Custom Home Made Nerf Bars

[Gduck24]

I've been looking for some reasonably priced nerf bars that are close to the go rhinos or n-fabs, but never really found a cheaper alternative, so I made my own. I bought a cheapo pipe bender from harbor freight, as well as a crappy chop saw, angle finders, grinding wheels and good grinder,(My welds generally lack asthetic appeal, so I knew I would need a good one.). I had some schedule forty pipe laying around so I used it, but the totals would have been less than $50 bucks on pipe. I have a welder. I got color match paint from O'Reilly's and its ok. I didn't look hard but the two painters I contacted wanted $150 to paint them. I tried powder coating but it didnt match and the guys only charged $50 for it. Other than my time, I have less than $300 in them. All in all, I invested in some mediocre tools and gained a lot of knowledge after this project and would recomend it to anyone. I can draw up some dimensions and have lots of things to save time if anybody wants to try it. I'll post some closer pics of the brackets tonight if anybody wants some.

 

Last pic has my new 305/20/50 Cooper LTZ's - I have always ran Nitto, but I really like these. They are quiet and supposed to last as long. We will see.

 

[pwall]

Great job!

[BadStickMan]

Awesome

[jsims002]

Great job!

 

SMOOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matt_]

nice work.

 

i personally would have gone with 3-4 mounting points though....

 

and do your brackets just use one bolt? there should be another bolt in each bracket that goes through the lower pinch weld on the rocker panel to counteract the moment created by stepping on the bars.

[BigBlueLB756]

Well now, don't you have something you can be proud of?!?

Make it, rather than buy it people are what makes trucks fun. Good job!

[Gduck24]

nice work.

 

i personally would have gone with 3-4 mounting points though....

 

and do your brackets just use one bolt? there should be another bolt in each bracket that goes through the lower pinch weld on the rocker panel to counteract the moment created by stepping on the bars.

 

 

There are 3 mounting points. The first time/side I just looked up directions from the Go Rhino site and they basically show you the bracket and mount works. I copied that, but it was not very substantial and flexed. I ended up taking a small angle iron back to the frame and attached with self tappers with rubber washers. I don't do much off roading like I used to so I'm not worried about flex between the body and frame. They are super stout. I need to post a better pic of the mount that I have. I built another set for my buddy and we put 4 mounts on his because of a third step. His is an 05 model but the brackets and set up worked the same. We did make the hoop 1" wider and 1/2" deeper for a little more ease. The brackets are 4x4x3/16 angle attached with a 1x2 tubing. There are bolts on the front two already in the body and a hole near the rear where I used an insert.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

Damn nice job, duck. That looks great.

 

I've also noticed the more trucks I see without "Silverado" on the door the better I like it. I may have to strip my truck of its nameplate.

 

Again, well done.

[[email protected]]

That's pretty damn awesome! That looks great!

[blackout07]

Impressive.

[captainmorgan00]

Sweet...you should put them into production

[SavageNFS]

Nice job...those look really good.

[Eddie 70]

Those look darn good. Nice work.

 

Where are you located? I noticed some steps similar to these near middle Tennessee this afternoon, only black.

[AzDragonLord]

Very nice fabrication job!

[Gduck24]

Thanks for all the replies. I am pretty proud of them. Most of my mods are usually for function or style only, never have been the best at merging the two together, but this is as close as I have gotten so far. If anybody wants more details on how I'd be happy to post. I have another set planned sometime in the future and will try to document it better.

 

I've also noticed the more trucks I see without "Silverado" on the door the better I like it. I may have to strip my truck of its nameplate.

 

It took me about about 3 hours total with a credit card, heat gun, and goo gone. Worth it IMO. The sides are cake, that bowtie on the back was a beast. It took an hour to get all the tape off.

 

 

Where are you located? I noticed some steps similar to these near middle Tennessee this afternoon, only black.

 

Born and raised back in East Texas, but moved closer to the big city of Fort Worth now.

 

Heres a couple more pictures of the brackets - This was the first set and prototype, so its not all perfect where you don't normally see them.