Home made BrushGuard

[deerhunterf350]

Had a chance over the Holiday Weekend to take some measurements and put together a BrushGuard for the TC-55.

To protect those Nice Curves up Front . And Expensive Headlinghts from what I have been reading.

I was busy cutting and fabricating and didn;t have a chance to snap pics during the Building stages. But have taken some photos this evening.

This is it Together , still needed to be cleaned up.

 

[johnk]

Are those solid bars or tubing? One heck of a job. Paint it up get it mounted and post some pics........

 

[deerhunterf350]

I have 2 - 1/2" Bolts in each side in the Pic, But when bolted on the Tractor. The Bottom 1/2" bolt will stay and have a Nylon Lock nut, to allow it to pivot forward for clearance for the hood. The Top 1/2" bolt will be replace with a 1/2" Clevis pin , to make for a tool free forward pivot.

 

[deerhunterf350]

1" od DOM Tube, with .156 Wall thickness. It should take a licken and keep on ticken.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Here it is hinged forward, it can presently "Fall" completely forward. I have plans to make an attachment point on the Stationary Base and the Pivot Guard for a short length of Vinyl coated 1/8" cable to be attached to. This will act as a stop and only allow so much forward pivot.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Here is a Front view after and hour and a half of grinding and cleaning up all the Welds.

 

[deerhunterf350]

The Back after cleanup.

And the capped Pipes.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Tomorrow Night I am going to put it in the SandBlaster and hit it with 30 Grit Aluminum Oxide Blast media. That should give it a good cleaning and Medium textured surface for the paint to hold onto. Then shoot one maybe two light coats of Van Sickle Gray Primer.

Then a couple of light coats of Van Sickle Premium Gloss Black. To Finish it off.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Last one for the Night.

I went ahead and added two Receiver Hitch Tubes, to the bottom of the Guard. Because of clearance issues with the 18LA loader. I could not put anything other than the 3"x3"x1/4" accross the Front. But I wanted to be able to add some weights to the Front when the Loader is off and using heavy 3pt implements. So the next project will be a Weight Holder Frame for suitcase weight. When the Loader is removed, We will slide the Weight Frame into the receiver tubes, slide a hitch pin in, put the Suitcase style weights on the Frame and off we go.

 

[RonR]

Deerhunter,

Love your project!

And the receiver tube on the front gives me a great idea to add one to my grill guard. I need to mount some weights on the front for my pulverizer when I have the FEL off, so having a receiver hitch makes it easy to mount weights that are easy on/off.

THANKS.

ron

 

[johnk]

Deerhunter,

You should go into the fabrication business. Looks very professional. Post a few more pics when painted and mounted.......Nice Job...

 

[deerhunterf350]

Thanks, My grandfather is a Retired BoilerMaker , and I grew up involved in his Homemade Projects. Standards where always high when he would build something, and he "Helped" with the Project. Making a few suggestions on Angles and Holding a few of the pieces while I tacked them in place.

From growing up with those Standards I tend to take the little extra time , and make sure the job is done once and right, and make it look as good as I can.

 

[sandman2234]

Nice job!
Only thing I would consider is squaring in the ends of the angle bumper, to prevent bending/twisting. If nothing else, add a flatbar reinforcement, but capping it would look better.
It is amazing just how solid some things are when you run into them.
David from jax

 

[browns40]

That's beautiful! Nice work!

Do you have access to any expanded steel mesh?

My "old" one had an almost identical one to the one you made, and occasionally trapped brush between the crossmembers (directing stuff right at the expensive lights & grill!).

Now have "deluxe" type with expanded metal & it will work much better, but obstruct headlights that much more.

 

[deerhunterf350]

That's beautiful! Nice work!

Do you have access to any expanded steel mesh?

I had plans to get ESM , but could not acquire a piece prior to the building. So I made a slight modifaction. See Pic. This will allow me to Bolt on ESM and remove if needed .


Once installed on the Tractor , I take some measurements , buy a piece of ESM, and install on the tractor using 7/16" bolts, into the Welded Nuts on the Frame.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Finally, a weekend that I was not Traveling for Work, and could install the Finished BrushGuard.

A few pics of the Guard up close on the Tractor.

 

[deerhunterf350]

Here is the Wife of almost 6 months admiring my work

 

[deerhunterf350]

While I was at the Property , I also made up a Receiver Hitch with Hook for Pulling various things.

 

[deerhunterf350]

A few Pics of it installed , trial fitting it before Primer .

 

[deerhunterf350]

With a coat of Primer.