NoPowerjoke

I bought a 2003 2500 cummins a few months ago and now i want to put bumpers on it...I will be building them myself and im just trying to get an idea of how much plate i will need to get my hands on...I was hoping to be able to get both front and rear bumpers out of a 4x8 sheet...is this realistic?

and the other thing i am debating is the materials....bumper material will more than likely be 1/4 plate just not too sure which flavor yet

steel - easy to weld, strong, rigid and cheap but no matter what finish i put on it, it IS GOING TO RUST

5052 aluminum - pretty easy to work with nice, light and sexy to weld...problem is....i just dont think its rigid enough...bends, flexes and scratches too easily unless i re enforce the crud out out of it, also fatigue is something that i could see being an issue as well...

402 SS- strong, tough, rigid pretty much all the perks of steel but its not going to be showing rust after its first close encounter with trees/rocks, also downside of the MS and SS is the weight...she is going to be heavy

I am just looking for thoughts and opinions here...I know that the SS will cost about 3x as much as the mild steel yet i can still build both front and rear bumpers out of SS and still spend less than buying a front bumper out of carbon steel

some bumpers that i have built over the past few years...food for thought i suppose

enafzige

Not many suggestions here...other than if it were me, I'd pick steel. There's a local place that powdercoated mine for $250, and 4 years and a lot of wear and tear later, it still looks great!

How do you like that Milwaukee dry cut chop saw?

--Eric

AirLiftCompany

Have you considered going with a simple paint like this?

Rustoleum

The stuff holds up great, I've used it on a couple of frames. When it does scratch if you hit something pretty good, it could be touched up easily. It blends in pretty well unless it's been years since you last painted it. I think you could limit the rust pretty well if you just keep an eye on it.

Donna

Stronger tires looking more beautiful.