Surburban Rear Bumper/Gas Skid: Rick's Burb

[Brody]

David( Minnesota) hooked me up with his friend Rick for a rear bumper build to replace the chrome monster bumper on his Burb. In addition to this, they had picked up a junk yard skid plate for the smaller gas tank and needed it modified to fit the larger Burb gas tank.

The rear bumper needed to be done in such a fashion as to allow for a future swing out tire carrier and the possibility of an additional gas tank wing out. The sides of the bumper also needed to extend far enough so that additional rear quarter panel protection could also be added later one.

Here is the build up, with the bumper first:

[Brody]

Here are the next pictures:

[Brody]

GAS TANK SKID PLATE:

After a lot of searching around to find a 40 gallon factory skid plate with no luck, Rick and Dave headed to the junkyard to grab a smaller tank. They found one and dropped it off to me before headed back up to the hills. The difference between the two tanks was 6". What I did was to cut the smaller tank skid roughly in half, bolt both ends up to the factory holes, and measure the difference. I then took some same size steel stock, cut the 6" piece and welded that in place. Rather than do a more expensive wrap of the whole plate, I welded on 1/2"x1/2" angle strips to reinforce the stock skid, then added a wrap on the nose with an additional piece of steel. The only modification that I actually needed to do other than this was to do a small cut out for the exhaust on the Burb.

At some future date, bolt tabs will probably be welded to both the back of the skid and the bottom of the bumper and an additional skip plate added here, making a nice ramp for any tail dragging action. The overhang on the back of the Burb is almost 4 1/2'.

[RidgeRunner]

Nice work there Pete! I like the idea of using the angle iron to reinforce the skid plate, just might have to steal that idea.

[glacierpaul]

Sweet job as always Pete!!!!

[Chris]

Looks good Pete, nice write-up!

[Brody]

Nice work there Pete! I like the idea of using the angle iron to reinforce the skid plate, just might have to steal that idea.

Cheap(ish), quick and effective.

On the Yotas, you can also sandwich two factory skid plates. I had this going on with my Yota gas skid for awhile and it worked just fine. I just cut the sides of the sandwich part down so that it made a tub, set it on top of the one with the mounts, and welded it every place that it touched. I have a couple skids here, including the one I beefed up like that. If you want to grab one when you get the stickers, let me know and you can have it. It was even quicker than welding the angle on.....

Thanks for the compliments. Sorry for the crappy photos. LaDawn reclaimed her nice camera after discovering some grease (oooooooooooops) on it and relegated my camera use to the real junk camera. Supposedly, it has a flash, but idiot stick hasn't figured out where it is. My early AM spelling looks like I am practicing my craigslist ads.....At least I can laugh at myself...At any rate, it is legible enough....

[Popsgarage]

Nice work there Pete! I like the idea of using the angle iron to reinforce the skid plate, just might have to steal that idea.

X2!!!!

[Minnesota]

Yeah Pete, Rick is super stoked. And after following him home in the Subaru, definitely, ahem, reinforced the push to get that gas tank skid on there. That baby hangs out there.

[MelloYello]

Nice work Pete!

[Bunyon & Babe]

Very nice Pete.That new bumper really looks great.

[Brody]

Eventually a rear extension from the gas tank skid to the rear bumper will get added. Easier than bobbing the back of the Burb...It will something similar to what is offered for the Land Rovers:

[Minnesota]

Whew. I've been super busy, and took Rick a bit to get it painted with the cooler weather, etc. But here's the painting stage. We rattle-can bed-linered the top for foot traction, and the rest just semi-glossed black. No on vehicle shots, as I was running off when Rick mounted it back up. Looks sweet, and sure are glad we did the gas skid plate as well. That baby hangs out there.