Fabricating a (Prototype) Table for the Rear Bumper Swingout

August 14, 2018.

It’s been about six months since I drove over to eastern Idaho to pickup and install the CBI Outback 1.0 rear bumper with dual swing-outs on my way down to The Maze in Utah. In that time, the bumper has performed well — I’m generally really happy with it, save a couple niggly things that I should probably write up as a “what do I think six months later,” sort of post.

But, one thing that I’ve been missing — and knew I was missing when I purchased the bumper — was a fold-down table on the swing-out. This was a purposeful omission on my part — @cbi offroad fab wanted $350 for tables, and I knew I could do better.

So, it was finally time to get started.

My criteria were several-fold.

1. The table needed to be big enough to fit my Coleman propane stove.
2. It needed to fit on the passenger side swing-out.
3. It needed to be “removable” — since I’m sure I’ll want to tweak it going forward.
4. It needed to weigh as little as possible.

I started by taking some measurements of the passenger side swing-out when the tailgate was open. This showed me that I had 15-inches of width to work with — so the table wouldn’t overlap the tailgate or interfere with the dual-swing-out latching.

Clearly, not enough to fit the Coleman stove, which is 21-inches wide and about 14-inches deep. Hmm, my design would need to take that into account. Perhaps a fold-out table on my swing-out bumper?

So, it was off to the steel yard where I picked up two 15x15-inch pieces of 16ga aluminum — that would become the top(s) for the table, giving me a work surface of approximately 30x15-inches — plenty big enough for the stove.

Then, I spent a bit of time with a hammer, the rounded corner of my workbench, and then a dowel to round over what would become the front edge of the table, making it a bit stiffer and also a bit nicer “to the touch” vs. a sharp aluminum edge.

Then, it was on to the fun part — actual fabrication. To see what I did and how I did it, head on over and check out Fabricating a Table for the Rear Bumper at adventuretaco.com.

Originally published at adventuretaco.com.