Introduction, Ideas, Designs, & Combined Minds
 

Hello www.blazerforum.com,


I'm new to the site and have seemed to already violated the rules. My apologies to rriddle3 and the rest of the admins. I am only trying to introduce myself as a Blazer enthusiast as well as an Automotive & Motorcycle business owner. The topics in which we discuss are related to both my career & my way off life, I am a Motor Head by nature. Nothing discussed in my threads will be a luring of potential customers or product sales. In the future, if I can come up with good quality designs for my personal Blazer & you all enjoy them as well, it may be possible to legitimately offer sales of products for members. And I hope you all can understand what I am saying and do not think this is all contradicting & shady. Not a Spammer, 24/7 Motor Head.

Now that we are hopefully clear on all subjects and matters, I would like to share with you, a few ideas of mine. First being the removal and replacement of the front bumper. The Polyurethane type front bumper is not adequate for off road use and must be discarded, along with the upper metal portion of the bumper. I plan on fabricating a steel plate & c-channel bumper. Ruff designs have been drafted & to my disappointment I have found a design which is very similar, but is excellent. A member named GeorgesBlaza, has this bumper installed on his blazer if you would like to view it. Ideas & personal input regarding the design &/or structure of the bumper are welcomed.

One more idea of mine that I would like to share with you is regarding the rear tire mount fastened to the rear corner of the vehicle. If the tire was relocated to a Safari Rack on top of the vehicle, the tubing structure could be utilized for an infinite amount of applications. Trimming the actual tire mount and fabricating a tubing structure that would create a square shape could be used to store a tool chest, tool box ?w/ gun rack?, racks for fishing poles & storage for tackle boxes, ect. While also putting more weight on the rear end increasing traction & Front to Rear Weight Ratio for stability. The sheer strength of the fasteners are knowingly capable of over 200lbs. which is plenty. The possibilities are endless and could accommodate anyone's life style & Hobbies.

Designs for both the bumper and rear rack are in progress, but are limited to free personal time. Which is very little. If you guys have any input feel free to yay or nay. Thanks to all paying interest to this thread.

Mike Creed

If you do happen to get a similar bumper, I think it would fare well to do two designs, one would be a light weight "mall crawl" and the other a functional bumper for offroad. Now I have seen his blazer (only in pics) and it is an awesome design.

Sorry if you violated the rules, even if you meant good, the rules are there to stop *crazies* from taking of the world, but Welcome to the forum, I hope you are a long time member and that everything gets sorted out. Also where is the shop located? I know of people that have done test runs with vehicles and they get the prototypes for free.... lol :icon_wink:

currently in the design/fab stages of bumpers myself. as for the roof mounted spare.........been there, done that...............10 years ago!

did it to one of my (many) 1st gens. was great-so long as i remembered before i ventured into any underground parking structure. (almost forgot 1 day!)


good luck with your designs & creations. it's always good to see how other minds "think".

WLORTON~ What I am trying to create is a bumper that is both light weight and strong. I have no interest in modifications for "Glamor". With that said, creating such a bumper that will not overly increase the front end weight, but also function properly (able to withstand large forces without mutation) is a bit of trial & error as well as creating the structure at an engineering stand point. This is something that will take a good while to create. As far as my shop, I am located in Newport, DE. Which is about 40 mins South of Philly.

Old Skool~ I would be glad to exchange ideas and opinions on different aspects of the design and construction of the bumpers. As far as the rear mounted tire being relocated to the roof. The relocation is only to free up the rear tubing so I may utilize the structure for yet another fabricated structure that will serve a much better purpose than holding a tire.

Welcome. There is a lack of parts available for these rigs. We appreciate someone that fabs who is also interested. Most cool stuff we see are one-offs members either created themselves OR had fabbed. There are some bumpers on a black hi-rider (brother of Blazinator) that are WAY cool and these guys were actually going to make some and ship, but the brother is spending a year overseas and the builds stopped.

Me...I want to fab my own sliders for after the body lift is done. I will need to fab a new rear bumper after the BL too. The swing-away tire rack isn't an option for me (some 4dr guys have them) because I use a bike rack out back. Front bumper - the GMC has a thin partial bumper then plastic. Junk.

Glad you're here.

dougg01~ I have noticed the lack of aftermarket products for these blazers and the price tag that comes with them. The worst part is that because of the lack of available products, Everyone Has The Same Parts! IMO that is lame. I like the modifications to my vehicles to be "my mods", not a pepboys special. When I have completed the bumper and other fabrications, I will share them with you guys and if you like them then I may be able work something out with the administrators to allow me to fabricate and sell one to you.

The rear mounted tire rack is most commonly seen on 2dr...Idk if I have ever seen them on 4dr Blazers. But either way, I will be bending, cutting, and welding metal to fabricate a tool box mount. And the same thing applies for it and any other fabrication I design. If some members like them and would like me to fabricate and sell a set to them, that may be possible after I get confirmation from the administrators.

Basically, I fabricate things all of the time. Sometimes I don't even create a blue print, instead I just pick up my tools, put on some Rock N' Roll and get to it. For example, the other night I felt restless so I went to the shop, looked at my truck and some materials I have and pondered. It occurred to me that I have not built a roll cage for sometime now. So I took some quick measurements and built a full roll cage for my truck that will accommodate the interior and allow me to fold down the rear seats. Now the roll cage is just laying on the floor in my shop and will probably sit there for awhile. The point is that I will share my fabrications with you all, if you like them and can build them yourself I will share my design with you. If you do not have the tools and/or knowledge to do so, I'll make an extra.

Welcome to the forum!

Just one note on the bumper, make it so you can mount a winch.

AJBert~ Thank You, and yes of course I will construct it to accommodate a winch. The only sure way to go mudding confidently is with a winch, or a buddy with one! The question is, how large of a winch? You will probably need a minimum of a 7000lb capacity winch. A common mistake when purchasing a winch is thinking that a 5000lb winch is adequate for a 4000-5000lb vehicle. Obviously not taking into consideration that the MAXIMUM capacity is rated at 5000lb, not what the winch is comfortable handling. Also add in a tremendous amount of Kinetic Friction, which is the opposing force of the mud, and your going to have a now useless and/or completely toasted winch. But anyway, I will make sure I account for every factor when calculating the necessary amount of force (winch torque), one will need to feel confident and not have to call a friend to come pull you out. Go Big or Go Home and do it right the first time.