i think your right with the expanded metal. i think it would make more of a mess, and turn out not good in the end. my bumper is going to have a perforated piece of steel ( i believe its called. has a pattern of .5" dia holes punched in it) protecting the lower end of the radiator and tranny cooler. there is a metal plating company near me, but i think they went under and i'm not sure how big they could handle. this coating is a major concern to me cause i want to do it once the right way and be done with it. rhino lining is roughly $400-$500 for a bumper. and linex runs right close to it. haven't checked powder coat yet, but i know for fact that they charge an additionally %50 for anything other than black. auctally if my pockets were deep enough i'd of went SS, but that was twice the cost:scare2:

wow i think your gonna be good when u hit a deer with that thing.... we gotta worry about hittin cows down here. ever seen what a full grown brahma bull (2000+lbs) will do to a truck?? a guy i know hit one with a full ranch hand raplacement and still totaled his f250, it was not pretty by any means but then again elk get pretty big

I need to build one of these for mine.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/8782df74.jpg

Here's the one I built my senior year of high school in Ag Fab class. Its not quite finished, ran out time before I could finish. Unfortunately it only fits 92-96 Fords and I killed that truck and sold it, so now it just sitting getting rusty :dang:

let me know if you want to know how I built it

Summit racing sells a linex like kit for (if memory serves me) about $100. need your own Air compressor but i think the gun is included. we use it in the bed of our john Deere gators and it does chip when they repeatedly hammer on it with trash pumps and the like, but it should be plenty fine for a bumper unless you repeatedly hit stuff. :argh: so might wanna avoid that.

My recommendation is to use POR 15 paint on the bare metal and then cover it with some do it yourself bed liner like I did on the tongue of my trailer. The POR 15 is tough and the bedliner protects it from the sun.

i need to get it fitted up to the truck for the frame mounts and then make brackets for the lights and its ready to coat. powder coat is out of the question. i built a head ache rack for a buddy and the company around here that does it didn't do a very good job. 3 months after it was on the truck it was bubbling and rusting. he wasn't impressed and niether was I, so thats out. I'm gonna research the do it yourself kits and the POR 15. where can i find this POR 15

POR 15 can be purchased trough NAPA or online from the POR 15 website. There is a generic type that I get from CarQuest from here. If you get a Quart you will have more then enough to do the front bumper back bumper and most the frame by just brushing it on.

I don't like POR-15!!! It didn't hold up well at all! There is a paint that exceeds a 2400 hour salt spray test! I will have to find the link for you. I thought it was no rust; but that isn't it. Not only is it a lot better than POR but cheaper and a lot less toxic to humans also!!

Do you get the powdercoat on without sandblasting it?

I got several items powdercoated and they do not rust at all: steel rims, diff covers, tank skidplates.
No chipping, no rust, but all of them are sandblasted first, heat zinc treated and then powdercoated.
the company told me in advance to zinc coat them to avoid rust if the surface gets damaged sometimes. I trusted them in that advice and it still looks great.