Front bumper and tow shackles

[b-tyme]

I have no bumper on the front and am going to try to make one. Im going to get a piece of C-channel and make one. Where can I get the tow shackles from? Also is the bumper supposed to be straight or is there a tweek at the ends?

[fng]

For just the shackles, no pins included, you can get them from Army Surplus Warehouse.
(208) 529-4753. Shipping wt is 7lbs and the cost is 24.95 plus 9.61 for shipping. You get aftermarket pins from Tractor supply or do like I did and beg, scrounge and trade till you have a full stock set.
The stock bumper is straight, no tweak.
Be sure and post pic's after you've made it and got it on. I'd like to see how one might look.

[brute4c]

$22.00 for the tow shackle with the pin:

http://www.snakeriver4x4.com/m-715.html

[fng]

DOH...overpaid again!!!!

[brute4c]

Dont you get all 4 from Army Surplus Warehouse for $24.95? The snakeriver4x4 price is for 1 shackle and 1 pin....

[Barrman]

Are you going for stock or function? I ask because the stock M715 front shacles are unique to the M715, kind of a pain to make the bumper fit around and you need the hard to find high priced tow bar adaptor to hook up the military tow bar.

I have a 6" channel iron front bumper myself. So does Agengr and Kwai on at least one of his trucks. They are twice as thick as the stock bumpers. I cut mine up for the tow shackles to fit. Then bolted on a pair of M35 shackle mounts a year later to actually do towing with when I decided $200 or so was not what I was willing to pay for the tow bar adaptors. Here is what I ended up with:
My Tow Bar Mount Solution

It is your truck, so do what you want with it. Not trying to tell you how to build the thing.

[rboltz]

You get aftermarket pins from Tractor supply

I have heard this before. There are no 3/4 x 5 clevis pins at any Tractor Supply around here. In fact, there is no use for a pin this size in the agriculture world I live in so don't know why they have been reported there. The only source I have found is MSC Industrial Supply and then, it is a case order only as it is a special size. If we have enough people who want sets of 4, I can order a case of 25. The warehouse is close to me.

[Binford]

Got this clevis pin from a mail-order Tractor Supply store. Naturally I found them for half that price later at the Dell's Farm Supply outlet here in my own home town! Perfect fit.



I come across these shackles fairly regularly at a place in Utah. They usually come with a nut and bolt. I think I have an extra set of 4 in my garage. If anyone's interested, I'll let them go for $10 a pop, including the bolts they came with. Plus the ride unless I'm handing them to you in person.

Also, I had the guys at work make a bumper for my truck on the press, then stamped out the shackle slots. I believe it's just a 10-gauge piece of steel. No drama.

[Binford]

I talked with one of the guys at the plant (in northern Indiana) a few minutes ago about the time they made the bumper for my M715. He said if we were to buy a sheet of 10GA steel and pay for some shop time, they might be able to punch out a few more bumpers. I have absolutely no idea what this would cost, but the idea is intriguing.

So I figured I'd post up to see if there might be any interest here in getting replicated stock front bumpers made. If 5 or 6 minimum are interested (one sheet of steel's worth), we might be able to get some made up.

Whatever the costs turn out to be would cover materials and whatever the guys at the plant would need to do this. I would not be trying to make anything on this myself.

Here's a shot of me a few years ago at the plant with the one they made for me out of scrap (we pretty much only deal with galvanized metal, so the free one they made me was out of that):




And I believe they even punched the slots out. Turned out nicely:



After etching and painting it, I now have it on my truck.

If anyone might be interested in having a new bumper made up, post here. No obligation, of course. If there are enough interested, I'll look into what it would cost.

[rboltz]

Got this clevis pin from a mail-order Tractor Supply store.

Thats not a clevis pin. It's a hitch pin. The 715 used clevis pins if you want to stay stock.