy over night of the bumper tac'd up.  This first one shows the passenger side and how he is covering that gap between the bumper and where the cladding use to come up to the fender.  Another topic we discussed at length was keeping the bumper tall enough to cover the wash fluid reservoir without having to relocate it.  I know, it's on the driver side, but Billy isn't a Chevy guy so we are working on getting some detailed shots of that side showing that the washer fluid reservoir will not have to be relocated.  Some trimming will have to be done with the plastic inside the wheel well, but that was to be expected.
 

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It will get a grill guard but he wanted to show me the bumper hung up on the truck. 

I'll have the inboard lights (the larger round holes) as my DRLs and the smaller outboard holes as my fog lights.  I had to do this as PIAA didn't make (or at least I couldn't find them in stock) smaller round yellow lights.  So the inboard lights will be PIAA 510 Ion Yellow lights and tied into the wiring for the DRLs.  The smaller outboard lights will be PIAA LP530 and tied into the wiring for the fog light switch.  The center rectangular hole is for the winch, and the two holes to the left and right of the winch are just relief holes for weight.

As a personal preference, I wanted round lights in the bumper not square.  That cost a me bit more but I like that look better......that's just me.
 

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(y) That's looking great.  I love how they are following the original cladding lines so it blends well.
 
Looks good so far (y)

Two ideas, you might want to think about LED lights for the bigger ones. And for the rear bumper one thing that is hard to find, is a bumper with the corner steps like the stock bumper, currently only FabFours has one.
 
james21 said:
And for the rear bumper one thing that is hard to find, is a bumper with the corner steps like the stock bumper
x2  I would not want to give up my side steps.  The Avy was the first for this great feature.
 
frito said:
(y) That's looking great.  I love how they are following the original cladding lines so it blends well.

Thanks!  But I can't take credit for too much.  I just told Billy what I wanted and shared a ton of photos with him of bumpers off various vehicles and he came up with the look.  Both of us talked about keeping the "flow" of the Avalanche's lines incorporated into the bumper. 
 
james21 said:
Looks good so far (y)

Two ideas, you might want to think about LED lights for the bigger ones. And for the rear bumper one thing that is hard to find, is a bumper with the corner steps like the stock bumper, currently only FabFours has one.

All the lights, except for the PIAA 510's will be LED. 

As far as the rear bumper's steps go....this was a problem for my design.  Since I wanted swing out gates on the bumper, the steps have to go away.  There just wasn't a way to incorporate the step into the bumper since the spindle for the gate will be right above the step.  This was a tough decision on our part, but ultimately we took the gates over the steps.  Billy hasn't started on the rear bumper yet, so I don't have any pictures of that part.  Maybe later this week. 

As far as the Fab Four rear bumper goes, they don't make one for a pre-07 Avalanche.....probably due to the cladding.  The cladding on my truck has been the achilles heal in finding a someone to build this thing.  The rear bumper Fab Four makes with steps doesn't have gates either. 

If I wasn't putting gates on my rear bumper, then Billy could have put steps in the corners.  Again, this was my choice to go with the gates.  Attached here is a picture of the spindle that Billy uses on his Toyotas and this will be the same for my Avalanche.

 

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Here is a shot of the front with the grill guard tacked in place.  The middle cross bar on the front is not centered so there's enough headspace to set a pair of PIAA LP560's on the bumper below that cross bar. 

Another design problem that we've been discussing for months is the "hole" in front of headlights.  The grill guard follows the hood-line and wraps around the headlights, but what do we do to help protect the headlights?  One option was the continue that middle cross bar through that "hole."  Billy set that up and it looked like crap.  Another option is to use thinner, maybe 3/8" bar, in that area.  It's a tough call.  Not sure what the final answer will be. 
 

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Another angle of the front bumper.

I expect that Billy isn't working today (Sunday), so I won't have any updates for a few days.  When I spoke to him on the phone yesterday, the plan was to take it back down off the truck and get it welded up and check the fit to the truck again.  He expects that he'll have to make some adjustments, then do a final clean up of the bumper before it goes off to the powdercoater.  He's hoping to start on the rear bumper early this week.
 

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The only thing I would say is the center uprights need to be thicker, they just look way too thin, not really gonna add any strength to the bumper.
 
james21 said:
The only thing I would say is the center uprights need to be thicker, they just look way too thin, not really gonna add any strength to the bumper.

Good question.  I should have addressed that in my post.  From Billy:  "I'm not done with it yet.  It will be the same as the Tundra."

I attached a photo of a front bumper he builds for Tundras to this comment so you can see what the finished version of the center upright will resemble.  Note that the Tundra used square lights in the bumper instead of the round ones I elected to go with.
 

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Work has started on the rear bumper as the front bumper gets some finish work done to it in preparation for final fitting and powder coating.

The two outboard, square openings are for additional back up lighting for the outdoors. 
 

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An another angle showing some detail on how the bumper molds with the cladding.
 

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About the front bumper though, a problem many of the manufacturers faced back in the day was where the front bumper goes over the fender in front of your tires.
The fender is known to flex and if the bumper is too close it will scratch the hell out of your paint as it is obviously not flexible like the cladded bumper that was there previously. That's part of the reason not many were made and why you can't find them.

You might want to give your guy a heads up about that.
Unlike the other bumpers he's built this is the only bumper that goes up over more than 5"  of the fender.
My suggestion would be to cut that piece off and put it on the fender permanently leaving space for movement or chop that off and leave the bumper like a regular bumper on the toyotas and cut that piece off your old bumper and put it back

Nice bumpers though. If I had to get steel bumpers, I would go the route you're taking with the design.


 
Dluvr22 said:
About the front bumper though, a problem many of the manufacturers faced back in the day was where the front bumper goes over the fender in front of your tires.  The fender is known to flex and if the bumper is too close it will scratch the hell out of your paint as it is obviously not flexible like the cladded bumper that was there previously. That's part of the reason not many were made and why you can't find them.

You might want to give your guy a heads up about that.  Unlike the other bumpers he's built this is the only bumper that goes up over more than 5"  of the fender.  My suggestion would be to cut that piece off and put it on the fender permanently leaving space for movement or chop that off and leave the bumper like a regular bumper on the toyotas and cut that piece off your old bumper and put it back

Nice bumpers though. If I had to get steel bumpers, I would go the route you're taking with the design.

You're correct in all of this.  I read a lot about this concern in my research and in speaking with a couple bumper fabricators who refused to build a bumper for me once they learned it was on a cladded Avy.  Others agreed to do it, but priced themselves out of the market.  I knew it could be done, as there were many out there years ago so it was just a matter of taking the time to make sure the tolerances were right. 

Personally, I didn't want to cut off the cladding and attach it to the fender.  Doesn't sound like you like that idea either.  I've seen it done in photos and have never liked the look.  Another option was to just paint over the body color there.  I've seen pictures of that too and it looks "unfinished."  But your concerns are sound and I had them as well.  Billy has built one other cladded Avy bumper like this and didn't hear any complaints from the previous owner.  I tried to track that owner down, but had no luck.  I know, small sample size too.

In my research for this clearance, I looked at Ford, Chevy and Toyota bumpers on guys' trucks at work to see what they have for clearance.  It all seemed to be about the width of an average index finger.  I figured if that's what others are doing that should be sufficient.  I'm not going boulder crawling either.  Not what Billy does with his Tacoma and Tundra.  By the way, his work truck is a Chevy Silverado. 

Here's what Billy had to say when I passed this along to him.  "There was a mention of a concern for the amount of clearance between the bumper and the front fenders.  I'm very familiar with body flex with many types of vehicles.  On my Tacoma bumpers I like to see 1/2" to 5/8" of clearance to keep the body from coming in contact with the front bumper under full frame flex.  Now keep in mind that this is on some pretty nasty trails.  I plan on setting the clearance on the Avalanche to about the same specs which should be plenty of clearance to keep the body and the bumper from coming in contact with each other."

One of the prerequisites I had for selecting a bumper fabricator was they had to have experience in off-road bumpers......because I don't.  I get that there's a difference in this bumper over standard truck bumpers due to that rise along the fender.  But I chose to take that risk....albeit researched and calculated.....and time will tell if I did my due diligence appropriately. 

Good points to bring up Dluvr22  (y)
 
frito said:
Looking great.  I like the extra lights in the back.   (y)

Thanks!  I came up with that one last fall while out hunting.  We got out there late and I was trying to back the truck up into a spot and couldn't see anything with the factory back up lights.  This should help, yeh?  They won't turn on with the truck's reverse gear.  They'll have their own separate on/off switch in the cab.  Might come in handy for jack-wagons with their high beams on behind me too.
 
Glad to see you got that covered. I do think the clearances he mentioned should be OK but that's my unprofessional opinion. I see you did a research on every aspect. I'll watch out for the finished product as it should be interesting to behold.
 
I'd elect for the square light holes, 4 cube LEDs up front and two in back, thats the way to go, IMO (y)
 
Hey, how's the bumper build coming?  I'm anxious to see the final product.  The "tease" pictures look great so far.  (y)
 
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